Watch out for Gold – My Prediction will prevail

April 1st, 2008 Vijaianand No Comments »

Exactly one month ago, I posted a blog about “Whats up with GOLD?” In that post, I took a deep dive on Gold taking you all on a history ride and following the price rally for the past 8 months. I also gave my prediction and sugestion on the yellow metal. It seems like my prediction is not too far enough to come true. Actually on March 23rd Radio show, I exactly predicted that it will come down around $860-870 in this weeks.



Just look at today’s Gold spot price.It had hit hard enought to touch $883 a ounce. Check out the chart below for a week period.
It was at $940 an ounce last Wednesday shooting up to $951 to pullback now to $883.41. That’s a pretty good drop of $57 which is around 5%. Check out today’s drop too.

Before last week, it had major pull back to $920 from $1033. The slow decline of gold prices can be attributed to many encouraging news. Dollar is gaining strength over different currencies. Crude oil prices has been fluctuating between 110-100 back and forth. Also the stock market is not seeing any big blows and financial stocks seems to be gaining some good strength.

How long it will lost?!

That all depends on the current economical conditions. If the dollar continue to gain strength, supply and demand balances out, the metals might lose base and continue to drop. But it doesn’t looks like it. The temporary niche for dollar might not stay for long. So dollar might go down shooting the oil and GOLD prices up. If Dollar appreciates and Gold drops below $800, thats a critical warning sign but there is no sign of happening.

Is it a good time to buy?

With the good stock market run up for the past 2 days set by oil price and some favorable news, gold might continue to see its decline to $840 range. May be its a good time to jump in for a short term investors. You can buy bullion’s or Gold Stocks or GOLD ETF’s. But for long term investors, I don’t know what to say. It all depends. How long is your investment? Is it a part of your portfolio? You have to consider all the things to make a decision. No definite answer. If it goes down below $800 as I predicted, I might buy it..

Here is some analyst have to say:

“But now, as the dollar is staging somewhat of a comeback, even if a temporary one, the niche is being drained of money quite fast,” Nadler said. With perceptions that the credit freeze might be thawing, hedge funds appear to be turning away from until now ultra-hot commodities, he said. “I’d look for further selling into the $870 level at this time Culminating a tumultuous quarter, the benchmark gold contract lost $15, or 1.6%, to end Monday’s trading back at $921.50 an ounce.

“Given gold’s recent movements, the yellow metal will remain vulnerable to selling pressure in the coming sessions,” said James Moore, analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. In a research note, Moore cited how the second quarter’s “traditionally weaker than the first due to general market cycles.”

The dollar extended gains Tuesday, gaining more than 2% against the yen as stocks soared after the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index unexpectedly inched higher, suggesting to some that the U.S. recession could be mild. See Currencies.

Is it a good buy?!


So watch out and keep an eye for the right time to jump in. I will also try to keep you guys updated.

Tax Refund – What did you do?

March 28th, 2008 Vijaianand No Comments »

“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” – Benjamin Franklin



I hope many of you by this time filed your taxes some might have gotten your tax refunds. Unfortunately some of you might not be in the receiving end and owed to Uncle Sam. According to me, almost all the time you should be able to get a refund if you plan and file properly. I never paid Uncle sam, always got refund atmost break even. Anyways, that’s a different topic altogether.

Did you get a tax refund?!

Don’t think its a free money, its your money and you own it. I know its pretty exciting to get a big chunk of change at this time of year. Many already have plans for it. Whatever plans you have please make a wise decision and use it properly.

What did I do?

Let me tell you what I did. I got my refund 2 weeks ago and planned to pay part of my 0% balance transfer credit card debt. You might wonder how come I have a debt? Everybody has debt and its a good thing if you manage it well. My debt on 0% balance transfer card is about getting free money for a year and leverage it to invest on real estate or Cd’s to get a good gain from it. If you are smart, you can do the same. Don’t throw away your free 0% balance transfers offer. You won’t find them these days because of credit problem.

If you do get those deals, select a good card with $0 balance transfer and put the money either in Cd’s or invest on good vehicle like Real estate. That’s one way of getting free money without no interest. No body lend money for free these days. So I plan to use that refund to pay off my debt but I am not doing it immediately.

I opened a WAMU CD account which is going to pay 4% interest on 6 months CD until 2 days ago(not anymore). Then take it out and payoff the debt. Why did I do that? I know I still have time to payoff my credit card debt till Nov. What is the benefit I am going to get by paying it off now? SO I leveraging the time and money in my favor to gain every penny of it. Hope you got the point.

What you can do?

I would suggest you to think twice before you make a decision. Jot down your current situation and list the options you have and take the right step. These are my suggestions:

1. If you have a high credit card debt, just pay it off or reduce the amount by paying it off.

2. If you don’t have any CC debt, paying off your Auto Loan or any personal loan which might have interest rate higher than CD can yield. Don’t payoff your Home loan unless its closes off your loan.

3. If you don’t have any debts, think about short term needs. If you don’t have short term emergency savings.

Start one right now with part of the amount as CD. Then use the other part to either add to your IRA account or kids education account. If a vacation is long due, plan for it but put this money as CD for that time being.If you planning to jump to any investment vehicle and test the water. Don’t dump all the amount into it. First test the waters with small amount and once comfortable start adding it in slowly.



To conclude, Money doesn’t find us easily. If it finds its way, don’t let it go easily.

Savings made simple and easy…

March 20th, 2008 Vijaianand No Comments »

Saving is a habit and not a hobby. Let me start with that note. You might have read lot on “How to Savings?” over the Internet. They always suggest some hard to follow strategies that doesn’t fit to all type of people. I am share my simple, realistic, and ideal plan which sure won’t turn you down on your thoughts about savings. So go and read on… Whether you are looking to save small for your IPOD or little bit more for a new car or bigger amount for your first home. Let me tell you first thing you should know.

Savings is hard and never comes off the cuff. Not many of you like to hear that but Sorry that’s the truth. You should first and foremost realize that fact. I always like to expose the truth/fact first so one can understand before diving deep in it. When I was kid(6th grade), my mom showed the value of real money. She taught me about how to save every paise(Indian currency equivalent of penny). I started my first savings bank account when

I was doing my 7th grade and started putting every rupee(Indian currency equivalent to dollar) I earned. That’s the foundation for my savings and spending habit. If you don’t have that Saving habit built into you, its going to be hard to start with but it was never tough act. Anything is possible under Sun and above earth if you ask me. It’s just needs your determination and to make it habitual by constant practice.

A quote by Frank Outlaw goes very well at this point.
“Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”

You need to first cultivate the thought about Savings. Then talk about it to your spouse or friends anytime you talk about money or expenses. Then act on it by following any or all of 3 methods.

Prerequisite: Open a savings account either with Internet banks or local banks with just minimum deposit of $1. Credit unions are best for small saving accounts.
1. Start putting your change(pennies or dimes) which you gather every day or week in a piggy bank or a simple container. Every month, take the change to near by bank and deposit it to your bank account.

2. On every ATM withdrawal, take $10 out of it and put it away in the secret compartment in your wallet. Don’t ever touch that whatever comes. At the end of the month, take it all out and deposit in your savings account.

3. I call this one it Blind savings – Put away a small amount from your paycheck automatically as a Payroll deduction or auto deduction from your checking account to your CD or Savings account.

Once you start taking actions. Everything falls into picture automatically transforming yourself and the savings habit gets built slowly into you. Once you got the habit, it comes off the cuff without even thinking about like your second nature.

Don’t think its not possible. You already took your first step thinking about it on the path towards making savings a habit. So start working your next step by talking and taking action.

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