Demand For Gold A Reason To Invest Now

Have you seen those ads on television asking you to turn in your scrap gold for cash? That's because current demand for gold is outstripping its supply.

That kind of ongoing situation makes it advantageous for those who buy gold now as an investment and wait for its price to climb. It's just a matter of supply and demand.

One report puts gold mine supply is roughly 2500 tons per year and traditional demand (jewelry, industrial users, etc.) has exceeded amount. Moreover, this report indicates that mine capacity is expected to shrink.

As an investor, you can get yourself into this exciting and potentially lucrative aspect of the economy.

Through the Monex Deposit Company (MDC) you can purchase silver, gold or other precious metals and coins for immediate personal delivery or arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository.

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Does Silicon Valley Really Have 'It'?

Many observers have long claimed there is something special about Silicon Valley that promotes entrepreneurship. Are these claims true? Is Silicon Valley more entrepreneurial, and if so, is there a special "it" factor, or are the rates due to factors already known to produce entrepreneurs? A study released by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration answers these questions by showing that while high, Silicon Valley's entrepreneurship rates are not unique, although the factors that drive them may be.

"There appears to be something special about Silicon Valley," says Chad Moutray, chief economist for the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy. "Controlling for the factors we know contribute to entrepreneurship still doesn't explain what has happened in the Valley. While not the highest in the country, Silicon Valley's consistently high rates of entrepreneurship appear to bedriven by factors that have yet to be measured."

Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley during the Boom and Bust, written by Robert Fairlie of the University of California Santa Cruz with funding from the Office of Advocacy, examines the reasons for the rates of entrepreneurship in the dot com boom and post-boom periods.

The study found that Silicon Valley's entrepreneurship rate, asmeasured by the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, was consistently higher than the national rate during the dot com boom of the late 1990s. However, several other metropolitan areas had higher rates of entrepreneurship during the same period.

The Silicon Valley rate rose in the post-boom period, suggesting thatthe tight labor market, high wages, and available stock options suppressed entrepreneurship. After controlling for factors such as education andnative/non-native birth, the Silicon Valley rate remained high, lending credence to the idea that Silicon Valley has a special, unmeasured factor that drives entrepreneurship.

The Office of Advocacy, the "small business watchdog" of the federal government, examines the role and status of small business in the economy and independently represents the views of small business to federal agencies, Congress, and the president. It is the source for small business statistics presented in user-friendly formats, and it funds research into small business issues.


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Report: Workers Should Have More 401(k) Information

Over the past two decades there has been a shift in the types of retirement plans employers are offering employees. Employers are increasingly moving away from traditional defined benefit plans to what has become the most dominant and fastest growing type of defined contribution plan, the 401(k).

But as workers come to more heavily rely on 401(k) plans for their retirements, they to have more information, as well, a government audit finds.

Now, 401(k) plans represent the majority of all private pension plans; they also service the most participants and hold the most assets, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO is the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress. These plans offer a range of investment options, but equity funds—those that invest primarily in stocks—accounted for nearly half of 401(k) assets at the close of 2005. Most 401(k) plans are participant-directed, meaning that a participant is responsible for making the investment decisions about his or her own retirement plan contributions, GAO notes.

"Inadequate disclosure and reporting requirements may leave participants without a simple way to compare fees among plan investment options, and [the U.S.] Labor [Department] without the information it needs to oversee fees and identify questionable 401(k) business practices," the report says.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 requires 401(k) plan sponsors to disclose only limited information on fees, GAO notes.

"Participants must collect various documents over time and may be required to seek out some documents in order to get a clear picture of the total fees that they pay. Furthermore, the documents that participants receive do not provide a simple way to compare fees—along with risk and historical performance—among the investment options in their 401(k) plan," GAO adds. "The information reported to Labor does not identify all fees charged to 401(k) plans and therefore has limited use for effectively overseeing fees and identifying undisclosed business arrangements among consultants or service providers. As a result, participants may have more limited investment options and pay higher fees for these options than they otherwise would."

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Coin-collecting for Grownups

I started out an interest in coins and precious metals at quite a young age.

You see, when I was just a few years old, one of my grandfathers sent me a small silver bar as a present and I held onto it for years, thinking it was just the most valuable thing.

As I got a little older, I collected pennies and a I kept them in those trifold holders. I was thrilled when I got coins that were older and older, collecting a few from the first decade of the 1900s.

My fascination with coins continued when another grandfather, a World War II veteran, gave me some international coins he had collected during his travels in the war.

Coin and metal collecting is a much bigger deal than it seemed when I was a kid.

Through a coin dealer known as Monex Deposit Company (MDC) you can purchase silver, gold or other precious metals and coins for immediate personal delivery or arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository.

Little did I know when I was a youngster holding onto the bar my dad's dad sent me, but silver is a top investment opportunity. Worldwide demand for silver exceeds production, and has for nearly 20 years. Above ground stockpiles of silver bullion are low, approaching zero. The U.S. government, once a seller of silver, is now a buyer.

Many analysts feel that silver, and specifically US silver coins, presents an outstanding investment opportunity.

This was a sponsored post.


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