So, how DO I profit from those who think it's ending?

that's the same as land then. You can't grow food without land and he who controls the land controls the food.

Buy US stocks....there is great value if you want long term returns in USD

Figure out what they wouldn't bet on and bet on it. Like the future of Oil economies for example. Or the European property market. Bear in mind:

1. These things may have considerable way to fall still (there's no way to guess the very bottom of the market, so don't try)
2. You'll need to be able to hold for quite a few years.

Thing is, if you buy into a high quality fund that's quite broad, you know that eventually it's going up. Eventually. So if it's gone down recently by 15% then you're getting a 15% discount. Even if it takes 5 years to recover you're still again on others by 3% per year at that rate.

Most countries restrict sale of agricultural land for exactly that reason. Very difficult to invest in as a foreigner, but you can invest in food.

I wouldn't though, as its already at very high levels - again, too late. And nothing cures high prices of food like high prices. If you can buy food (grains, sugar, oil etc) short, that looks like a good medium term (2 year) bet to me

This is also true. I would buy US Smaller Companies funds.

Just buy anything and everything that's undervalued, and then forget about it and come back when the recession is over.
Gold and land are both overvalued right now.

Gold price is never going to come down. In the last 10 years I have never seen Gold suffering much due to market crash. It is definitely recommended.

Land or property would only make sense if there is a demand. Best bet would be to invest in developing countries like Brazil, China, India...or big cities like London, New York.

If you are thinking of long term then the stock market will be your best return. It is never going to stay where it is now. Like every now and then the market falls and it recovers in some time.
My policy is to buy when market falls...coz you get some stocks of reputed companies for throw away prices. Patience is the key though.

To give an example...I bought 100 shares of Infineon when it crashed from 10 € to 3 €. After another 2 weeks it fell down to 0.36 euro cents .
I bought another 300 shares. It took almost a year and a half but it reached 7 € .

The thing is that big companies like Siemens, SAP, Google..etc are never going to go bankrupt..they might make losses but will never disappear.
Also with shares you should remember that once you get a return of 20-30%...sell it off. Buy another one. Patience is the key though.

End of the world pet care services:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/19/...-post-rapture/

Much like a bullet fired into the air....right?
There is no "never" in the markets or in the world. There is nothing new under the sun.

I don't know if this is correct, but I like the theory

Thanks for all the good info in this thread, especially economisto and amogles. If I get rich, beer is on me.

...and if you get the beer, can I have the cans?

Well it's off 5.25% today and is hugely overpriced. The share price of gold mining stocks has not been rising indicating to me that gold will not be above $850 for long.

Gold!

For your wife!


PS: She didn't tell me to tell you that, I swear!

Not gold anyway. It's an awful bandwagon to buy high.

Buy me a beer.

Don't mention it

I was just listening to a program on NPR. they were talking about corn; that it is becoming the new Gold standard of farming.

Rumplestiltskin got it wrong

NPR- http://www.npr.org/2011/08/24/139910...re-commodities

The price of gold dropped.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/92f5f...#axzz1VzxuS4VO

I don't know if this was supposed to be a serious discussion.

GOLD
Gold fell a bit yesterday but it will go up and some of my justification would be as follows:
1) There will be further financial turmoil. Greece will not be bailed out and will go bust and other countries in the EC will follow such as Italy and Spain etc.
2) There will be more demand for Gold from Chinese citizens as they have only been able to buy Gold for the last year and will revert to Gold instead of property when thy realise that Chinese property is a bubble to burst.
3) With Switzerland making arrangements with Germany and the UK Inland Revenue to deduct 19% to 34% of the balance on the accounts of UK residents, it makes more sense to keep your monies in Gold in a safe deposit box.

LAND
Land needs maintaining unless you use it or rent it to a farmer (get little return though).
Governments will need to get tax from somewhere and as fewer people work and those that do work earn less means tax on income will fall. Governments will therefore be looking for tax on capital and therefore taxing land owners will be easy. Undisclosed Gold is therefore safer against tax.

__________________
I do not have friends..........I have contingent liabilities