Five Stocks for the Rocky Times Ahead

I'm adding a growth stock to my portfolio with this column. And I expect to add as many as four more over the next four to six weeks.

Not because I'm so optimistic about the economy and the financial markets. Exactly the opposite, in fact. I'm buying growth stocks -- and adding more exposure to gold stocks -- because I'm deeply pessimistic about the economy and the financial markets over the next 12 to 18 months.

The two groups, which in normal times occupy opposite ends of the market spectrum, are to my thinking the best hedges available against the rocky times ahead over the next 12 to 18 months.

I know this is a logical stretch from conventional thinking about the asset classes you should use to build a portfolio, so let me explain how I came to this conclusion.

	Do you agree with Jim Jubak's idea of buying growth stocks like Davita as a hedge for coming rocky times? Answer Here

We're still eyebrow-deep in a financial crisis set off by truly staggering wishful thinking about risk in the markets for subprime mortgages, buyout loans and other asset-backed paper.

But unlike those in the financial press and economic-analyst communities who are now calling for a recession, I believe we're likely to get out of this mess -- in the short run, at least -- by flooding the financial markets with hundreds of billions in new money from the world's central banks. The central banks will literally paper over the long-term problems in the debt market with billions in currency.