put on USD/ILS long - the rate is very low now days... remember my words now its 3.88 ils per dollar.

Small commercial RE, perhaps. Timberland.

You're already so far ahead of most folks. Perhaps your focus should not be staying ahead of the game, but retaining what you already have. Think about preserving wealth, health, and happiness. Exercise, eat right, and stimulate your mind.
good luck to you, jurgen

Cannot say a whole lot but I hear that there are some really good deals outside the country. Just heard about it you know...

Oh trust me I do. That's why I'm considering collectables after swine flue has done it's damage. I'm looking at buying collectables because other people arn't and the price plumets - they are too busy trying not to lose their homes. And selling the collectables in 5 or ten years time. It will cerainly be a different world then, who knows maybe better maybe worse. Holiday home prices are half what they were a year or two ago around here. People don't have to have a holiday home but they do need their regular residential house to live and work - that's where I have my money.

An RS would be nice but cars in Australia, all cars, are hugely expensive. Aussies come over here to buy cars.

Following previous patterns, I'm thinking more like 15-20 years before collectibles come back...and then the items in demand may change because of different people looking for different collectibles. Meaning my generation likes hot cars from the 60's and early 70's...we don't like model T's. Objects wax and wane in style...money doesn't go out of style.

Totally agree and thats what I have been doing the last couple of years. While a nice 917 or Cobra would be nice, the market for these is rather limited. Money or things that can be readily converted or used as money IMHO are better for the near future.

Yes, it certainly is an interesting one. And this year is probably the time to try to figure out what is going to be the thing. One thing is for sure, no great richess are going to be made for quite a while. There was an auction of repossesed near new Ferraris, bentlys, some porsches a short while ago here in NZ and they sold WAY below their valuation. I wouldn't be silly enough to buy one though as I believe that sort of thing has further to fall.

Maybe if swine flue kicks in the commodity to trade in could be cans of baked beans, bottled water and ammo ;)

I have thought about buying a winter home, but I'm afraid the upkeep just wouldn't be worth the hassle. And I agree that I don't think things are going to turn around anytime soon. But those with some cash might be able to pick up bargains that hopefully would appreciate with time.

My current home is bigger than we need but I am having some work done on it to please the wife. I would rather not move at this time and I'm sure I would have to take a beating to sell the place. I'm having the deck on the back of the house redone and enlarged. Im going with something more maintenance free. Also I was able to hire carpenters for a fair price and they showed up right away as there is nothing else going on.

I guess I'm getting more like my grandfather. After living through the depression he definatly never trusted a politician. When he found out the gov. was going to stop making coins out of silver in 65 he started hoarding them. He owned several rent houses and a small store. I remember when I was a kid he would go to the store and clean out the change in the cash register and fill coffee cans full of silver coins. He would then hide them below the floor in one of his outbuildings. When he died in 68 we counted and rolled coins for days. He had over $10,000 hid away. The bank gave us 25% over face value. Not to bad for the time really. He also grew most of his vegtables and would butcher a cow from time to time.

I agree with this. Maybe we should be looking at investing in China?

Viral Genetics, Inc... VRAL
This one is about to explode off the charts!
Taser International, and Uranium Energy Corp. are decent picks too for the long haul...

:) Been doing this for several years. Last time I looked was getting around was getting from 18-23% off of my investments there.

Not a bad plan, especially if you can find something in a desirable-enough area to market it as a vacation rental when not occupying it yourself. I have a couple out-of-state clients that bought "lock and leave" winter homes here. Being in resort areas, they keep them rented out most of the time they aren't here. Since they are vacation rentals (rented on daily/weekly basis) they can have a fairly high vacancy rate and still maintain positive cash flow.