ATS Economics 101

Hi All, Hope Everyone Is OK.
Im looking for some help. First, a little background on myself:
Im 20 next month, and over the four years of my working life I have managed to save £17,000 ($30,000). Now all these savings are in government backed bonds and are (apparantly) 100% safe.

So I have never worried about losing my savings, until recently. Now no-one can take my savings away from me, but if we see hyper-inflation due to all the money being injected into the system, then would my savings be meaningless?!

Here is how I believe inflation effects us (mainly from reading different posts here on ATS, I may have put two and two together and made five though!).

1) More money is injected into the economy, meaning there is more money chasing the same goods.

2) As the price of goods does not increase, then that money is worth less because it takes more of it to buy the same items.

3) Anyone who has saved any money loses out as they earned it when money was 'worth more'.

Ok that may all be wrong, im hoping someone will put me in the right direction. But the second thing is (and heres the CONSPIRACY part!), the elite bankers set up the crashes and pump the money in, whenever they feel like it, and only they know when.

Now everyone on ATS is urging people to buy precious metals so that they don't loose out to hyperinflation. But surely the elite bankers as they know when the crash is going to happen in the firsty place, will begin buying up gold and stocks attributed to gold before everyone else (when it is lower), so that when the price rises they make a bigger profit?

What I'm trying to get at (and sorry if this post is a bit allover the place) is this:

The Elite Bankers will always be one step ahead of us, engineering crashes and falls from one medium (such as paper currency) to another (such as gold), at the precise moment us, the working class are buying into the new medium at the time because it would seem its the best thing to do?

Is there anyway to win!? Is there anyway I can 'beat the sytem' so to speak and not lose out to their manipulation of the markets?

If anyone has any ideas please share them (and help me understand more!), be it either on my particular savings or on beating the sytem. Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

Again sorry if things seem a bit mixed up!

1. You can not fix a debt crisis with more debt.
2. in 1929 we were one of the most industialized nations on earth... 2009 - nada...
3. in 1929, most people supported themselves, in 2009 - we have food stamps
4. in 1929 - we exported most of the goods we produced.... the opposite is true today...

5. So if you think we are out of the woods... well - No Way Jose... its just starting....

ATS ECONOMICS 101....

G20 proclaimed a NEW WORLD ORDER..... theres your answer....

It would seem that your question is a lot like asking how to beat the house in Las Vegas. The house always wins!

I think the answer to your question is that you can't beat them at a game you have accepted as being fixed. So, you should either join them or better yet change the game you are playing.

I would invest in something that if the whole world vanished tomorrow, I'd be willing and able to do all by myself.

You saved over $7,500 a year from ages 16-19? Either you are super smart and have a high paying job, or you live at home with your parents and save most of your earnings from a part time job.

If you are going to college why wouldn't you be investing that in your education?

If no college, just continuing to work, wouldn't you use that as a down payment for a house (or in the case you are living at home with your parents, at least move out and get your own flat?)?

If you aren't going to school & already have your own house, and you have no debt, then you have $30k of truly liquid funds. That money then needs to either semi-secured (as in precious metals, but those prices can drop too) or invested (to grow theoretically, but it's a risk).

Exactly how to do that is the kind of advice you should get from a financial planner, not internet chat rooms.

Im not super smart! I started work at my company at 16 as an apprentice electrician, and go college one day a week. From 16 I was on £167 a week and couldn't spend it alot (wasn't old enough to drink, gamble etc.) so started saving and such.

The savings were supposed to be a down payment on a house (I am living at home), but I am expecting house prices to drop even lower (maybe that is my biggest mistake) so am holding out alittle longer.

Would bricks and mortar be the best option do you think then? The term safe as houses dosn't ring that true at the minute, so was looking for alternatives.

Yes I could go to a financial planner (and am planning to do so), but was after some advice from like minded people who seem to know more in the grand scheme of things.

Originally posted by huckfinn
It would seem that your question is a lot like asking how to beat the house in Las Vegas. The house always wins!

I think the answer to your question is that you can't beat them at a game you have accepted as being fixed. So, you should either join them or better yet change the game you are playing.

I would invest in something that if the whole world vanished tomorrow, I'd be willing and able to do all by myself.

Good Analogy! Like the advice as well. I good join the (but then isn't that the same as selling your soul, and im pretty liking it at the moment). As for changing the game, you mean like just living life to the full and stop being so cautious and worrying about things out of my control (its been said before!).

As for if the wold vanished... I lhave to think about that one!

If no college, just continuing to work, wouldn't you use that as a down payment for a house (or in the case you are living at home with your parents, at least move out and get your own flat?)?

First of all college/university is NOT the only route to being financially secure.

Secondly not everyone feels the need to "own" a house aka be a slave to the bank.

Thirdly why move out when you can continue to save money? In a lot of countries it is not unusual to for people to live with their parents for many years past the accepted age to move out in the US.

To the OP: Well done. Please don't take advice on your finances from this board. It seems like you have a good grip on the bigger picture, but be aware that there are many differing opinnions out there, and they all have some truth to them.

My advice is don't buy a house, millions of people live good, fulfilling lives with out the burden of a mortgage on their backs.

Merigold thanks for that, you seem to be in the complete same mindset as me! I have nver got anything on credit, and cannot bear the thought of owing £120,000 over fourty years of my life!

But with hte risk of hyperinflation etc. I was just worried my savings could grow to be meaningless.

Oh and forgot to mention.. I don't drive. I use public transport. I didn't want to spend £1,000 insurance a year and pay petrol on top of that. That's the main reason I've saved so much! How many people do you hear say that they would be rich if they didn't have a car!?

ANd just for record, Im not hell bent on ammassing a small fortune. By all means I don't want to be the richest dead guy. I find alot other things alot more important and personall wealthy than paper money.

But as long as the world is dominated by growth (which to me is the worst thing imaginable), we all have to make a living, and saving and investing seems to be the best thing in the long run.