It’s Friday… which means it’s mailbag day here at The Daily Cut.
This is where you send in your questions about how to profit and protect your wealth. And we publish answers from the experts at Legacy Research.
It’s the publishing alliance behind Jeff Brown, Teeka Tiwari, Dave Forest, Nick Giambruno, Jason Bodner, Tom Dyson, Doug Casey, Dan Denning, and Bill Bonner.
Before we dive in, if you have a question for anyone on the team, email us at [email protected].
This week, tech expert Jeff Brown reveals how users of Google’s Gmail can take back their privacy.
And the guy I call the Indiana Jones of Legacy, Dave Forest, fields a question on silver.
But first, world-renowned crypto investor Teeka Tiwari tackles a reader’s concerns about a turbulent crypto sector.
And Teeka admits that, right now, being invested in crypto is about as much fun as getting a colonoscopy.
Reader question: Is the crypto bull run over? The market doesn’t look good! Will it pick up?
– Qasim I.
Teeka’s response: Thanks for your question, Qasim. I must admit, I’m feeling a little like the crypto markets recently…
Battered… bruised… and tired.
In these times, it’s natural to want to take a metaphorical nap until conditions improve.
I get it. It’s easy to lose sight of where we’re going when the market doesn’t behave the way we want it to. But these lulls are an important part of the overall bull-market process. I call them the “Mid-Cycle Blues.”
There’s an important distinction between mid-cycle and long-term trends…
All bull markets have mid-cycle phases. Prices go down and then go flat. It’s easy to confuse these periods as the start of a “secular,” or long-term, change from bull market to bear market.
I know sitting through these mid-cycle sell-offs is as much fun as getting a colonoscopy. Sure, your doctor tells you it’s vital… But who the heck wants one?
This is my way of saying: Welcome to your crypto colonoscopy.
It’ll be unpleasant… You’ll definitely feel uncomfortable… You’d love to avoid it. But there’s no way around it.
History shows it’s something you must go through if you want to own an asset that can transform your financial life.
I know of no shortcut. I don’t possess the skill to perfectly time each of these mid-cycle sell-offs.
And thank goodness, I don’t need to.
I’ve learned that if I can get the big trend right – and be smart enough to get in early and have the guts to just hold on through sell-offs – the power of the trend over time will do the heavy lifting.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are the two unparalleled assets of their respective use cases. Whether as a store of value (bitcoin)… or for blockchain application development (Ethereum).
Adoption of these assets will drive the value-creation process of the entire crypto space. So now is a great time to take advantage of cryptocurrencies’ discounted prices and add to your positions.
Shifting gears… one of the big themes on our radar is the growing threat to personal liberty from what I call the Surveillance Society.
This is a new form of governance in which the feds have access to a vast trove of data on every citizen – including you, your friends, and your family members.
That’s thanks to the rise of Big Tech…
Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB) are really for-profit surveillance companies disguised as web service companies.
As National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden showed in 2013, there’s a porous membrane between these Silicon Valley for-profit surveillance firms and the alphabet soup of spy agencies in D.C.
This has prompted one of our tech expert, Jeff Brown’s, readers to think about getting rid of Google’s email service, Gmail.
Reader question: I was one of the early adopters of Gmail. It’s been convenient and has many features that work fine for me. But I want a service that isn’t spying on me and selling my data.
I recall you mentioned something in one of your publications about a secure email provider. But I haven’t been able to locate that particular missive. I value your expertise and knowledge highly.
– Christen P.
Jeff’s response: Hi, Christen. Thanks for writing in. I commend you for trying to cut the cord. Google has burrowed deep into our lives by offering convenience in exchange for as much data as the company can extract from us.
Google relies on this data for its advertising revenue. And more than 80% of its revenues come from advertising. The better it can target ads at us, the more money it can rake in from advertisers.
Most users have no idea Google is reading and parsing their emails to collect data about them and their networks of contacts. This is immensely valuable to advertisers. That’s how Google makes almost $200 billion a year in revenues at 67% gross margins.
The good news is there are a few reasonable alternatives that offer greater privacy and data protection.
It’s hard to beat Apple (AAPL). It’s been a far better steward of our data than Google. Its iCloud email is a good alternative to Gmail. An iCloud app is also available for PC users.
Apple encrypts your email traffic. And critically, it doesn’t sell your data to advertisers.
At this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced iCloud Plus. It’s a new subscription plan with extra features to avoid spam and hide your identity from your internet service provider and the websites you visit.
Another contender is ProtonMail. It’s an open-source email service. It focuses on privacy by using end-to-end encryption. Only you and the recipient can read your emails.
ProtonMail’s servers are hosted in Switzerland, which has strict data privacy laws.
It’s important to note… Gmail is just one Google web service that spies on us and harvests our data.
So I also recommend choosing the iPhone over an Android phone… using the Brave web browser rather than Google Chrome… searching online with DuckDuckGo instead of Google’s search engine… opting for Square (SQ)’s Cash App or Venmo over Google Pay… using Apple Maps or OpenStreetMap instead of Google Maps… and streaming videos on Vimeo (VMEO) rather than Google-owned YouTube.
They offer equal or better quality than Google’s services, with remarkably better privacy.
Finally, a question for Dave Forest.
As a trained geologist, he spends his time crisscrossing the world looking for buried treasures.
Here’s Dave in Nevada, examining the rocks in an area the NASA GOLD satellite system indicated was positive for copper and gold.
Legacy’s own Indiana Jones hunting for copper and gold in Nevada
Dave isn’t just a brilliant rock hound… He’s also a genius speculator.
He’s been racking up a string of gains on precious metals mining stocks in our International Speculator model portfolio.
For instance, last year he closed out recommendations on gold and silver miners for gains of 241%… 247%… and 326%.
And one “prospect generator” – a small company that develops gold mining projects for larger mining companies – is up 540% since Dave recommended it in May 2020.
Today, one reader asks Dave about buying silver…
Reader question: Are there ETFs [exchange-traded funds] for silver metal like GLD [SPDR Gold Shares] is for gold? Which silver ETF is the best?
– Steve W.
Dave’s response: There certainly are silver ETFs. The iShares Silver Trust (SLV) is the largest. Earlier this year, it shot to fame when Reddit traders targeted it for a “short squeeze.”
They saw that a bunch of investors were betting silver prices would fall, and they took the other side of the bet.
There are a number of smaller silver ETFs. For instance, Aberdeen Standard Physical Silver (SIVR) and ProShares Ultra Silver (AGQ).
Another option I like a lot is the Prime Junior Silver Miners ETF (SILJ). It replicates the performance of junior silver mining stocks, rather than physical silver. During gold and silver bull markets, the gains on junior stocks can be much bigger than those on the metals themselves.
You can catch up on my conversation with Dave on why junior gold miners are a great buy right now here.
That’s all for this week’s mailbag.
Remember, if you have a question for anyone on the Legacy team, be sure to send it to [email protected].
Have a great weekend.
Regards,
 |
Chris Lowe
July 23, 2021
Barcelona, Spain