The "Safest" Place For Your "Assets"

I'm curious to the investor sentiment here at the forum with respect to the perceived "safest" place for your assets ... aside from my answer being "My Business", what else?

In which vehicle do you perceive the best place to have your assets tied?

If the market declines another 40%, where do you think would be safest? Least impacted?

Please vote and feel free to comment.

treasuries hands down... but not including FRE/FNM bonds even though they're GSE's their bonds are not gov't backed

I was watching a piece on Warren Buffett last night who said that he thinks treasuries and gov't bonds are in a bubble.

Going with an interesting opinion:

I'm going with SFR's in my town, because even if we get this monster inflation they are predicting -- the value of our homes will rise, rents will increase, and what we owe on the mortgage will become inconsequential.

- Hakrjak

very true and betting against Buffett is probably not a bright move but what are the better options for cash at this time? and betting against Bill Gross isn't a bright move and he says the opposite of Buffett.... so who knows?

it's hard to justify real estate, metals or any other hard asset since we're in a deflationary mode... UST's are stable (to a degree)....

so reviewing the list-
Real Estate (all of the above) - you're creating a new biz and deploying cash - maybe that's a good option, but keep in mind hard assets are deflationary until the banking system stablizes.

stocks? this is actually my second choice behind USTs since we are approaching very reasonable P/Es but there is downside risk still. (This is where I am ready to deploy my money)

Other currencies? No way. US$ is still the currency du jour for the world in this global slowdown

taxable bonds? not until equity markets stablize and risk is just as high as stocks but rewards are not so might as well go stocks instead of corporate bonds

municpal bonds? not a bad idea. typically lower rates of interest than taxable bonds but there are a lot of states having budget issues and these fiscal problems trickle right into community backyards

MJ asked where the "SAFEST" place to put money? to me that's lowest risk and that would be UST.

JMHO

Treasuries are literally backed by the full faith and credit of the US government (assuming we are referring to US treasuries, of course), so these would be the safest bet for stability of principal. You might not get much (or any) of a return, but at least it is the safest place to put your money.

I hadn't read Buffet's quote on treasuries being in a bubble, but I find it hard to believe he is saying that treasuries are not safe. He is probably suggesting that the premiums for USTs are a little high because they are in higher demand. My guess is he is saying that these premiums will decline, decreasing the present value of the bond, resulting in a capital depreciation of the asset, ultimately ERODING the investor return, but not hurting the principal itself. But that is just my guess.

Added "Precious Metals" as an option, how could I forget that?

what about oil futures or other commodities?

I struggle with the aspect of "safety".

How many fastlaners are concerned about keeping their money?

As a fastlaner, we should be more concerned with growing it...

Man, I'm not a huge Jim Cramer follower, but I have him on right now -- and he is on a rant. I know that the guy is generally regarded as a leftist, and he just called President Obama a Lenin-ist, and said if he doesn't put his agenda on hold -- The markets will never recover. He is begging Obama to put the brakes on "change"... haha Good stuff!

Cheers,

- Hakrjak

You forgot to add "Mattress".

Seriously though, I would go with cd from a bank in Cayman/Panama/Insert Tax Haven here.

Reason being that these places may see an inflow of cash from the USA since The Saviour decided to hike taxes on the rich, so they'd be pretty stable.

I'm still liking stocks. I'm up nearly 5% again today.

With the way things are going now; I think a safe bet would be ammunition.

Its only going up in price and is hard to find.

Real estate takes my vote in the US. Foreign currencies or foreign real estate sound even better.

I voted for Government Securities (Treasuries, GNMA's) although am thinking of TIPS and not treasuries.

If things continue to get worse man, you're going to need to be USING the ammunition, forget about selling it. haha

I'm surprised we haven't seen the rifle make an appearance on the nightly news yet.

- Hakrjak

Funny that you post this, I was just reading Tim Ferris' blog and he wrote about this:

How to Be Jason Bourne: Multiple Passports, Swiss Banking, and Crossing Borders

Have you tried to buy an AR15 lately?

Diversification - you should put half of your money in your mattress and bury the other half in the backyard - Colbert Report

Were you serious about the safe with guns? How much are AK's going for now, if u can even buy em here?

What's glock going for?