Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse (Lynn Sonberg Books)

Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse (Lynn Sonberg Books) | Peter D. Schiff, John Downes | He was right.

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Crash Proof: How t...

	Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse (Lynn Sonberg Books) Peter D. Schiff, John Downes Wiley, 2007 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 249 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Super!

If life were a Back to the Future trilogy, Crash Proof would be the Grays Sports Almanac. Instructed not by the license of a science fiction fairy tale, but rather by a sincere understanding of the natural world, Peter Schiff lays forward a recipe for sensible financial judgment. A true gem floating in murky waters.

As the great Ludwig von Mises reminds us: "Marty! I didn't invent Austrian theory for financial gain. The intent here is to gain a clearer perception of humanity: where we've been, where we're going, the pitfalls, the possibilities, the perils and the promise."

Hey, Doc, we're all for that. But what's wrong with making a few bucks on the side?

Today we exist in something of an alternate 2008; our markets are controlled more by the imagination of men than by nature's order. Order will speak, and this too will pass. Join Peter on his journey of truth, as he dials in on modern day America. Learn how you can safely get out of the villain's '46 Ford and avoid crashing into the manure truck of financial ruin.

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He was right.

The current news explains it all. The man was right. This book reads almost like a blueprint for news that was to come months later.

I've used Peter's strategies to make money shorting financials and buying metals at various periods during the last few weeks, and I'm continuing to follow strategies he has outlined.

If you pass on this book, don't say you weren't warned. It's one of the most important books for an American family to have in its library.

Peter gets it.

Peter has been right for years even in the face of overt ridicule. This book is not just for the average American, it's a global reference.
He backs up what he teaches with fact and doesn't act like another talking head.

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Responsible and Accurate

Peter Schiff has produced a truly remarkable book that serves as a roadmap to intelligent and efficient investing.

As some misinformed pundits liken Peter to a professor of "doom & gloom," that representation couldn't be further from the truth. Most of these type books do nothing more than bore you for hours, advocating for the reader to sell everything, buy gold, and build a bunker with 1 yr supply of canned soup. Unfortunately they are unrealistic; especially since I (and a great many others) would much rather die a quick death, than to be without a Blackberry for more than an hour.

Instead, Crash Proof is a fair and accurate depiction of our most recent financial era. Peter highlights the failed government policies and culture of rampant careless spending that has brought us to the economy we have today. His insights on investing to survive the economic downturn are very well thought out and responsible. The concern for the US economy is very real and frightening, as he articulates throughout. But as his philosophy is commonly perceived as being bearish, I would have to disagree with that assessment. He is an intelligent investor who has a thorough understanding of history and economics, and his recommendations reflect that comprehension of our world economy, and the direction it is heading.

As an investment professional myself, I recommend you do 2 things along with reading Crash Proof. 1) Visit [...] and browse all the priceless information on the site. For anyone with a speck of interest in economics and investing, there are few (if any) websites that can compare. I visit daily. 2) On YouTube, search: "Mortgage Bankers Speech." This will bring you to clips of the 2006 Mortgage Bankers Conference where Peter was a guest speaker. As you will see, he was warning about subprime before 99% of financial professionals even knew what it was.

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Crash Proof? Not Quite

There are things to both pan and praise in this book. On the pan side are the self-contradictory or perplexing statements sprinkled throughout the book. One page 153, Schiff states that "rising stock values are not savings..stock appreciation can be accessed only if the owners borrows against it or sells it". What kind of nonsense is this? No asset can be "accessed" unless you borrow against it or sell it other than cash! (And cash is only valuable because you can use it to buy assets and products.) So, not only is the claim ridiculous but of course he later contradicts himself when he claims that you should purchase equities (preferably through his firm).

The reason I entitled my review "Crash Proof?" is that as I write this, commodities and foreign stocks which he recommends over US stocks, have plunged far more drastically over the past several months than even US stocks. His premise that one should shun US equities in favor of foreign ones may or may not be a long term winner, but they certainly are not "crash proof".

My final criticism is that every one of his charts (and there are many) are taken from David Tice's Prudent Bear site. I hope Mr. Tice is getting royalties as he obviously has done the heavy lifting here. I can't recall reading a book where every chart or graph was lifted from a single source. Certainly serious scholarship is not to be found here.

On the plus side, the author makes a compelling case that foreign equities should be a hefty component of an investment portfolio. Even if one is unwilling to accept his argument that all American assets are doomed (which I am unwilling to do), every serious investor needs substantial exposure to foreign stocks, real estate and alternative investments in their portfolio. Mr. Schiff dismisses mutual funds for several reasons some legitimate, some not. ETF exposure deals adequately with most of his objections and of course there is no proof provided that Euro-Pacific's stock picks have outperformed any particular foreign index.

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