Hello Everyone,
"Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future." (John F. Kennedy)
I struggle to see how a country’s economy can be moved forward in a positive direction when it is guided by politicians, academics, civil servants, and Rachel from accounts. Where are the people with experience of industry and the ability and knowledge to make the economy grow? The UK seems to have arrived at the situation where, in order to produce, you need permission from those who produce nothing.
We have just finished the political parties’ annual jamboree. This is where the voters have been subjected to runaway dreaming. The time when politicians all start with the conclusion, and work to find pseudo evidence to confirm it, and I am talking across the whole political spectrum. Thirty minutes of exposure to this noise and I start to feel that I am being verbally goosed. For many it must feel like being in a bus with a blind driver, and a brick wall just ahead.
In the past, I have been deeply sceptical about lasting investment benefits coming from Trump’s continuous contradictory utterances. However, some recent confrontational opposition from around the world, in particular China, would seem to be reining back the trading aggression that we have all been facing. I do, however, wish him well with his continuing attempts to encourage peace in the Middle East and in Ukraine, even if his motives may be ‘Nobel Prize’ generated. Nevertheless, bringing the conflicting parties together to realistically seek peace must be likened to trying to herd a bunch of cats. Only time will tell whether he will be successful. Let us hope so.
His America for America approach and his push for the NATO countries to be capable of financially supporting their own defences against Russia has raised quite dramatically the activity and value of the businesses involved in weapons manufacture, energy generation, and defence systems. This in turn has kick-started the funds invested into this arena.
It is now obvious that with AI, a lot of new products and processes are being used and invented for the future, which will involve the use of rare earths and vast quantities of electrical energy. China has a near monopoly worldwide on the sourcing, mining, cleaning and making of these materials usable for manufacturing industry. This definitely puts Trump and America on the back foot. However, he does appear to have broken the legal barriers that previously prevented the exploration and mining of minerals on the USA’s federal lands, where there are plenty of rare earths.
Unfortunately, this will not resolve their immediate problem, as it will take many years before they have home-produced access to converted and usable materials in the quantities required. This may also account for his ducking and diving with Poo-Tin over whether to give more support to Ukraine. There are mineable rare earths in Ukraine, so he wants to back the winning side. It may also explain other incredible claims, including his bid to buy Greenland and his suggestion that Canada could become the 53rd state.
Most of the funds discussed in previous articles, invested into uranium, rare earths and copper mining, are performing well, even allowing for the occasional heart-stopping correction like we have seen over the last week. A couple of companies that I chose more than a year ago, such as Oklo and Geiger Counter, involved in nuclear energy, performed well and then collapsed. So, foolishly as it turned out, I sold. These have now more than recovered their mojo and have more than doubled the original buy price. A case of too much haste and repent at leisure. Still, I am very relaxed about being invested in funds covering this whole new arena.
Recently, gold and silver proved to be good areas for investment, showing up very positively in the Saltydog numbers. Although they have drifted lower over the last month, their performance this year has been staggering. It was fortunate that I bought a number of kilograms of gold all those years ago just after Gordon Brown gave away a large percentage of the UK’s gold stocks at under $300 per ounce. Luckily I still hold this, towards my retirement, or more likely for my girls!
Silver is a recent acquisition, not for political or financial security, but because of its use in new technologies. These will use vast quantities of silver: solar panels, microchips, semiconductors, batteries, energy-carrying cables. In fact, it is one of the materials that make data centres possible. Silver has lagged behind the growth of gold, but recently it seems to have been recognised for its current and future importance. I have struggled to get hold of bullion and so have opted for an ETF. There are plenty to choose from.
I am satisfied with the performance of the funds that I bought and hold to cover technologies for the future, despite their recent setback: HANetf ICAV Future of Defence, HANetf ICAV Sprott Pure Play Copper Miners, Rolls-Royce, VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals UCITS ETF. Of course, there are many more, but for better or worse, these are the ones that I have chosen to run with.
I must make it clear that although I get great interest from researching and investing into the more volatile funds and shares, at the end of the day I still use the Saltydog Tugboat and Ocean Liner for a significant part of my total investment portfolio. They are much less volatile and are performing very well at the moment.
I finish with an observation on today’s media:
“Be aware of your perception. Everything that we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective and not necessarily the truth.”
(Marcus Aurelius, 2nd century A.D.)
It would appear that little changes with time.
"Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future." (John F. Kennedy)
I struggle to see how a country’s economy can be moved forward in a positive direction when it is guided by politicians, academics, civil servants, and Rachel from accounts. Where are the people with experience of industry and the ability and knowledge to make the economy grow? The UK seems to have arrived at the situation where, in order to produce, you need permission from those who produce nothing.
We have just finished the political parties’ annual jamboree. This is where the voters have been subjected to runaway dreaming. The time when politicians all start with the conclusion, and work to find pseudo evidence to confirm it, and I am talking across the whole political spectrum. Thirty minutes of exposure to this noise and I start to feel that I am being verbally goosed. For many it must feel like being in a bus with a blind driver, and a brick wall just ahead.
In the past, I have been deeply sceptical about lasting investment benefits coming from Trump’s continuous contradictory utterances. However, some recent confrontational opposition from around the world, in particular China, would seem to be reining back the trading aggression that we have all been facing. I do, however, wish him well with his continuing attempts to encourage peace in the Middle East and in Ukraine, even if his motives may be ‘Nobel Prize’ generated. Nevertheless, bringing the conflicting parties together to realistically seek peace must be likened to trying to herd a bunch of cats. Only time will tell whether he will be successful. Let us hope so.
His America for America approach and his push for the NATO countries to be capable of financially supporting their own defences against Russia has raised quite dramatically the activity and value of the businesses involved in weapons manufacture, energy generation, and defence systems. This in turn has kick-started the funds invested into this arena.
It is now obvious that with AI, a lot of new products and processes are being used and invented for the future, which will involve the use of rare earths and vast quantities of electrical energy. China has a near monopoly worldwide on the sourcing, mining, cleaning and making of these materials usable for manufacturing industry. This definitely puts Trump and America on the back foot. However, he does appear to have broken the legal barriers that previously prevented the exploration and mining of minerals on the USA’s federal lands, where there are plenty of rare earths.
Unfortunately, this will not resolve their immediate problem, as it will take many years before they have home-produced access to converted and usable materials in the quantities required. This may also account for his ducking and diving with Poo-Tin over whether to give more support to Ukraine. There are mineable rare earths in Ukraine, so he wants to back the winning side. It may also explain other incredible claims, including his bid to buy Greenland and his suggestion that Canada could become the 53rd state.
Most of the funds discussed in previous articles, invested into uranium, rare earths and copper mining, are performing well, even allowing for the occasional heart-stopping correction like we have seen over the last week. A couple of companies that I chose more than a year ago, such as Oklo and Geiger Counter, involved in nuclear energy, performed well and then collapsed. So, foolishly as it turned out, I sold. These have now more than recovered their mojo and have more than doubled the original buy price. A case of too much haste and repent at leisure. Still, I am very relaxed about being invested in funds covering this whole new arena.
Recently, gold and silver proved to be good areas for investment, showing up very positively in the Saltydog numbers. Although they have drifted lower over the last month, their performance this year has been staggering. It was fortunate that I bought a number of kilograms of gold all those years ago just after Gordon Brown gave away a large percentage of the UK’s gold stocks at under $300 per ounce. Luckily I still hold this, towards my retirement, or more likely for my girls!
Silver is a recent acquisition, not for political or financial security, but because of its use in new technologies. These will use vast quantities of silver: solar panels, microchips, semiconductors, batteries, energy-carrying cables. In fact, it is one of the materials that make data centres possible. Silver has lagged behind the growth of gold, but recently it seems to have been recognised for its current and future importance. I have struggled to get hold of bullion and so have opted for an ETF. There are plenty to choose from.
I am satisfied with the performance of the funds that I bought and hold to cover technologies for the future, despite their recent setback: HANetf ICAV Future of Defence, HANetf ICAV Sprott Pure Play Copper Miners, Rolls-Royce, VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals UCITS ETF. Of course, there are many more, but for better or worse, these are the ones that I have chosen to run with.
I must make it clear that although I get great interest from researching and investing into the more volatile funds and shares, at the end of the day I still use the Saltydog Tugboat and Ocean Liner for a significant part of my total investment portfolio. They are much less volatile and are performing very well at the moment.
I finish with an observation on today’s media:
“Be aware of your perception. Everything that we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective and not necessarily the truth.”
(Marcus Aurelius, 2nd century A.D.)
It would appear that little changes with time.
Douglas
Founder
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