As banks become less and less attractive as a means of investing money, I believe that people will increasingly turn to riskier methods of making their money grow, and one example is via peer to peer lending. Companies such as Lending Tree, Upstart and Prosper Marketplace, Inc. The American nonprofit campaign ‘Move Your Money' has considerable inroads to the British market, with consumers and businesses being encouraged to abandon traditional banks in favor of peer to peer lending. This trend can only be expected to expand and pick up speed in my opinion.

Back in January, the EU announced plans to drastically revamp its tax regulations on foreign companies doing business on European soil. These new tax rules would have dramatic financial implications on companies like the FANG companies - Facebook, Apple, Netflix, and Google, and many others. Till not too long ago, these giant US companies enjoyed relatively low tax rates in Europe and were encouraged to establish extensions of their US companies in Europe. Some commentators have called the reforms a means to squeezing money out of foreign governments. Of course with millions at stake, any attempted reforms will be met by these companies finding ever more sophisticated loopholes to avoid paying extra tax on their revenues, and why not I say?

I have always believed that REITS were a safer way to diversity into real estate investing. Houses are for living in, and no-one can reliably know how to time the market. I like the low fee REITS from Vanguard the best. VGSIX is a good one. In 2014, when the S&P 500 returned around 13%, the Vanguard REIT Index Fund outperformed, delivering a total return of 30 %. Its a good long term bet, any thoughts?

If stocks collapse, gold could turns south too, and its also not so clear that gold will continue its upward thrust. The other issue is the fed decision which could at some point next time decide that the economy is doing better and then raise rates. that will strengthen the US dollar and finance stocks and cause gold prices to drop quickly. Nothing is a sure thing!

The oil business is doomed to die eventually since oil reserves will run out completely or become economically non viable because it will cost more to drill than to refine and sell. The big oil companies should diversify in their own future collapse by buying into the alternative fuel generation business be that hybrid car technology or wind turbine power or solar power. That way they can still make money by investing in an evolving energy business.

It now trades as "ABUS" The 52 week range is 2.7-21.3. Obviously was a great stock when there was news of a new outbreak! Earnings come out in a week, March 10. Problem with bottom fishing stocks is trying to catch the bottom, a bit like catching a falling knife.

You mentioned INO as an interesting choice because of the recent global Zika virus. It reminds me of the other global scare we had in the summer/fall of 2014 - Ebola. Canadian biopharma company Tekmira was one of those companies that made a vaccination against ebola and saw its stock skyrocket in the process. Question is can these companies remain profitable even after the virus has gone away? One of your other stock choices was Twitter which has been a rather volatile stock to own and one with a very questionable future. The stock is down almost 60% on the year but is up over 13% this past month-short term rebound, yes, but long term success story, the jury is still out?

I would suggest that the primary reason for stockpiling is for the same reason the oil companies in the US are also stockpiling vast quantities of oil out at sea. They want to wait it out until prices rise and sell their oil at a higher price. As you said this is a delicate balancing act especially considering the huge variances in demand that a market the size of China can experience. That brings me to another question, does stored oil have an expiration date? Does it go bad over time? Are there any downsides to storing oil for extended periods of time?

As well as the importance of the US dollar, another very important cross currency is the Japanese Yen. The value and performance of the Aussie dollar is closely tied to Asia. Demand in China, India, and Japan for natural resources has pushed the Aussie dollar up in past only to fall later as commodity demand diminishes. Included in this are obviously the ups and downs of Gold, Oil, and other commodities.

I was curious to now what amount of tax is included in the production and sale of shale oil vs traditional Crude oil? Perhaps in order to keep these shale oil companies from going belly up, the government needs to provide more financial incentives and/or provide tax breaks or tax tariffs to the sale price of shale oil. Or alternatively, maybe the value of shale oil is becoming less and less relevant now that crude oil has become so cheap. Should these companies be allowed to fail and if so would it really be such a great loss?