The S&P 500 continues to hit new all time highs, but is your portfolio built on a house of cards? The politics to kick the proverbial can down the road may unleash dynamics that could be hazardous to your wealth. Here's why and how to protect your portfolio.

4 economic conditions need to be in place for interest rates to rise ahead of – and independent of – the Fed’s forward guidance. The economy met only one of those conditions to date but will likely meet all four by the end of the year...What follows is a status report on the four conditions.

Precious metals shares are breaking out again after a brief consolidation. It’s time to channel your inner Old Turkey, realize this is a bull market and act accordingly.

The U.S. holds great power over international monetary transactions via the SWIFT network system given the USD's world reserve currency status...It is entirely possible, however, that China and its closest partners might someday implement their own SWIFT system...The world's players could then choose between the two and, given the resentment that exists worldwide toward the U.S. for the bullying of FATCA, many would likely align with China in their SWIFT system. In doing so it would eliminate their need to comply with FATCA and other draconian U.S. demands [which might well bring about a swift] end to the U.S. dollar as the world's default currency.

There is too much debt. Debt works the same way for a country as it works for an individual or a family, which is to say if you borrow too much, then your life basically craters. Everything gets harder to do, and you end up doing things in order to deal with your past mistakes that you would never do normally. You start trying absolutely crazy things, and that’s where the world’s governments are right now. We are doing all these things that are essentially con games and getting away with it so far, because a printing press is a great tool for fooling people. I don’t see how we can get away with it too much longer.

Lorimer Wilson @munknee has an active Twitter account providing links to the BEST gold and silver articles to be found on the internet. They have all been edited/abbreviated to provide you with a fast and easy read. Check them out! There's something there for everyone.

Despite the precious metal's recent rally, and though silver may be somewhat more interesting than gold, I'm not convinced that this is a market that most investors want to chase. Here's why.

Back in the 1940s Donald Bradley developed a means to forecast the stock market using the movement of the planets which, according to the noted technical analyst William Eng in his book Technical Analysis of Stocks, Options, and Futures, is the only ‘excellent’ Timing Indicator. Below are current Bradley timing model charts indicating a major turning point in the stock markets is imminent.

Ignore those pundits who are saying PMs are ready to take off. If you apply a little bit of common sense, and you look at these charts, can you draw any other conclusion(s)? Always remember: the markets never lie and here is what they are saying.

Gold, like any merchandise, changes price according to supply and demand. In this article, we look at the supply and demand to understand where the gold price is possibly heading.