Hedge Your Bets: Invest in Stamps

Since the Federal Reserve is issuing large amounts of currency in an effort to reduce the value of the dollar (and therefore the value of the U.S. foreign debt), you should probably start investing in something less inflatable that you can pass along to the grandkids.

Sure, paid spokesperson Glenn Beck says gold is where it's at - and, sure, gold is nice to look at, but it's heavy and, really, all gold bricks look pretty much the same.

Stamps, however, are light, thin (so portable!), and come in multiple shades, sizes, and languages.

Philately requires minimal financial investment. Only a tweezer, a magnifying glass, paper, adhesive, and a lack of social skills is required. Plus, after 40 years of stamp collecting, you can sell your stamps for six figures to old people who regret having sold their own collections. (Okay, fine, that NYT article was from 1996, when stamps were booming. Here's another one from 2004, and 2008.)

Just last year the Wall Street Journal's Market Watch column noted that investing in stamps was being pitched to hedge fund experts, and that "alternative investing" is all the rage in China and India. That's right, you can be a jet-setting philatelist and tell war stories of that one time when 100 people all wanted your 24 cent air mail Jenny Stamp from 1918 that was accidentally printed upside down! OMG! You should have been there (to buy it for $825K).

Not bad. Know what I mean, Vern?