Anyone with an investing mindset like a Hetty Green or a John Templeton? I'm always looking for contrarian ideas. Are there any investable assets you see in Thailand or elsewhere in the world, that are despised and shunned by the majority, but you're planning or thinking about investing in?

To the question, "What are your keen investment themes and ideas for 2010?" Marc Faber recently had this to say:

"I avoid US government bonds, I think as a contrarian you really want the contrarian play. You should buy Japanese stocks and Japanese banks, this is the absolute contrarian play. Nobody is interested in Japan, all the funds have withdrawn money from Japan, they have given up on Japan. I guarantee you the economy would not do well, forget about the economy, the population is shrinking, but you can have an economy that does not do well but the companies do well, that is a big difference, and I think the Japanese banks are very depressed. All the banks in Asia have actually recovered very strongly, but not the Japanese banks, so as a contrarian play I would look at that."

To the question, "What are your keen investment themes and ideas for 2010?" Marc Faber recently had this to say:

"I avoid US government bonds, I think as a contrarian you really want the contrarian play. You should buy Japanese stocks and Japanese banks, this is the absolute contrarian play. Nobody is interested in Japan, all the funds have withdrawn money from Japan, they have given up on Japan. I guarantee you the economy would not do well, forget about the economy, the population is shrinking, but you can have an economy that does not do well but the companies do well, that is a big difference, and I think the Japanese banks are very depressed. All the banks in Asia have actually recovered very strongly, but not the Japanese banks, so as a contrarian play I would look at that."

Japan has been the contrarian play for over a decade. How's that worked out?

Goldman Sachs just recently announced that gold prices and peak oil were not a concern. You should be running to invest in gold and oil futures at this point. If you want to be contrarian, doing the opposite of what GS says is about the best anyone can hope for.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/goldman-t...r-will-flourish

Commodities. That is where you want to be.

Goldman Sachs just recently announced that gold prices and peak oil were not a concern. You should be running to invest in gold and oil futures at this point. If you want to be contrarian, doing the opposite of what GS says is about the best anyone can hope for.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/goldman-t...r-will-flourish

Commodities. That is where you want to be.

read the article several times over....

what i like to know is....

is the author of the article similar to many stocks brokers.... who advises clients and earns commissions....

but who rarely really own assets per se, because of one reason or another....

just mighty curious....

To the question, "What are your keen investment themes and ideas for 2010?" Marc Faber recently had this to say:

"I avoid US government bonds, I think as a contrarian you really want the contrarian play. You should buy Japanese stocks and Japanese banks, this is the absolute contrarian play. Nobody is interested in Japan, all the funds have withdrawn money from Japan, they have given up on Japan. I guarantee you the economy would not do well, forget about the economy, the population is shrinking, but you can have an economy that does not do well but the companies do well, that is a big difference, and I think the Japanese banks are very depressed. All the banks in Asia have actually recovered very strongly, but not the Japanese banks, so as a contrarian play I would look at that."

Japan has been the contrarian play for over a decade. How's that worked out?

Whether Japan was a good contrarian play one, five or ten years ago is irrelevant to whether it's a good one today.

To the question, "What are your keen investment themes and ideas for 2010?" Marc Faber recently had this to say:

"I avoid US government bonds, I think as a contrarian you really want the contrarian play. You should buy Japanese stocks and Japanese banks, this is the absolute contrarian play. Nobody is interested in Japan, all the funds have withdrawn money from Japan, they have given up on Japan. I guarantee you the economy would not do well, forget about the economy, the population is shrinking, but you can have an economy that does not do well but the companies do well, that is a big difference, and I think the Japanese banks are very depressed. All the banks in Asia have actually recovered very strongly, but not the Japanese banks, so as a contrarian play I would look at that."

Japan has been the contrarian play for over a decade. How's that worked out?

Whether Japan was a good contrarian play one, five or ten years ago is irrelevant to whether it's a good one today.

Actually it is relevant if you're investing in Japan just for the sake of contrarianism. But since your argument is "this time it's different", what is your time frame? Are we just going to use a basket of Japanese banks or the Nikkei?And what are we benchmarking this against to see if Japan will do better now than 1, 5, or 10 years ago?

To the question, "What are your keen investment themes and ideas for 2010?" Marc Faber recently had this to say:

"I avoid US government bonds, I think as a contrarian you really want the contrarian play. You should buy Japanese stocks and Japanese banks, this is the absolute contrarian play. Nobody is interested in Japan, all the funds have withdrawn money from Japan, they have given up on Japan. I guarantee you the economy would not do well, forget about the economy, the population is shrinking, but you can have an economy that does not do well but the companies do well, that is a big difference, and I think the Japanese banks are very depressed. All the banks in Asia have actually recovered very strongly, but not the Japanese banks, so as a contrarian play I would look at that."

Japan has been the contrarian play for over a decade. How's that worked out?

Whether Japan was a good contrarian play one, five or ten years ago is irrelevant to whether it's a good one today.

Actually it is relevant if you're investing in Japan just for the sake of contrarianism. But since your argument is "this time it's different", what is your time frame? Are we just going to use a basket of Japanese banks or the Nikkei?And what are we benchmarking this against to see if Japan will do better now than 1, 5, or 10 years ago?

No, it's not relevant, and it's Faber who's arguing that the time may finally (his word) have come, not me. The OP asked for contrarian ideas and I gave him one, from an investor with a very strong contrarian track record.

Faber's timeframe is 2010 and his benchmark the S&P 500, against which the Nikkei has built a huge base over the last few years. He also anticipates a credit downgrade for Japan and strength in the Yen and recommends shorting Japanese bonds (see his January report).

Make that 'weakness' in the Yen.

I had to think on this one for a while, and do a little research on the internet. Today, I bought a Japan Small Cap ETF listed in the U.S.

Many thanks to all those who posted with there thoughts and ideas.

Faber: One more thing: I am surprised nobody mentioned anything today about investments in Japan. It is still the second-largest economy in the world. There are some very good tech companies in Japan. As a contrarian play, I would buy the Japanese ETF, iShares MSCI Japan Index [EWJ].

But Japan has the biggest debt problem in the world.

Faber: The government has a debt problem but it's offset by a high level of savings among the people. If you're bearish on the yen you should be bullish on Japanese stocks.

So Crusader and Taggart, how did that contrarian investment in the EWJ and the Small Cap ETF work out? Remember, you said your benchmark is the S&P 500.

Investors looking for a contrarian play in 2011 should consider japan. Again. After 20 years of being the #1 contrarian bet, one year it's bound to happen.

All sarcasm intended.

Invest in this small UK Aim listed company GKP

http://www.gulfkeystone.com/

Probably sitting on 60 BILLION barrels of oil in the quiet backwater of Iraq, Kurdistan, price at the moment 1.65p

DYOR

Goldman Sachs just recently announced that gold prices and peak oil were not a concern. You should be running to invest in gold and oil futures at this point. If you want to be contrarian, doing the opposite of what GS says is about the best anyone can hope for.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/goldman-t...r-will-flourish

Commodities. That is where you want to be.

i know, hindsight is 20/.20

but now its been about a year and makes this post is spot on

also i was watching natural gas for a long time

but the etf i was tracking stopped showing up in my daily reports

so i lost track sometime in 2010

at some point it has got to be a good play if it isn't already