Sunday, January 3, 2016

Book Review: The Death of Money

The Death of Money
The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System
By James Rickards

Kindle Edition

I like to read books that don't always paint a rosy picture of how a future retirement might end up.  Th is book is not written specifically for retirees but simply those who want to know what may happen to their financial security.

I have read this book twice.  Once a year ago, and then just this week as a reminder of how truly difficult it may be to plan for the future since as individuals we are not in full control of what may happen to our financial situation.

If you want to have a very good understanding of what is happening to our money as you watch prices increase on items you consume while some items seem to get less expensive this book should help you understand the dynamics of monetary policy.  That sounds boring doesn't it.  How about we just learn what they are doing to steal our hard earned savings with sleight of hand.

You'll learn how few people actually understand what is going on with our money, even those tasked with managing it.  That should scare you as it does me.

His prediction is one that we often hear nowadays, one of financial calamity and few good options. Add to this an unknown timeline and murky final outcomes other than a loss of wealth, loss of liberty, and lots of distress.

Finally, he prescribes a number of ways to protect yourself from this future in terms of investments.

One of course is owning Gold while another is owning land in the form of farm land or unimproved land, art - the expensive kind so that is out of my league,  specialized investing in commodities and other hard assets, and finally Cash.    To get the details and not spoil the book for you I recommend you read it and if you must skip the core of the book go to the conclusion and find the section on how to protect yourself.  I read the whole book and think if you can get yourself to do it you'll not regret the insight it offers on what is coming for your finances.

Five Stars Rating *****
This is one of the best financial books explaining modern money that I have read.  I highly recommend it.  It is popular enough that you might find it at the library.