Over the last three years, as stock markets have risen to new all time highs, other asset classes have been absolutely pummeled. Precious metals investments, for example, have in some cases seen declines of up to 75%.

In this candid interview billionaire investment guru and founder of Sprott Asset Management’s Global Companies Rick Rule shares his analysis and insights on a variety of key topics including his outlook on precious metals, passive investing, spotting opportunities, and his views on one of the most important things parents can teach their kids about growing up in a world where the government’s sole purpose is to create masses of indentured servants.

Where the majority of people may see difficulty and hardship, those with a mindset similar to Rick Rule’s see opportunities that can be used to effectively build wealth and achieve independence from a corrupt system.

Whether your investments currently include physical assets like silver or gold, or you’re looking to diversify your portfolio into companies with solid management teams and dividends, this is an absolutely amazing peek into the mind of one of the most successful investors and contrarian thinkers in the world.

This is one you don’t want to miss. It’s the best interview you’ll ever see on the subject.

(Video Via Future Money Trends)

What’s interesting to me about this bear market… is that I think this bear market sets up the best opportunities of any bear market I have ever seen… for two reasons.

The fact that the companies that came into this bear market gorged on capital from 2004 to 2010 means that the assets that are on sale now were bought with cheaper capital and better managements than ever before.

And, the severity of this market in a relatively short period of time – a 75% sell-off in three years -suggests that in certain cases… not every case because most of the money was wasted as it always is… but in certain cases you’re getting relatively well chosen assets at a 75% off sale.

Rick goes on to suggest that at some point in the near future we are going to see the precious metals asset class “melt-up” in a way that we’ve probably never before seen, with fast and massive moves to the upside.

At some point in time we will experience a mini-melt up.

You will be expecting, because you’ve been conditioned to, a 20% advance followed by a 15% decline for a 5% net gain.

One of these days you’re going to find a 40% or 45% advance with no concomitant decline.

I can’t tell you when that’s going to happen, but forty years of sometimes hard experience in this market tells me that it will happen.

What Rick describes in terms of investment numbers will be the result of massive global market dislocations and a loss in confidence in ‘traditional’ investments.

We are all investors in one form or another. For some that means physical assets to prepare for these coming shocks including food in the event that credit and supply lines experience disruptions, precious metals as a mechanism for trade and productive land to be self sustainable when the system around us collapses.

For others it may require a prudent and balanced approach to diversify their retirement assets into investments that are affordable today, will preserve value, and will build wealth over the longer-term.

Whatever your preference, one thing is clear. We are on the cusp of an unprecedented restructuring of the global paradigm.

Some of the brightest people in the world know it is coming and they are taking steps in advance to prepare for it.