One of the many gifts that Boom Boom gave us was the torrent of quips about how one leads one’s life.   He could say so much by saying so little.   A statement at just the right moment always resonated.  How I interpreted or applied it was up to me.

When my senior year in high school was drawing to a close I visited our guidance councilor for, well, guidance.  “What should I study in college?” I queried.  “Your testing and your grades show that science and math are your interests and long suits,” came the immediate reply.   “You would make a great engineer.”  “Sounds good,” I simply said.

At dinner that evening I proudly announced to my parents that I was going to be an engineer (though I had no idea what that meant).  Boom Boom barely slowed his fork down and said “just find one thing that you enjoy and be great at it.”  Hmm.

Off to college I went and two semesters later I came home and proudly announced that I was switching to the business college, major TBD.  Boom Boom barely raised an eyebrow and said, “just find one thing that you enjoy and be great at it.”  Hmm.

By my senior year in college I was also working part time at a bank’s headquarters splitting time between market analysis and marketing. It was interesting.  “I’m majoring in marketing,” I said.  “You’re getting closer,” he said.  Hmm.

An interview fell into my lap with a major consumer products company.  The position was described as “account executive.”  It sure sounded like selling to me.  Three interview steps later I accepted.  I proudly announced that I was going to work right after graduation.  Sales training, suit, tie, briefcase, Mont Blanc pen, and a company car awaited me.  Boom Boom said, “it sounds like you found that one thing.”   “Go be great at it.”  Hmm.

No more words were spoken because no more words were needed.

Until Richard Nixon unhinged gold as the backing for the nation’s money supply people would (safely) assume that their paper currency was “as good as gold.”  But, nowadays you might wonder, ‘how good is gold?’

The answer isn’t easy.  The price of gold has closed lower in about four of every 10 years while rising six of every 10 since the decoupling 48 years ago.  This makes makes it more volatile than stocks and bonds.  In the short term you often have gotten burned.   Yet it’s annualized return over the last 30 years actually outstrips the performance of broad indices of stocks and bonds.  To further confuse things, gold’s total return in the last 15 years is the exact same as the last 30.  It tends to be a flight to safety often rising as a hedge when stocks and or bonds are retreating.  This behavior was acutely present right after 9/11 and before, during, and after the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

But, is all gold safe?  After all there are gold mining stocks, pure gold bars (bullion), and gold coins.  Each have their plusses and some have some negatives.  And, a part of one is downright rotten.  Which one?  Gold coins that are a dime a dozen in availability and worth only a nickel a dozen after you purchase them.

Henny Youngman said, “take my wife, please!”  Take Rosland Capital, please.

Rosland Capital primarily offers gold coins, silver coins, and gold IRA’s.  Their pitch on gold coins by their TV pitchman and former Hollywood actor William Davane pleads to the elderly’s biggest fears.  Their biggest fears are their physical safety and their financial stability in retirement.   Rosland, time and time again, says that you need gold as a safety net.  In one commercial they use a naval vessel to show the defense department protecting you physically and equate it to gold taking care of you financially.  They have a debt counter (22 trillion and counting) on the homepage of their website to stoke your fear.   They show Davane coming out of the rain and into the sunshine as he says that when he has extra money he buys more gold.

All the while the split screen shows these beautiful, one of a kind, limited edition gold coins.  Call now!

If your insecurity about your security consumes you, maybe you do call.  And with “expert gold advisors” standing by to help here is what you get if you buy.  You get overpriced, commission heavy, hard to sell, mass produced gold coins.  The coins melt value (it’s what it sounds like) is worth less than the price they sell them to you by either a lot or a lot lot.  They are tied to the price of gold, you just start in a hole.

Stated differently, gold would have to go up by a lot, or a lot lot, for you to break even when you need to convert the gold to cash.  How ironic!  The very thing that gold did (back paper cash) now doesn’t convert gold into the cash you would expect.

And, all of that assumes that you find a buyer.  These are readily available coins.  These aren’t rare, and won’t be.  Think baseball cards.  Mickey Mantle is worth a lot.  Mike Trout isn’t worth much.  Why?  Few Mantle cards exist.  They’re more Trout cards than trout fish in the sea.

Maybe gold should be a part of your financial portfolio.  Maybe not.  Maybe gold coins should be a part of your portfolio.  Maybe not.

Maybe William Davane should be ashamed of himself.  We wonder if he is compensated by Rosland in gold coins.  Maybe not.   Greenbacks?  Probably so.

 

publisher’s note: The above is only meant as commentary and opinion by the boomboomsroom.com staff.  It is in no way an attempt to offer any financial advice or solicit or direct any reader in any way.  

The entire BBR staff took this week off.  They are enjoying sumptuous meals and great fun in an undisclosed location.  It rhymes with HiltonHead Island if you need a clue.  We’ll be back with more award winning journalistic excellence next week.

 

Till then, hit em straight.

It’s the start of a long weekend.  It’s time to take some time off.  You’ve earned it.  Enjoy.

But, first take a moment to really, really remember why we “celebrate” this weekend.  It’s to honor those who have served this country and died.  They protect our rights for us to have weekends like this one.  And, they protect us so that we may live a life that is filled with freedom.

If you’ve never been to a Veteran’s Administration Hospital(VA), consider yourself lucky.  That likely means that you have never had a loved one from your group of friends nor family spend time healing from one of the many, many maladies that war causes.

If you’ve never been to a VA Hospital consider yourself unlucky.  That likely means that you have never had a chance to see how many, many veterans who gave it their all now have to hope the doctors and nurses give it their all every day to care for them.  It is quite moving.  Quite moving.

Take that moment to remember.  And, we suggest that the next time you can recognize someone who is currently serving or did serve, go out of your way to say thank you for that service.  You ‘ll be glad you did.  And, they’ll be glad you did.

Get the work done today.  Then enjoy the good life.  You’ve earned it.  So have those who served us.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.

If you’ve been an avid BBR reader from way back in fall of 2018, you might recall a virtual trip that we took around the US discovering some unique names given to towns all across the U.S. of A.  Today we take a look at five more.

Waterproof, Louisiana 

Waterproof long ago was the one place in the immediate region that managed to avoid devastating floodwaters from the Mississippi River.   Tired of the annual Spring floods, residents move to the spot and named it Waterproof.  Unfortunately for farming community of Waterproof the 2008 crops were lost due to an unprecedented drought.   Maybe a flood every once in a while is a good thing.

Bald Head, Maine

Bald Head is named for the cliff of the same name. Does Bald Head Cliff look like a bald head? Nope. Sometimes town names don’t have a unique meaning to match the unique name.   The neighboring town’s name is just as odd.  Ogunquit (which sounds like “a-gun-quit”) is it’s strange handle.  Bald Head Maine is a personal favorite of this writer.

Accident, Maryland

Legend that dates back to the 1700’s has it that two surveyors, Brooke Beall and William Deakins, Jr., both claimed the same piece of land in the then-colony of Maryland. Friends they were as well.  The dual claim occurred by accident.  Deakins let Beall keep the land as he actually filed first.  No word on the safety of attempting to drive though the town.  Can you imagine explaining to the Geico lizard that you “had an accident in Accident?”

Frankenstein, Missouri

In 1890, Gottfried Franken donated land for the community to build a church.  The town then named itself after the donor.  Sorta.   Franken was not a mad scientist either.   Weird.

Worms, Nebraska

Worms was not named for the wildlife.   The name’s origin might follow from the city of Worms, Germany.  That one would be pronounced “vorms” and comes from a nickname for a Roman emperor.   Why did Germany give a name to a town after a Roman by the way?  We have no clue.  It might be a better story if it was just named after the earthworm after all.

Waterproof, Bald Head, Accident, Frankenstein, and Worms.  That’s five odd names for five odd reasons.

 

 

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.  So said William Arthur Ward.  We had no idea who William Arthur Ward was, but an avid reader forwarded this quote to us yesterday.

Turns out that Mr. Ward was an often quoted  writer of inspirational maxims.  During his lifespan more than 100 articles, poems and meditations written by Ward were published in such magazines as Reader’s Digest, The Phi Delta Kappan, and Science of Mind.

We had no idea who Lori Lightfoot was either.  Well that is, we didn’t until yesterday.  Turns out that Lightfoot was elected mayor of the third largest city in America, Chicago, yesterday.  In her victory speech late Tuesday evening she said that her election was a “mandate for change.”  She went on saying “Together we will insure that your zip code will no longer determine your destiny.”

Mr. Ward and Ms. Lightfoot on the surface both sound quite inspirational don’t they?

But we wonder, as a realist, if a mayor, or a government can insure that you, as an individual, or as a zip code can change as her “mandate” of an election speech suggests.

It was John F. Kennedy who asked in his inauguration speech, “Ask not what your country can do for you.  Ask what you can do for your country.”  Sounds like President Kennedy, who I am sure felt like his election was a mandate for change as well, was perhaps more of a realist.

Reliance on government creates a dependency.  When one hopes someone else will help them, they are dependent.  Once in place, and BBR submits its been in place for far too long, it becomes an entitlement.  Hoping is the first cousin of moping.

But, every two, four, or six years too many people in too many elections run on a promise of change, and hope, and dreams.  As a realist, we wish they would run on reality.

Chicago’s very own, the Reverend Jessie Jackson, while concluding the 1988 Democratic Convention warm up speech before a worldwide audience said “Keep Hope Alive!”  In fact he liked the sound of it so much he said it four consecutive times.  Inspirational indeed.

Hope is but an emotional connection.  Post election reality sets in all over again.  It’s nice to keep hope alive.  It really is.  We all like to dream of better days.

Realistically, however, without action, it gets you as an individual, nowhere.  Sorry to disagree Ms. Lightfoot, but you’ll be in the same zip code in four years if you rely on others.