What can an average person do to prepare for and hedge against a sharp drop in the value of the dollar?
369929
Invest in foreign currencies you expect to rise. This can be done either by directly buying that currency or by buying assets (real estate, stocks, bonds, funds) valued in that currency.
301814
one answer: currency risk
739983
Open some free Demo acct's first also there are some good traders here that will be glad to help  http://www.gold-horizons.com/forum/\n \n\nwww.FXCM.com\n \nhttp://www.babypips.com/\n \nHere is a couple good videos to watch,\n\nhttp://www.forex.com/forex-seminars-developing-listen.html\n\nhttp://www.forex.com/forex-seminars-developing2-listen.html\n\nHere is a squido site for fxbootcamp that has several good video, if youll take the time to watch these you can learn a lot.\n\nhttp://www.squidoo.com/fxbootcamp/\n\nI like Oanda for a starting broker because you can trade with as little as 1 cent a pip on the line, of course youll only be making 1 cent a pip. then as you improve you can step it up a penny or a dime or what ever.\nThe only bad thing about them is 50:1 leverage and there spread gets very wide during news times.\n\na short but very good ebook\nhttp://www.robbooker.com/books/Strategy10.pdf\n\nHere is a good site to learn about the indicators. Just look all over it.\n\nhttp://www.investopedia.com/university/movingaverage/default.asp\n \nUse Oanda as a demo account. It doesn't expire so you will have as long as you need to practice.\nhttp://fxgame.oanda.com\n \ncheck out this guy: http://www.robbooker.com/
484812
Um...not to state the obvious, but...it's falling.  Markets do that from time to time, and it doesn't necessarily mean that there's anything significant going on.  It's just a sign that people are unhappy/uneasy/worried/ panicking/ taking out money for other things.  \n\nIf a little blip like this has you on Prozac, you'll be comatose before long.  You have to go into investing with an understanding that we'll go through ups and downs.  \n\nHaving said all that, I'm not convinced that this drop is entirely unwarranted.  As one previous answerer said, inflation is now becoming a legitimate worry.  Greenspan, with his magic wand, is gone.  And we're stuck with all this wild spending our government is doing (and not paying for). We're wondering how it could possibly NOT be inflationary.  (Secret hint: it can't.)\n\nSo, armed with that info, what should you do?\n\nPersonally, I've been keen on investing outside the U.S. for some time now.  And today, with overseas markets falling harder than ours, this may be an opportunity to do some switching.  Of course, if the U.S. dollar falls, we'll probably buy less imports from them, but I doubt if that will plunge the world into recession.  We're big, but not that big.\n\nLonger term, I suggest you vote for politicians that understand fiscal responsibility.  (Secret hint: neither of the major candidates in the last election!)\n\nHope you can hold on through this difficult time.
455422
buy it, its only 13 cents. what do you have to lose. imagine it going back up. its going to go up no matter what in like 10 years. but if it crashes you wont lose much.
661299
Buy a diversified series of HIGH QUALITY, LOW EXPENSE mutual funds. One good piece of advice is that especially when just starting out, owning individual stocks is just way too risky. In many cases, it's more akin to gambling than investing. So go with mutual funds, which are much more diversified, and therefore spread the risk among many, many more holdings. The key, of course, is buying quality. So make sure you hit ALL the asset classes, like Large cap stocks, small/mid cap stocks, international stocks, emerging markets stocks, government debt, corporate debt, hi-yield debt, foreign debt, emerging markets debt, real estate, commodities, and precious metals. That's 12 categories right there, so with $1200, you're talking about $100 each. This is called asset allocation, and it's a step beyond simple "diversification", which most idiots think is buying a hardware tech stock AND a software tech stock.\n\nAdd systematically on a monthly basis. That means make sure you put the same amount of money in every month, no matter what. Soon you won't even care what any of the markets are doing. They're up? Great! Some of my investments are worth more. They're down? Great! Now I'm buying quality investments at an "on sale" price.\n\nThen sit back and re-balance each year, back to your original percentages. Again, this is called asset allocation. It's is very important, perhaps the most important thing you can do with your money. The thinking being, what's BEEN hot is more than likely not going to STAY hot. All markets are cyclical. There's hundreds of years of data to back this up. Yet some people still think they can ride the next hot wave. They usually wind up begging on the street for beer money.\n\nNow, this sort of portfolio should average 8-12% per year, so just split the difference and say 10% on average. Will it do 10% EVERY year? Of course not. I'd be surprised if it EVER did EXACTLY 10%. That's an annual average. With that average, your money should double roughly every 7 years.\nSo, if you're starting with $1200 or so like I said in my example, then in 7 years , even if you added no more money, you should have about $2,400\nin 14 years you should have about $4,800\nin 21 years you should have about $9,600\nin 28 years you should have about $19,200\nin 35 years you should have about $38,400\nin 42 years you should have about $76,800\nin 49 years you should have about $153,600\nin 56 years you should have about $307,200\nin 63 years you should have about $614,400\nin 70 years you should have about $1,228,800!\n\nOf course, if you keep adding money in that $100 a month, you'll become a millionaire MUCH sooner. The key is discipline, and sticking in when markets are up OR down. Don't try to time the market--you'll NEVER get it right.\n\nBy the way, here's a handy formula:\n\n$100/month x 12% x 20 years = $100,000.\n\nSo if you need $300,000 in 20 years and have no idea how to get it, just save $300 a month and you're there. If you don't get 12%, you'll wind up with less naturally. But IF you still wind up with $250,000, I'd call that one hell of a failure.\n\nOh, and if you qualify on income limits (generally, if you're a single filer and make under $90,000/yr), and do this all in a Roth IRA? Then every penny will be 100% TAX-FREE. That's a deal that's too good to pass up. That's why I tell anyone who's under 30--if you make under $90,000, and therefore qualify to do a Roth, you'd be a fool not to. Just having the power of youth (and therefore time) on your side is such an advantage, to squander it would be such a waste!\n\nHope this helps!\n--J.
683837
Do not trade / invest anything below $5\n\nthis includes famous/infamous SUNW
915567
Damn good question, you forgot about the best part, weakness of the dollar. Gold is a fools bet at best, you have to be invested ahead of the crisis, and sell out during the crisis to profit, and vintage lever action Winchester rifles have given a better return over the last few decades than gold. Same thing with other collectables (easy to transport and perishable) that people want to replace what they once had or always desired. Bonds, especially municipal bonds tax-free, are another possibility but again low intrest, yet safe, safe as the dollar anyways. In all practicality, I would say invest in something that will allow you to gain wealth like  your education, real estate that will prosper in a niche market like waterfront or near new mass transit routes, or allow you to do a secondary line of work/at home business such as selling discount goods online, or the like. Put it to work generating more wealth for you. Or you can try stock picking and hope for a multi-national exposed stock or fund, but remember democrats like to punish the "rich", that is anyone who invests what they earn, with taxes on your payroll and your stock dividends/stock sales margins from stock you bought with your already taxed income. Remember even the best stock pickers only average success 50% of the time. Or be like millions of other sucker, myself included, and buy a lottery ticket now and then, that's why it exists, to give us "hope".
229378
MSN.COM has information.  I did a graph of the Euro as an example.  However, most people who play with Forex lose money.  Watch out for the scammers. (See Link 3)
645600
True.  If the Aus$ is going to go down in value, then Austrailia needs to be pay higher interest rates to make up for the loss in value of its currency.
204968
Break it up into two strategies - aggressive and safe.\n\nFor aggressive, invest in a mutual fund of stocks after talking to a stock broker(s).\n\nFor safe, invest in either bonds or an Orange Savings Account CD.\n\nThis all assumes you are an adult and not over 50. If you are over 50, put it all into something safe if this is your only networth source.\n\nIf this is the best answer, please rate it the best answer. Thanks!
1075227
Lynn, \nAssuming that you already have some liquid cash set aside in the event of some financial disaster (recommended 3-6 months of fixed expenses), the easiest (and safest) way to invest with little money is in a mutual fund. There are some fund families that will allow you to invest with as little as $100 if you set up a bank draft with them. Saving this way has been proven to be the least painless way to save because it will happen automatically and you'll be surprised how fast it will accumulate. Another advantage to this style of investing is that you take advantage of a somewhat sophisticated investment method called dollar cost averaging. Basically, you are investing a set amount at a set time each month. On months when the price of your mutual fund is up you will buy less shares of the fund. On months when the fund price is down you will buy more shares of the fund. Over time, this is a great way to lower your average price per share. The final advantage to investing in the manner that I have described is that you are limiting the risk that you are exposed to. One small investment in a mutual fund is actually used to buy hundreds of companies. (That is what happens to the money that you are investing) Because they are able to invest in so many different companies, your risk is spread out among all the companies that are represented in the fund. You'll probably get some people recommending D.R.I.P investments because you mentioned you didn't have much to invest. I would not recommend this because in a drip you are buying a small amount of shares in one company so all your risk is tied up in the fate of that one company. Good luck and save as aggressively as you are comfortable with.
1155977
I do some day trading using TD Ameritrade Apex. They are VERY helpful and have very fast executions. You must have a lot of knowledge before day trading since it is risky and you can lose all your money within minutes. As of right now, I have the command center up and I am already down $41.00 today. It's been very volatile today, I had a gain of $20.00 this morning and I almost had a loss of $90 for a couple of seconds.
842365
Everyone must create his own retirement savings.  You need to save about 15% of every dollar you'll ever make to expect a reasonable retirement.  You need to deversify your investment and maintain a good rate of return (about 8% per annum). Avoid any mutual funds with annual fees exceeding .2%.  Direct investment in stocks and bonds will greatly reduce the expense drain on your portfolio.\nPut 10% of your money into foreign investments.
578646
Forget about equities.\n\nTrade forex!
57182
If you have a trading account you can trade foreign money. Look at the Euro compared to the USD.                                                                           \n       1 GBP  in GBP \n\nEuro   1.45678 \n 0.686444\n\nAmerican Dollar   1.7697 \n 0.565068\n\n\n USD is still strong; if you want to diversify you can trade money. Trade USD to Yen to Euro to USD and make money. \nI suggest you read some books on the subject, know what you are getting into.\nTry this site.\nhttp://www.fxcm.com\ngood luck\nPS\nGold and Bond are good options for “Hedging” safe is the name of the game.\nCalifornia real estate is also good; it may fall down a little. Over all it will be safe.
607862
Not in the near future.  It will continue to decrease for the forseeable future.  A decreasing US dollar will help our exports and support the US economy.