What would you do with $200,000?

Gold fell how much in the last few weeks? 30% or so, the largest drop in decades, sounds like a great "investment". As for your alledged extraordinary performance, there have been a few periods that metals have done so, and a corresponding number of busts where the same "investment" tanked. So, in full disclosure, did you lose 1/3rd of your net worth a few weeks ago? Are you going to keep temping fate until metals tank again? Does your brilliant advisor understand that. when the market COLLAPSED recently it was played by a small group that dumped a nearly statistically insignificant percentage of the world's gold reserves on the market to short it? Do you feel comfortable knowing that a small group of players, in Dubai or Singapore, can destroy your retirement savings with a few trades? Sounds simply brilliant to me......LOL

AS for your "FYI" it's pretty much unworthy of a response, since nothing of the sort happened. That said, if you spend a few moments searching you will find these things called "Investment forums" where countless thousands of individuals spend time offering advice on their opinions of how to properly invest. YOU, in fact, did so in your post. To call such free speech "illegally offered investing advice" makes it clear that you have a bit to learn on the matter. Good luck, and to quote Glenn Beck, and all the other snake oil salesmen praying on the intellectually limited.......BUY GOLD!!!! LOL

I think any property would be meaningless without my children.

I stay in my expensive (and frustrating) state because of family. For me, it is worth more than the extra land I could buy.

My babies are 10 and 12 ....and they really still need mom and dad. I say this as a mother and as a daughter. My father moved 5 hours away when I was 13. Can't say I saw him much after that. Could have used him as a teen. Just my humble opinion.

Oh, and if you really want to know what to do with 200k? Find something fenced, with good water, near your kids.

Yes buy Gold it's on sale right now, I always like a good bargain. When you hedge your bets appropriately you do not loose 1/3 of your wealth when an investment goes down. So to answer your question, no we did not loose money we made money. The stock market is just a form of gambling, there's never a garuntee you will end up ahead. BTW way Glen Beck is an idiot, I can't believe an intellegent person like you would follow him, I pegged you more as a Dave Ramsy worshiper.

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http://argentallc.wordpress.com/

Oh and PS it is illegal to offer investment advice with out a license, at least a series 6/63 I believe, but check with FIRA to be sure as I'm not the stock broker, my husband is and I don't know the laws perfectly. I assume you must though, what's your license number?

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Gold gives the appearance of becoming a very manipulated market, at least to me. I just can't bring myself to get on the "buy gold" bandwagon.

I don't see gold and silver, either coins or bullion, as having nearly the utility in a currency meltdown as many seem to think it would. You can't eat it. You can't burn it to stay warm. You can't feed it to your animals. You can't use it for fuel in your car or tractor. You can't brush your teeth with it or do your laundry with it. You can't sleep on it, get an internet connection with it, listen to it (radio / tv) or shoot with it. You can't even wipe your butt with it, which at least with a dollar bill, you could wipe your butt.

Might it have some value as an item to trade? Maybe. But if you live in a neighborhood where people can't buy anything at the store (maybe the store doesn't have anything to buy?), what good are gold and silver coins? They don't solve any immediate problem. Eggs or milk or meat or firewood or vegetables or guns or ammo or clothing or shoes or fuel or toilet paper or alcohol (and don't assume that's just to drink), now that would seem to be the kind of thing people will be be interested in having and in trading.

That's not to say that tangibles such as land, fruit tree and berry patch stands, secure shelters, a well built soil for a garden area, good working tools or machines, and some other things of that nature wouldn't be good investments. Those things could pay off nicely in a SHTF scenario because of the suffering they could potentially save you from. They might not as easily be traded or bartered but they'd be important to your long term survival.

I'm not belittling anyone who has invested or is investing in gold or silver or other precious metals. Just suggesting that if that's all a person does to prepare, they might end up wanting in some real big ways in the event of a real currency crisis.

Buying gold and other PMs is very romantic. And it's got a lot of appeal for radio talk show types for purposes of marketing to people's fears. Color me skeptical of the bulk of it. It was confiscated once before. The market can obviously be manipulated and taxed. Hey, if it makes you feel good to have it as a part of your plan, go for it.

Gold is very manipulated.It should be purchased at a hedge against inflation or to preserve your wealth when a currency collapse. Yes when because ALL paper currency has collapsed in history. So it is a matter of when, not if. I agree do not purchase gold or silver or any investments until you are out of debt, and fully prepared with food water shelter etc. Yes gold was confiscated, but it was gold coin issued by the government, not investment bullion. I have been purchasing gold and silver way before it was popular to push it on the radio. If you think your money is safe in paper assets, you have another thing coming. Look at Zimbabwe, they pan for a few grains of gold to purchase bread. Why? because their currency is worthless. Your money 10 years ago will not buy half now than it did 10 years ago. For me inflation does not effect me because gold and silver values remain constant VS inflation. An ounce of gold buys the same amount 50 years ago as it does today.

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Or a 100 years ago.

The paper dollar, on the other hand, has the purchasing power of 3 cents compared to 100 years ago.

Is there ANY paper currency that hasn't failed completely over time ?

Nope.

Stocks, bonds and mutual funds are OK 'maybe' in the short run.

BUT, they too are heavily manipulated....over half the volume of the NYSE for example is now high frequency trades that last a split second to make a fraction of a cent per share....with the sole intent of enriching the Wall St trading houses at the expense of the small investor. The only reason the stock market is rising now is the Federal Reserve is pumping billions of new dollars out, keeping interest rates artificially low, and forcing folks to seek playing the Casino On Wall Street as a means of beating inflation.

IF one makes any paper profits on Wall St, you sure better lock them into something real, like precious metals, land, etc, before the final paper crash comes. And that's not investment advice....merely common sense.

Oh, aren't you cute? "What's your license number". You might want to develop a skill set including reading comprehension, and the ability to understand the concept of free speech, prior to making asinine claims about violating SEC rules that you know nothing of.

When you find evidence that ANYBODY on this thread provided investment advice, as in attempting to sell to sell a specific product or service, to personally enrich themselves, you get back to us, sweetie.

As for you not losing money, assuming that you are heavily invested in gold, to paraphrase the later General Schwartzkauf, that just a whole lot bovine discharge.

Your thoughts and beliefs have been expressed by contrarians for the last 150 years. They have been consistently been proven incorrect, and there is no reason to believe that your success in fortune telling will be any better.

Chicken Little made a career out of running around screaming that the sky is falling, and it still hasn't.

This defective thinking, so prevalent on this board, prevents a lot of success in investing. The fact is that investing in a balanced all stock fund in 1975 netted a return of 6700% forty years later. As in $15000 invested hit a million in that time. The same investment in gold in 1975 would be worth $36000 today. The folks that are the "millionaire's next door" didn't get there by running around like chicken little and preaching about how the world is going to end, and everybody needs to buy gold. They invested in real, balanced, proven assets and then sit back and watch then grow. This strategy hasn't failed yet, and there is no logical reason to think that it will next week, or in the next decade.

Ironically enough, you misspelled intelligent. As for following anybody, sorry but no. Beck is a drug addled charlatan, and Mr. Ramsey is far too ridged in his guidance, and panders to those who need others to think for them. I also see no need to turn personal financial responsibility into a Christian mission of some sort, as Dave does.

well now that you have successfully outed your self as a schill I can use the ignore feature with confidence! PS our constitution dictates the our money should only be that of gold and silver and was used and backed by it until the decided to get away from the gold standard in the 1970s. You have proven your self nothing more than a bully who is completely ignorant. Oh an yes I am dislexic and have spelling issues, does it make you feel good to make fun of a person who has a handicap ?

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Uh, Wharton....you're actually preaching to one of those folks next door. First, I'd say a net worth of a million isn't what it was 17 years ago when that book was written. (yes.....I've read it). A depreciating currency has cut the value of that by half or more.....along with the tech stock crash, and nearly a decade of near zero real returns for the 'average' mutual fund.

I (we, actually, as my wife is my partner in whatever success we've had in life ) used a variety of methods to reach the point we are, including education (MS for me, PhD for her....and not a penny of student loan), an almost pathological fear of personal debt, ( built both the homes we owned ourselves....and by that, I mean drove every nail, laid every brick, pulled every wire, and plumbed every toilet ), many years of hard, consistent work, invested in many forms......including mutual funds, (completely OUT of the market now ) building rental properties(3) ( and again, I don't mean "hired guys" ), raw land, and yes, dare I say it, precious metals ( 5 dollar silver and 300 dollar gold was such a bargain that even a fool like me could see it )

There was a period in my life I was completely sold on what you espouse....in fact, I hold a Series 6, 63 and 26 (principal in charge of other brokers) NASD registration, sold mutual funds as a second job for many years, and am thoroughly familiar with how conventional investing works.....and doesn't work.

There WAS a time when you could follow someone like Dave Ramsey's advice and invest in "good growth stock mutual funds" and expect to retire in style. Unfortunately, the foxes on Wall St have taken over the hen house......and today, about the best you'll do is not lose too much purchasing power while getting back more pieces of green paper than you put in. The odds are simply stacked against the small individual investor. As for looking back on performances from any certain time period, I would remind you that all investment literature contains the following disclaimer: "Past performance is not an indication of future returns".

There is a season for all things, and my suggestion is IF you've managed to build some wealth, it's time to hunker down and hold on to it. There are going to be a lot of surprised and disappointed people in the next 5-10 years....ask any person that had money in the bank in Cyprus.....or any US farmer that had "secure" assets in MF Global......the models of what is likely coming to a bank or broker near you. Even the US Govt is in on the robbery....the talk of nationalizing tax deferred retirement accounts ( IRAs, 401Ks, etc ) is becoming more and more common as Washington gets their financial backs up against the wall.

I'm not here to convince you of anything, or sell you anything, and in fact, had pretty much avoided responding to this thread, because clearly, 200k is a lot of money to a lot of folks. I am here to tell you the average Joe is going to have to operate WAY above average to become one of the "folks next door", and not get locked into one investment philosophy.

Oh gosh where to start. We'd pay off all of our debt. Put a couple of finishing touches on our current house and put it on the market. Start looking for the perfect property up in north Minnesota while simultaneously looking for jobs in the area. Duluth, MN area is where we would like to end up.
$200,000 would not be enough, sadly, for us to stop working completely. But it would be the perfect amount for us to make the move to the area where we would like to remain permanently, and start living the lifestyle we would like to.

Speculators hurt people.