Fed chief Alan Greenspan continues to promise measured and modest rises in interest rates. His public stance is that this will suffice to keep the economy perfectly in synch. We certainly hope he’s right when he suggests productivity gains and lower energy prices will lead to a… Read More

When inflation starts to rise, gold mines become, well, a gold mine   We’ve said it before: last decade’s stupendous bull market in the tech-heavy Nasdaq—which soared from 323 on Oct. 31, 1990 to its high of 5100 on Mar. 31, 2000—was not the… Read More

When prices are rising, people look for their fun closer to home   Evidently, we all just want to have fun. At least that’s the message of one of the strongest economic trends of the past 50 years—the growing amount of money Americans spend on recreation. Read More

Major producer Impala offers a high yield and inflation protection   With inflation protection becoming increasingly essential (see front page), we’re adding leading platinum producer Impala Platinum, aka Implats, to our Income Portfolio this issue. Offering a 4.5 percent yield, Impala is one of… Read More

A Vanguard fund expands its mandate and re-opens its doors   As the front page article discusses, all investors should own some precious metals stocks as an inflation hedge. Our FundFolio includes one terrific gold fund: Tocqueville Gold. With an investment minimum of $1,000,… Read More

It’s a high-risk play with enormous upside potential   Elsewhere in this issue we’ve hit hard at the theme of inflation-proofing through precious metals. There’s no reason to exempt FundFinds. To select an appropriate stock, we were particularly interested to see which precious metals stocks are… Read More

Two aggressive software plays on one of tech’s hottest trends   One of today’s hottest technology trends is the movement toward open source software, particularly Linux. Unlike closed source programs—notably Microsoft’s closely guarded Windows operating system—Linux source code is an open book. Users around… Read More

Private equity investing ties up your money, but the returns can be great   It’s certainly not for everyone. But if you have significant assets—a portfolio of $2.5 million or more—or hope to get to this level, you should know about private equity investing.  … Read More

Pat Gelsinger: Amending Moore’s Law   Pat Gelsinger isn’t exactly a household name. And we don’t know his views on the market, on interest rates, on a whole lot of things we’d normally care about. But recently Gelsinger—technology chief for Growth Portfolio member Intel—made… Read More

An options strategy that is perfect for the faint of heart   Options don’t have to be speculative. Believe it or not, they can be part of a conservative strategy—such as the one we describe below: covered writes. But first, some basic vocabulary.   There… Read More