John T. Reed’s hyperinflation/deflation blog

Ever since I bought foreign currencies in 2012, I check their current prices daily in the Wall Street Journal. Now that we recently acquired gold and silver (both of which I oppose but my wife inherited them), I do the same with those commodities.   But I was looking at the per-ounce prices. We actually own coins. Today, I noticed that the “Cash prices” box in the daily Journal has not only the per-ounce prices, but also the actual coins we own: the American Eagle, $1,262.94 and the “wholesale $1,000 (face value) bag of U.S. 90% silver coins,” $13,120. I...

My book How to Protect Your Life Savings from Hyperinflation & Depression, 2nd edition has a chapter titled “Advance purchase and Sale.” It refers to the fact that if we have inflation, you will wish you had purchased everything you need to the rest of your life before it happened. And if we have depression, which is deflation, you will wish you had sold everything you no longer need before it happened.Is buying everything you need for the rest of your life possible? Milk, for example, does not last that long.Actually, hyperinflation historically only lasts six to 24 months. It...

I had a little adventure in gold and silver that some readers may find instructive. My book How to Protect Your Life Savings from Hyperinflation & Depression, 2nd edition has a chapter on “Gold and other commodities.” When I started the book, I expected to recommend both. I’d always heard gold was THE hedge against inflation. Au contraire. It is “not a factor” to quote one of Doug Casey’s interviews. Logic suggests gold would be great in inflation. Historical reality and a closer analysis reveals it has too many disadvantages. Silver has a shorter, but similar, list of disadvantages. Here...

Readers of my book How to Protect Your Life Savings from Hyperinflation & Depression2nd edition know I advocate putting money in savings accounts in selected foreign countries. Specifically, I own and advocate holding rainy-day savings in AUD, CAD, CHF, DKK, and NZD.   I recently sent five-figure additional deposits to Canada BMO and Westpac in Australia. In each case, I just mailed them a check.   BMO converted it from USD to CAD and made the deposit into my saving account. They did this instantly upon receiving the check and for no charge.   Westpac sent me an email saying...

Jack,   You may already know this, but I have not yet seen you publish anything on it for your hyperinflation topic followers. The FBAR 114 filing date has been changed from June 30 to April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 -- though it is described as a "maximum" extension, so that other tax filing extensions beyond October 15 might not be allowed for the 114.  Here is a link to the notice of the change:   https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/new-due-date-fbars-0