In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular. Kathleen Morris

• Real Estate Prices are at reasonable levels.
• Opportunities in foreclosed properties exist with more on the way.
• Mortgage rates are at an all-time low.
• Contact us and inquire about foreclosures or bank owned property.

Also read "Is the Texas Coast an Inflation Hedge"

Paper Money ‘Debased’

“All we can do is to put our money into real assets, because paper money everywhere is being debased,” Jim Rogers, the chairman of Rogers Holdings in Singapore, told Bloomberg Television today.

Gold will be at $1,300 in a month, up from a previous forecast of $1,200, and silver will be at $18.50, up from $16, UBS AG analyst Edel Tully said today in a report. She increased her three-month price forecasts for gold to $1,200 and silver to $17.25.

Gold may reach $1,500 by the end of the year as concern spreads that other nations will struggle with their debt, said James Dailey, who manages $145 million at TEAM Financial Asset Management LLC in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“Every major government in the world has been reckless stewards of their currencies,” said Dailey, who recommends owning mining stocks over physical gold because of the potential for higher returns. “There’s a shift in investor psychology that gold is not a barbaric relic. It’s back to being a monetary asset.”

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold & Silver Index, which includes gold and silver miners, is up 10 percent this year. The index gained 36 percent last year and fell 29 percent in 2008.

Timeless Ways To Protect Yourself From Inflation

In addition to death and taxes, inflation is another phenomenon that we can expect with near certainty over a period of time.

Indeed, the U.S. has gone through many brief periods of deflation, but in general, economic progress is accompanied with inflationary pressures.

Basically, inflation may occur when there is too much money in the system, which leads to an escalation in the price of goods. Of course, if a household's two primary sources of wealth creation - asset and income appreciation - go up in value at a rate equal to or greater than inflation, the negative effects of inflation are removed. Yet as we've seen time and time again, that usually is not the case. The prime indicator of this effect is that while minimum wages have increased, the overall price of goods has outpaced the average salary increases recent years.

So it's important for a household and investors to understand how to invest and plan in a way to ensure that your assets maintain purchasing power. Here are three ways that all individuals should seriously consider to protect their hard earned wealth from the savages of inflation.
• Invest in Stocks
• Invest in a Home
• Invest in Yourself

The Worst Tax
Inflation is often referred to as the worst tax because its effects go unnoticed to most people. Hypothetically, earning 4% in a savings account while inflation grows at 7% makes many feel 4% richer, when in fact they are 3% poorer. Learn to understand the causes and effects of inflation and how you can protect your assets from its hidden tentacles.

The US may be headed for long decline.
• You don't have to follow.
• Americans can avoid income decline by spending less and earning more.

My belief is that, for the most part, the standards of living everywhere else in the world will rise rapidly to meet the standard of living in the United States. However, I also feel that our standard of living here will probably never grow at the same rate as it did in the twentieth century. In short, I think our growth rate will be much lower than that of the rest of the world and may in fact be a slow reduction over a long period of time.

I don’t really think it’s anything to panic about, though. This decline has been happening already for a long time, starting in roughly 1970. Real wages – meaning the amount that people get paid when you get rid of inflation – have essentially remained unchanged since then.
The real change in our financial lives has been the big increase in costs. There are countless services we have today that many of us consider essential – and that we pay for every month like clockwork – that simply didn’t exist thirty five years ago. Cell phones. Home computers. VCRs and DVD players. The energy required to run all of these devices. Internet access.

Non-extortionary long distance telephone access. The vast majority of Americans consider these expenses a requirement – and they didn’t exist in 1970.

My prediction for the future is that these trends continue. Real wages won’t go up, but our expenses will go up.

So what do we do? As always, there are two key solutions for this – and they’re solutions anyone can follow. Plus, they’ll benefit everyone regardless of whether they believe such change is happening or not. And these two key solutions are summed up in one phrase: spend less and/or earn more.

We can spend less by recognizing that we don’t need every service or tool that comes down the pipe.

On a regular basis, step back from your life and look at how you spend your money. Keep track of all of your spending for a month. Then, sit down and honestly evaluate it. Where are you spending money on things that really don’t add value to your life? Then, cut them hard.
Five years ago, I was a cell phone addict. I never went anywhere without it. I was constantly calling and texting people. Over the last two years, I have essentially weaned myself from cell phone usage. Now, I rarely pick it up and, when my contract expires, I’m going to simply cancel the phone and get a pay-by-the-minute el cheapo phone. Why? I realized I didn’t actually need what it provided. What I wanted was connection to the important people in my life – and cell phones didn’t really provide that. The only actual need it fulfilled in my life was additional security while traveling and, on rare occasion, contacting a friend to make sure we were meeting up at the correct time and place. I can do that for a lot cheaper with a prepaid cell phone, so I’m going to make that switch in the very near future.
On the flip side of that coin, we can earn more by improving our soft skills.

What do I mean by that? Think about it this way. There are two very competent mechanics in your town that charge roughly the same price for the same quality of work. One of them is very gruff with customers, doesn’t explain repairs well, and doesn’t provide documentation or assistance. The other one is very friendly with customers, explains the repairs in common terms, and gives documentation to his customers. Which mechanic will eventually have most of the business?

This is true in any field. Everyone has hard skills that they can provide to the world. We’re all good at something – and some of us are good at several different things. When you have your choice among people who are good at a particular task, you don’t choose because of the hard skills. You choose because of the soft skills. Do they communicate well? Do they listen well? Are they organized? Are they responsive? Do they spend their time improving themselves or improving the community?

Those soft skills and attributes pay off regardless of what the economy is doing – if anything, they pay off better in a down economy. That directly means employment for you. That means raises. That means job opportunities.
If you really focus on these two things regardless of where the economy is right now, you can handle almost anything that the future economic situation will throw at you. You’re prepared for it.
We can all have a brighter future no matter what happens if we spend some time today preparing for it. The future is an opportunity, not a place of fear.

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on. - Robert Frost

Survive the down, the upside takes care of itself. – Don Trump

Inflation Rate Behavior
While there has not been a spike in the inflation rate, even when there was talk of the U.S. economy being in a recession, the inflation rate has been moderately increasing. The increase seemed to pick up a bit in the first few months of 2010, which is why when it was announced that the inflation rate for February was a big fat zero, everyone sighed a great sigh of relief. The biggest factor in keeping prices at their existing levels is thought to be the decline in the energy sector. In a close second place, flat-lining prices are also attributed to the decrease in the prices for petroleum products such as gas and oil.

Despite increases in inflation a few years ago and now declines of inflation to very low levels, inflation expectations in the United States are very stable," Bernanke said in Tokyo on Wednesday in a question-and-answer session at a seminar hosted by the Bank of Japan.