This from Chris Laird at The Prudent Squirrel

Now, next year, I understand that taxes on withdrawals from the last big pool of money out there, tax deferred savings accounts are going up in some ways. Is this a surprise?

For example, with the US running a fiscal deficit of what looks like $2 trillion this year, they have to raise taxes – I mean, they WILL raise taxes. It’s academic. And we have not seen anything yet on that vein either. Wait till the bond markets start rebelling on the huge and ever increasing US Treasury issuances. We have been seeing one week periods this year with $100-200 billion of US Treasury issuances at certain times!

One of our comments to subscribers has been that if you think taxes on your ‘tax deferred’ savings is high now on withdrawals, you have seen nothing yet. They are going to raise taxes more on your supposedly tax deferred savings…

One subscriber considered that, then when he found out they are raising taxes next year on one category of his tax deferred savings, he decided to go ahead and pull the money out in a chunk (a part of it) and pay off his mortgage, so at least he would have a paid off house that he liked; the recent market rally helped that decision he said. Which I personally think is mandatory Financial Survival 101 anyway, having a paid off turtle shell in an area you like. That is the FIRST thing anyone should try to have.

Then of course, gold. In the last 2 years, what market if any is up consistently over 2 years, and up big? Gold is the only one that comes to mind other than T bonds. And of course, that’s logical since gold reacts primarily as a currency, being a key central bank reserve asset in all the world’s central banks, gold rises relentlessly as central banks monetize markets. Gold is at records, or near them, in all major currencies.

Then of course, if you have gold and gold stocks (silver too, but gold is less volatile) in your tax deferred accounts, at least you have a very liquid protective vehicle for your savings.