U.S. Treasuries are Essential

10/8/15

It is obvious(?) that investors should hold more than one asset class.

I am not an expert whatsoever in investing (see disclaimer below), but I urge people to hold U.S. Treasuries. Most people believe something like "paycheck is stable, investments are variable income", but this is ass-backwards. Your investments should be what is the rock-solid foundation, and consider your job income as what can change at any time.

Another very strong rationale for holding Treasuries, Treasury Bills in particular, comes from Warren Buffett. Buffett, as you know, is a big-time stock guy. However, in BRK's most recent letter to shareholders he wrote:

"Next up is cash. At a healthy business, cash is sometimes thought of as something to be minimized - as an unproductive asset that acts as a drag on such markers as return on equity. Cash, though, is to a business as oxygen is to an individual: never thought about when it is present, the only thing in mind when it is absent.

American business provided a case study of that in 2008. In September of that year, many long-prosperous companies suddenly wondered whether their checks would bounce in the days ahead. Overnight, their financial oxygen disappeared.

At Berkshire, our "breathing" went uninterrupted. Indeed, in a three-week period spanning late September and early October, we supplied $15.6 billion of fresh money to American businesses.

We could do that because we always maintain at least $20 billion - and usually far more - in cash equivalents. And by that we mean U.S. Treasury bills, not other substitutes for cash that are claimed to deliver liquidity and actually do so, except when it is truly needed. When bills come due, only cash is legal tender. Don't leave home without it."

Note that neither stocks, gold, silver, real estate, etc. saved the day when all else failed. Treasuries did.