Notes from the Hard Assets Investment Conference

Just a couple of notes from the Resource Investor Hard Assets Investment Conference in San Francisco, but, before that, one more reminder that the special offer at the companion investment website Iacono Research expires tomorrow.

Two Year Subscription - Only $99 per Year

Remember, if you sign up for a FREE 30-DAY TRIAL before the end of the day tomorrow, you will be eligible for the special rate during your entire free trial period.

[Note: You only get one free trial per person, per lifetime (multiple free trials kind of defeats the purpose of this being a subscription service). There have been a raft of repeat requests in recent weeks - from eight months ago to more than a year ago. If you'd have purchased a subscription back then and followed along with even a relatively small investment, you would have made back the subscription price many, many times over. The model portfolio has gained 21 percent from March of this year and 27 percent from last November at this time - you do the math.]

An Updated Watchlist

The most important benefit of having attended the Hard Assets Conference over the last couple days is that an updated Watchlist will be available for subscribers this weekend - after listening to a bevy of company presidents, investor relations types, and other newsletter writers, I came away with a solid list of companies that will be featured in this weekend's update.

It's not clear when new positions will be added to the model portfolio since market gyrations are really getting wild now - actually, this makes for better buying opportunities from distressed sellers who apparently think that since the yen is rising against the dollar, they have to sell their mining shares.

We'll see - maybe something will be added this weekend.

Old Men in Suits

There were more than 200 companies represented at the show - mostly gold and silver mining companies but with a fair number looking for other precious metals or uranium - behind nearly every booth sat old men in suits.

There were a few exceptions, but, for the most part, this is clearly a very old industry that has not yet attracted much of a younger crowd. The audience appeared to be, on average, even older than the company execs, but they were mostly dressed in Sansabelt slacks and comfortable, off-white walking shoes.

There were a few younger folks in the audience who were all dressed up - finance or fund manager types apparently - but they were few and far between. I kind of stood out like a sore thumb with jeans and sneakers, maybe looking like I belonged at the Apple Store across the street. The only other casually dressed younger man I saw was with his octogenarian father.

It was quite spectacle outside the hotel when this crowd mixed with the locals (if you've been to San Francisco, you'll know what I mean).

James Dines, Rock Star!

Speaking of octogenarians (at least according to Peter Brimelow at MarketWatch), James Dines sure gets around pretty good for an eighty year old. Of course, it probably helps if you have three beautiful "assistants" that are not much more than a third your age - that'll keep you young.

The "original uranium bug" was clearly the star of the show - the presentation room would fill when he was about to go on and it was a shame that he only had 15 or 20 minutes to talk in his solo appearance.

You get a completely different impression of the man than in the picture above when you see him in the hotel lobby about to go out on the town with his three "assistants".

Patrick is gonna buy a few gold coins

I was able to sit down for about an hour or so and talk with World famous Patrick Killea of Patrick.net - I think I convinced him to buy at least a couple one-ounce gold coins.

When I used to work at a regular job, I would occasionally bring in two one-ounce American Eagles and place them into the hand of a co-worker and, while they felt the heft of the metal, I'd go on to explain how they are stamped "Fifty Dollars" on their face but you can get 15 times that amount at a coin shop.

Yeah, "Denser than lead", I told Patrick. I just wish I'd brought a couple of coins - I thought we were going to talk about housing but he was more interested in the Federal Reserve, money, money printing, and investments. It was a very pleasant talk.

Bashing the Fed and the U.S. Dollar on Christian radio

I've never heard of the Paul McGuire radio program before - I only listen to Christian Radio accidentally and usually not for very long. But, while scanning to find something interesting on the way home yesterday, I heard voices on the radio bashing the Federal Reserve and begging for a recession (or worse), so I stopped and listened.

The guest was Craig Smith, who apparently is much harder to find on Google, and there was no end to the gloom and doom they were preaching.

I had heard similar talk before (some of it quite scary) - it sounds as though the apocalypse is now dollar-denominated.

More at the Investment Website

There will be more (useful) news from the Hard Assets Investment Conference either this weekend or next for subscribers at the investment website - nothing earth-shattering, just a little more insight into some of the companies in the model portfolio.

To learn more about investing in natural resources using commonly traded ETFs, stocks, and mutual funds, see this description at Iacono Research. Or, sign up for a free trial.