Another warning on why you should own some gold

The global currency war isn't a foreign topic. Central banks around the world are cutting interest rates in a race to debase their currencies. Almost every major currency is plummeting versus the dollar.

If you're curious what a debased currency looks like, see the chart below, which shows the euro-to-dollar ratio...

The euro hit its lowest level since 2003 this week, falling to less than 1.10 against the dollar.

We won't go into the finer details of the currency wars today. But understand this: Things are just getting started...

India surprised the market Tuesday with its second interest-rate cut in two months. The Reserve Bank of India ("RBI") cut the benchmark interest rate from 7.75% to 7.5%.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan explained his reasoning for the cut before the bank's April meeting...

The still-weak state of certain sectors of the economy as well as the global trend toward easing suggest that any policy action should be anticipatory.

In other words, everybody else is doing it... so why don't we?

Following India's move, Poland's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate from 2% to a record-low 1.5%. (The market was expecting 1.75%.)

To date this year, 21 central banks have cut interest rates. Some have cut rates multiple times... Denmark cut interest rates an astounding four times this year (trying to maintain its euro peg after the European Central Bank announced quantitative easing).

This rate-cutting frenzy is bad news for anyone living on a fixed income.

About one-third of European sovereign debt now has a negative yield. There is now $3 trillion in government bonds with negative nominal interest rates worldwide.

Today, the demand for "safe" government bonds is greater than the supply (hence the negative yields).

But how safe is locking your capital into a guaranteed loss (the so-called "return-free risk")?

There's always the possibility – or rather, the likelihood – that new money will push bond yields further negative. In that case, investors buying bonds at today's negative rates would profit as bond prices continue their relentless march upward.

We'd rather own gold – a much safer currency of which central banks can't simply print more. Non-believers in gold point to its zero yield. It's true that gold yields 0%. But 0% is better than negative rates.

As True Wealth editor Steve Sjuggerud predicted, the S&P 500 soared thanks to the "Bernanke Asset Bubble" – the resulting price inflation from former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's money printing.

The Bernanke Asset Bubble led True Wealth subscribers to some massive gains... They're sitting on gains of 427% in health care stocks, 166% in technology stocks, and 111% in homebuilder stocks, to name a few.

Following the Bernanke Asset Bubble, Steve turned his sights to Europe, where Bernanke's counterpart – Mario Draghi – had declared war on deflation.

In December 2013, Draghi told the world he would follow Bernanke's lead and keep interest rates low for "an extended period of time." In other words, Draghi would cut rates to the bone and print money if needed to boost the sagging European economy.

True to his word, Draghi initiated quantitative easing (QE) this year. But the European stock market hasn't kept pace with the S&P 500...

But Steve is still super-bullish on Europe today. As he often says, "money flows to where it's treated best." And right now, money in Europe is treated better in stocks than it is in bonds (just like in the U.S.). Steve says it's more extreme than ever and investors could double their money in European stocks. As he explained in the latest issue of True Wealth...

European stocks pay dividends of 3.9% (based on the Euro STOXX 50 Index of 50 European blue-chip stocks) today. Meanwhile, European government bonds pay next-to-nothing. German 10-year government bonds, for example, pay 0.38% interest. The last time we saw a similar imbalance was in 2008. It was the first time German stocks yielded more than German bonds in 50 years. And German stocks doubled in two years after bottoming in 2009. Importantly, today's setup is even more extreme than what we saw in 2008-2009. The difference between German stocks and bonds is massive. And it's not just Germany... We have this extreme setup across Europe. In Switzerland, the 10-year bond pays 0.02%, while the dividend yield in the Swiss stock market is 3.1%.

Billionaire hedge-fund manager and trading legend Stanley Druckenmiller appeared on CNBC this week. He's also bullish on Europe. From his interview...

Europe and Japan are much, much more attractive... The majority of my long exposure is in Japan and Europe, not in the United States... You know, a few months ago we started buying the global consumer brands who are primarily stable in nature, like Unilever, or Pernod Ricard, or L'Oréal. But recently, we've shifted into more cyclical names like Volkswagen, BMW, Airbus... You get the tailwind of the euro having gone from 1.40 to 1.20 [versus the dollar], which will give them an earnings push in addition at a lower energy. And they are great consumer brand names in and of themselves.

Look again at the earlier list of central banks that have eased so far this year. The Fed and European Central Bank are only two of the 21. We could also see the Rajan Asset Bubble (India), the Xiaochuan Asset Bubble (China), and more.

Like investing legend Warren Buffett, we think buying bonds today is a bad idea. We would rather have our money in excellent businesses that are able to survive difficult economic times.

Unlike Buffett, we also want some of our money in gold.

Of course, we're here to help you navigate today's financial landscape. Our job is to help you protect and grow your savings (which is becoming more and more difficult thanks to the U.S. government).

But we urge everyone to understand the amazing financial forces at work today... and what the end result of this unprecedented monetary experiment will be.

That's why we've arranged for you to receive a free copy of a book written by Jim Rickards, who is one of the smartest financial minds out there.

Jim literally wrote the book on currency wars. He saw early on what was happening to the world's money... and noticed that central banks were hell-bent on destroying paper money.

And we liked his second book – The Death of Money – so much that we purchased thousands of copies from his publisher for Stansberry Research readers. We'll send you a copy free of charge. (We just ask that you cover the $4.95 for shipping and handling.)

We also commissioned Jim to write the "missing chapter" for his new book. This "missing chapter" is not available anywhere else on the Internet or in any bookstore.

In it, Jim details the exact investments to make right now to prepare for what he believes are huge changes coming to America and our financial system. These happen to be VERY similar to the ones Steve covers in True Wealth. This missing chapter is worth as much or more than the book (which retails for about $20 everywhere else online).

Between The Death of Money and True Wealth, Steve's subscribers have a complete playbook on how to handle the current environment of central-bank manipulation.

They outline what government intervention will mean for stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate, precious metals, and even collectibles... And they tell you what to own (and what to avoid).

What central bankers are doing to our money today is likely the largest financial story of our lifetimes. The consequences of their actions will be serious and long-lasting. It's incredibly important for you to understand what's happening and how you can protect yourself.