When looking to diversify into other currencies you need to consider a few things:
1) how politically stable is the country
2) what are the public and private debt levels of the country
3) does the country have a consumption or production based economy
4) what is the country's track record on deficit spending
5) what is the central bank's track record in direct currency intervention
6) how open and free is the economy
Personally I own CHF, CAD, AUS, gold and silver directly. Unless humans do a u-turn on 6000+ years of adoring precious metals, the latter two will never go to zero, while any fiat currency can, and possibly will go to zero eventually. Bear in mind that our current world wide fiat system is only 40 years old and has caused more economic havoc than anything else. I hold these assets not as investments but in order to preserve wealth.
I also have exposure to Nordic and Asian currencies through equities, and significant exposure to oil, gas, base metals and agricultural products through equities.
Bottom line is that I do not trust politicians or central bankers. Countless commentators glorify the success of central banks like the Federal Reserve. But all you have to do is scrutinise its number one mandate, i.e. provide price stability, and the fallacy of this glorification becomes evident. In 98 years the Federal reserve has kept prices stable by decreasing the value of the dollar by 97%, i.e. prices have pretty much gone up 33 fold.
We have recently launched a safety first portfolio [broken link removed]
Marc, could I ask you whether this product provides any safety against the devaluation of the Euro?
