Jeff’s BSG Portfolio

Ahhhh. April in Paris. The first snowfall in New York. London at Christmas.

To that list of superlative times to visit superlative cities, I will add: Dublin in October.

No one has ever said that—probably.

But I am headed to the Irish capital in October for a unique event I’m hosting: The Future of Wealth Summit. (Full details here.) Its aim: To help folks prepare their financial and personal lives for the changes coming to America and, specifically, the US dollar over the remainder of this decade.

Now, at this point you might expect me to launch into a sales pitch for the summit. I am not going to do that. (Though I do feel confident that my managing editor is going to sneak a plug in somewhere near the bottom of this dispatch.)

Instead, today’s dispatch is tied to an “Ask El Jefe” question I received from Jon, which itself is tied to the Ireland event. Jon’s Q:

Most of us (middle income & retirees) cannot afford a trip to Ireland and have any money left over for investments. Is there any place for small investors to get some protection in the coming US money crisis? I really believe it has to happen! And sooner than later.

Jon is not wrong.

It has to happen.

There are really no two ways about it.

As I’ve pointed out a number of times in recent weeks and months, the Trump administration wants a weaker dollar. That’s a stated desire—not me politically pontificating. In that pursuit many a risk lurks—including the non-zero possibility that purposefully weakening the dollar leads to the unintended consequence of the dollar losing reserve currency status, which will then cause a nation to drink heavily to sedate the very real pocketbook pain.

But beyond that, there’s simply the fact that American debt represents a different vector into a fiscal crisis… as does the ongoing effort among numerous countries to move away from reliance on the dollar as the medium of trade, which pushes the US into a monetary crisis.

And there’s Trump-land talk—as amorphous as it might be still—that maybe America will force Treasury bond holders abroad to trade in their existing bonds for zero-coupon century bonds that pay no interest until the paper matures 100 years hence. That would erase a trillion dollars per year in interest payments… but technically it would be a default, and the gates of hell would burst open and the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz would descend to disrupt American life in nasty and untoward ways.

With that as a happy backdrop, on to Jon’s question.

Yes, there are places where small investors can get some protection.

Three assets in particular I talk about all the time: Bitcoin, Swiss francs, and gold.

I think I’ll call that Jeff’s BSG Portfolio.

To be clear: For everyone who will attend the event in Dublin, I will have much deeper strategies for surviving and thriving the path ahead. And there will be several other speakers who will talk about other asset classes/opportunities as well. (Again, you can find full details about the event when you click here.)

But for the sake of those who cannot attend for whatever reason, Jeff’s BSG Portfolio is your insurance policy.

Bitcoin is an anti-fiat currency asset. No one and no government controls bitcoin, so no one and no government can erode the value of bitcoin by, say, tapping a few computer keys to willy-nilly print a trillion more.

Moreover, governments and institutional investors all over the world—including staid insurance companies—are piling into bitcoin as a preservation asset, since they too are fearful of the risks the dollar now faces.

The Swiss franc is the safest currency in the world, and has been a safe-haven asset since World War I, when Europeans with money were fearful of local governments confiscating wealth to afford the machines of war.

The franc is much too small to ever serve as a global reserve currency, but it is the best managed currency on the planet, Swiss debt is effectively pocket change relative to Swiss GDP, and the franc remains the currency to which savers flee when times are treacherous.

And gold… well, it’s gold.

It has been the savior of mankind’s financial stupidity since man started acting finically stupid thousands of years ago.

Indeed, the very reason that gold has soared to record highs in the $3,500 range recently is precisely because of increasing worries about the dollar and where the highly overindebted global financial system is headed.

Gold, I am convinced, will see $10,000 per ounce before it ever sees $1,000 again.

So, I want to own gold because it will once again save the world from Western governments and their financial stupidity.

How to buy these assets—that’s always the follow-up question.

Buy bitcoin directly through a crypto exchange such as Coinbase, Kraken, or Gemini. Or if you don’t want that kind of hassle, buy the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (symbol: IBIT) through any brokerage firm. This is also the best way to own bitcoin inside an IRA.

You can buy Swiss francs as an ETF as well using the Invesco CurrencyShares Swiss Franc Trust (symbol: FXF). It’s just an exchange-traded fund that holds nothing but Swiss francs.

Or you can head to Moneycorp.com—use International Living’s affiliate link here (IL may receive a fee)—and convert dollars into francs and just leave them in your account, untouched. You won’t earn any interest, but you will be holding francs instead of dollars.

As for gold, the most cost-effective way to own it is through an ETF as well. In particular, I am a fan of Sprott Physical Gold Trust (symbol: PHYS). It does nothing more complicated than hold physical bars of gold in an audited Canadian bank vault.

Unlike other ETFs, it doesn’t borrow or lend gold, which can create a world of hurt for shareholders. In a crisis—like something causing gold to unexpectedly soar—the custodians and sub-custodians responsible for the borrowing and lending activity are at risk of collapse. And if that happens… whoa, Nelly.

Anywho, Jon… that’s what I would tell you to consider as your insurance policy in the event that the dollar does a bad, bad thing.