REITs: boom or bust

[HFWR]

Mine, too...

About 6% US, 5% intl.

 

[Zer]

...The old adage that I read years ago was that investors should maintain 10% of their portfolio in gold, real gold.  This is done not to make money but to have a safe haven--an historically stable asset--if the world gets hit by an asteroid--or just if something unexpected happens.  Not like that will ever happen to anyone. In our times, many people overlook gold as an investment device.

I'm new here at EarlyRetirement and I'm very interested in gold. Where is best place to go for gold? Happens I am about 10% invested in REIT and have cash equal to about 10% of net worth that I am looking to put somewhere. Was thinking i-bonds at 4.8% but could be seduced by gold. Present gold holdings? One Kruggerand, one Swiss credit, both inherited, tucked away in mint condition. I'm open to advice. -Zer

 

[Zer]

What does everyone think of REITs ?    I've owned them for quite a while now and have done reeeeaaaaallllllyyy well with them !    I have stuff like HCP, FRT, EOP, NNN, and ASN.... Ray

I've been watching CEI since it fell in my lap in 2000. Started buying more shares a year or so ago. Am watching it rise as I exchange comments with a few folks at YahooFinanceCEI, some of whom like it a lot and others yell SELL SELL SELL! I'm not exactly easy with it, as the Annual Report shows rather a lot of Related Party Transactions at a lending rate of 2.52%. But it returns 8%div.

I'm interested in hearing more about REITs, as I teeter on the brink of selling CEI if it hits 20. Why? I bought at 15.5 and 16, so NOT selling seems like a bad decision. I'd plan on picking it up again at around 15 or 16, as I like the return. But I can see that it's a house of cards. Even I can see that in the Annual Report. But what isn't shaky today?

Hey, for some of us, a REIT is as close as we will come to owning real estate! So it goes. -Zer

 

[Nords]

  I'm new here at EarlyRetirement and I'm very interested in gold.  Where is best place to go for gold?

Post at the FundAlarm discussion board to ask Rono & Jughead to guide you to the gold. Make sure to include the term "mutual fund" in your question so that the moderator doesn't delete your post, but once you get Rono's & JH's e-mail addresses they'll deluge you with info.

Rono is a 40-year numismatist and very knowledgable on metals, mining stocks, & coins.

Jughead is a diehard gold investor. I think he also caches freeze-dried food & shotgun shells but his advice mostly consists of thoughtful questions with links to gold websites.