Inflation? Deflation? Buy Gold

Devaluation ahead? Here's how to profit – again – says a '70s veteran...

CHRIS WEBER – a 16-year old paper boy from Phoenix, Arizona – had just been dumped by his girlfriend, writes Tom Dyson for Daily Wealth.

It was a hot summer that year, 1971, and Chris thought he'd stay at home and read books. The first book he read was Harry Browne's How You Can Profit from the Coming Devaluation.

This book was Browne's first book, and it went on to become a national bestseller. (Now entitled 99% of All You Need to Know About Money and Its Effect Upon the Economy this is an absolutely fantastic book. It's so enjoyable, I read it in three hours and then immediately re-read it.)

"It was a revelation," says Chris. "It is still the best explanation of what money is, and how it develops, that I have ever read. After that, it was 'off to the races...'"

At the time, the world was living in a fixed currency system. The US government had set the Gold Price at $35 an ounce, and foreign currencies were fixed against the dollar. The United States, therefore, had the wonderful power to print paper dollars and tell the rest of the world they were redeemable for gold.

The problem was, the government started abusing this privilege in the late 1960s, inflating the Dollar to pay for Vietnam.

Chris realized the system couldn't last, and sooner or later the country would have to devalue the Dollar against gold. So in July 1971, he bicycled down to the local coin dealer and spent $650 – all the money he had saved from his paper route – on British gold sovereign coins

At the time, it was still illegal for Americans to own gold. Collectors' coins were exempt. The coins cost $12 each.

Chris Weber's timing was perfect. By the end of the summer, foreign governments stopped supporting the Dollar and began asking for Gold Bullion instead. On August 15, 1971, President Nixon closed the "gold window". He cut the link between the US Dollar and gold. That December, Nixon devalued the Dollar against gold by about 8.5%.

"As the price started going up, I started trading. I still don't know how I did it, but when I thought the price was going up too far, too fast, and had gotten ahead of itself, I sold my coins. I waited until I thought the rise was going again...

"By the time I finished high school, I was rich," Chris says.

By the end of the decade, gold hit $850 an ounce and Chris' gold sovereigns were over $300 each. When he saw the crowd piling in, he knew the game was up. He dumped his coins and invested the profits in 20% Treasury bonds...an investment he still holds today.

The paper route was the last job Chris had.

Chris Weber has since made millions from his investments and spent his life traveling around the world. He thankfully records his thoughts on stocks, currencies, and commodities in his Weber Global Opportunities Report. It's a fantastic letter...and I can't recall a major market move Chris hasn't nailed.

So what's he doing with his money right now? One of my colleagues here at Daily Wealth interviewed Chris last week. In the interview, Chris says investors should have protection against both deflation and inflation and says he recently dumped all his stock investments except a few gold mining stocks. He now holds all his money in gold and cash.

"This continues to be a time to be safe and on the sidelines. I believe that the ultimate lows of the stock market are going to be much lower than even today's prices, but it may take years – and months of fake rallies – to get us there."