.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
Dear Mr. Berko:

Dear H.W.:

No! No! Ten thousand times no! Do not buy gold as a protection against inflation. In my opinion, and in the opinion of many professionals in the business who are much smarter than I am, Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) are the safest and probably the best inflation hedge between here and “the moon.” The principal of a TIPS increases with inflation and decreases with deflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

So, if inflation next year is 10 percent, the principal value of your TIPS increases by 10 percent. However, if you’re wrong as Corrigan and the CPI declines by 10 percent, the principal value of your TIPS declines by 10 percent. When TIPS mature – they have maturities out to 30 years – you are paid the adjusted principal or the original principal, whichever is greatest.

TIPS pay interest twice a year at a fixed rate. This rate is applied to the adjusted principal. So, like the principal, the interest amount (not the interest rate) will rise or fall with the principal value of the TIPS. If you have a 3 percent TIPS bought at par ($1,000) five years ago, the principal value would be about $1,445 today. The interest payment would be 3 percent of the $1,445. However, if we have deflation and the TIPS is worth $988, the interest payment would be 3 percent of $988. Get it? Got it? Good.

So tell that gold jerk to put a gold ring in his nose. You can buy a TIPS from your broker, your bank or directly from the government.

International Paper Co. (IP-$6.89) pays a quarterly dividend of 25 cents, which hasn’t changed in 13 years. It is still the largest paper and forest-products company in the world, and the weak world economy has beaten the stock to a pulp from its $33 high price a year ago.

A number of numbers make this stock interesting. International Paper owns 300,000 acres of forestland in the United States and 250,000 acres of forestland in Brazil, plus “cutting rights” in Russia that can produce more timber than its Brazil properties. Meanwhile, even in this soft economy, Wall Street’s consensus indicates that IP will earn between $2.15 and $2.40 per share this year on revenues of $25 billion. That’s a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 4; a book value of nearly $21 per share (which makes IP buyout bait) and its $1 dividend gives a new shareholder close to a 14.5 percent yield.

I don’t like IP, and during the past 20 or more years I could never warm to the stock. But whenever a big, healthy company trades so far below its book value, I begin to get interested. If there is a buyout, I would guess that a price of two times book value would be fair.

So I don’t have the slightest objection if you decide to purchase 500 shares of IP. I don’t think there’s any danger to the dividend, and I think the current price is scraping the bottom. I suspect revenues, though they may not rise over the next couple of years, will remain at the $24 billion or more level. IP seems to be a classy speculation.

Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, Fla. 33429 or e-mail him at malber@adelphia.net. © Copley News Service