Brief Update

As many of you know Mary and I are on the road again currently in Fort Walton Beach, Florida in our motorhome. There hasn't been much in the way of news to report lately hence the infrequent updates so I'll start out with general observations. The trucks are back. Over the years I have gauged the economy by the number of trucks I can count between mile markers on the freeway. Back in the boom years the trucks were almost bumper to bumper with mile market counts in the 20's. Back in 2008-2009 that dropped off to 10-12 per mile and sometimes as few as 6. The trucks are back in great numbers. Subdivisions in Columbia that shut down back in 08-09 are being started up again under new ownership. Here in Florida the commercial building is almost at a panic pace. The main drag here in Fort Walton is called Miracle Mile. Miracle Mile has new building going up every couple of hundred hours. The stock market is doing very well and I'm at a decision point in my bet on the Dow. DDM is up 17.4% since I bought it in late November. Typically at 15% I'll take my profits and run so I will probably pull the plug on this bet Monday morning. I think this market has more to go on the upside but that last couple of percent will come hard. My bet on Gold however has gone badly and I am down 13% on the GDX miners fund. This has now become a long term investment. I think Gold is being indirectly affected by the currency wars taking place now between the major economies of the world. We are in a race to the bottom and so far the Japanese appear to be winning the race as the Yen is in virtual free fall. I think things are going well for the stock market but, on the other hand, it's getting to be late in the party. Model Portfolio below. 

DDM	100	68.64	80.58	0.54	$54.00	$1,194.00	17.40%
GDX	100	48.63	42.32	-0.28	$28.00	$631.00	12.98%
Total					$26.00	$563.00	4.80%