Some Humble Suggestions

To trade commodities, all you need is opening an account with a broker that offers them as a product. Commodities are traded in the following exchanges, to name a few off the top of my head:

• COMEX
• NYMEX
• NYBOT
• CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade)
• CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange)
• LME (London Metal Exchange)

There are a few brokers that you could consider:

• InteractiveBrokers
• XpressTrade (now optionsXpress)
• TradeStation Securities

If you are serious about investing/trading in commodities, you should open an account *today*. Gold was trading at just 730 when I suggested buying back in Sep 07 -- now about 900. Natural Gas was at 7.65 when I suggested buying -- now about 8.45. The bull run in commodities are going to last for years to come, with regular setbacks/corrections along the way, of course. Do be warned that commodities are leveraged. You *must* do your homeowork before betting your money on it. I will have my share of mistakes and losses somewhere down the line.

One of the biggest mistakes an investor/trader of our times can make is to think that stocks will eventually go up. That's clearly not the case if you bought just before the 97 Asian financial crisis or just before the Great Depression in the US. There's always a bull market somewhere, and that's clearly not in US stocks/Financials. And please do not always associate the big and wealthy with wisdom. Yes, the SWF's are buying, but that doesn't mean it will be good value eventually. China Investment Corp invested a big stake in the BlackStone Group last year -- that investment has now lost 1/3 of its value. These SWF's are run by politicians, not Warren Buffett!

I am not ready to sell you a Decoupling Theory at this moment in time. Nevertheless, I am a long-term bull with China. And I do believe Asian counties are about to experience a consumer boom. For years the US has been spending exorbitantly while the Asian countries financing it through suppressing the appreciation of their currencies, etc. The spending spree by the US has now been proven to be not sustainable, and something has to change. And the change is the US will have to start saving more and spending less while the Asian countries seeing their currencies gaining strength. This *will* bring on a consumer boom in Asia, gradually. However, do be aware that the combined consumer economy of *both* the Chinese and the Indian are just a mere 1/6 of the US. A US slowdown will surely have its impact on the world economy. I am not smart enough to tell you which stock will benefit from the inevitable consumer boom in Asia, but I do believe you will see some pretty good gain in the Malaysian real estates, not the high-end luxury markets, in the next 5 to 10 years.