Silver and Gold....

[The Tin Mom]

Are these really worth buying right now?

My thought is that really things are going to get so crazy that they will be as worthless as paper money. I believe we are headed toward a barter economy at best & chaos at worst.

I know there are other threads out there - but I am so late arriving on the scene that I get lost in their length.

Thanks for your patience and I appreciate....

Your thoughts.

[Gunga]

Mom,
Gold and silver have been used for barter before biblical times. Through the bubonic plague, world wars, civil wars, hyperinflation and famine gold and silver coin throughout history have been used to get food and shelter by those that had them.
If you think the US dollar may continue to decline in value,, gold and silver are a way to reduce the risk associated with the loss of our currencies purchasing power.
In my opinion and I'm not a financial advisor so consider my opinion is worth what you paid for it, it is smart to put a portion of your savings into something to protect you from a currency that could lose it's purchasing power.
gold, silver, farm tools, quality land, ammo, canned food, whatever you may need if our elected officials prove unable or unwilling to protect the value of our countries currency.

Regards,
Gunga

[postroad]

Gold and silver would be the last items on my prep list! But if you have everything else bought and paid for and have extra money, go for it. Keep it to yourself though. Those type of things are exactly what the unsavory element would like to take from you.

[MoonRiver]

I sold my gold stock today. Gold is pretty expensive to buy now. It might continue to go up or it might start going back down. The problem is that when it goes down, it goes down fast.

When everyone is buying gold, it probably is too late.

On the other hand, if European currencies stay under pressure and some possibly fail, gold may continue to go up and up and up.

[shellycoley]

The precious metals I'd invest in include steel barrels and lead shot.

Shelly

[texican]

Buy things you and your family use today, and will need to use tomorrow, and next year. Once you've got your entire prep list in order, you then should start buying the barter goods. Spices, tools, whatever you think someone might need, for bartering...

Beans and bullets are always good. I also like multiple backups of tools (shovels, hoes, axes, drawknives, files, blacksmithing tools), extra parts for building maintenance...

I only get silver, when I can get it cheap...

[sgl42]

Originally Posted by The Tin Mom

Are these really worth buying right now?

My thought is that really things are going to get so crazy that they will be as worthless as paper money. I believe we are headed toward a barter economy at best & chaos at worst.

you'll have to decide for yourself whether they're worth it or not. gold and silver are both very volatile. if you don't believe in it, then when it tanks, you'll lose sleep, and probably sell out right before it goes back up again.

You also have to ask how much? You could put a small amount into gold as an insurance policy that you hope to never use, and will pass onto your children if you don't use it, or you could put your life savings in it to the exclusion of stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. those are radically different positions. Which are you talking about?

for me, I believe in it by process of elimination and history. right now (and for the last several years) i think there's far more risk in stocks, bonds, most real estate, foriegn stocks, and recently US$ cash than are reflected in their price. What's left? Precious metals and commodities.

Personally, I don't think we'll revert to a pure barter society. Even if we hyperinflate, chances are you'll still be using US$. that's my reading of history.

As other's noted: there's other things to get squared away first. Store food, protection, etc. If you're living where you want to be living, but still have a mortgage, I'd pay that off before I put much into gold. Pay off any cars you want to keep, etc.

just for frame of reference, I turned bearish on the stock market in 2002, after the bounce from the 9/11 lows, before it tanked again, (then went back up.) Since then, i've been in gold, gold stocks, a bear fund (bets on stock market decline), and US Treasury only money market funds since then. (You can also check the archives here, and see what I was saying 1-2 yrs ago, or however far back they keep old posts.)

i purchased some gold at just below $500, just below $600, about $650, some about 700, some about $850. I also purchased gold stocks at various points along the way. Sometimes I bought right before it went up. Sometimes it went down right after. Sometimes gold and gold stocks move together, sometimes they go in opposite directions. For any short term situation, I was underwater for part of my investment. But I'm generally up overall.

I even purchased some on the day Bear Stearns was bailed out with a $30 billion non-recourse guarantee by the Fed. Remember back in those quaint days, when all our problems were going to be stopped in their tracks with a mere $30 billion? (Since then we've thrown $700 billion more at it, and now they're talking trillions more.) That day gold peaked at $1030, then fell 25%, and gold stocks fell about 60%. But now we're back about $950.

I will be buying more gold, even at these levels. I will sleep very soundly. Personally, I don't believe it will be time to sell gold until everyone you know is talking about it, just like they talked about internet stocks and real estate before. And the politicians are speaking and acting in a responsible manner because the people are forcing them to via the ballet box, or a mass exodous from the US$. Remember news stories from the late 80's about people lining up to buy gold, to sell their grandpa's gold tooth? I expect all that will happen again, and that mania will be the time to sell. But that's my view, and since I believe it, I sleep just fine at night, and I don't worry about the daily wiggles, or even the monthly wiggles. But you'll have to find out what you believe and act on it.

--sgl

[ms ducky]

I think your best bet is to invest what you can in physical silver/gold. Silver is good to buy small things, gold for more valuable things. Get what you need first but if you are in a holding pattern you can always go to the coin shop you bought your coins at and sell them when the price goes up. Do a google search for zimbabwe and gold and you can see what happens when the currency fails. Check out the forums on kitco.com and goldismoney.info. There are lots of experienced buyers on there you can learn from. You can also roll over all of your retirement accounts into a precious metals ira, the best prices I've found were at sterlingtrustcompany.com. I called my bank and it went through a broker and it was crazy expensive. You wouldn't get the physical gold with the PM IRA but you won't lose your shirt if the market fails and their is hyperinflation of the dollar.

check out these links...
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1231117
http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/alf_field.html
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r335492_1519593.asx
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/48082

[ms ducky]

I found this thread on another forum last night, it is a little off topic as it relates to currency however it does effect the PM market and I do not think that the mainstream media quite expresses the shock of what happened in the market last night as these brokers do. The lanquage is a little colorful but censored to an extent.

http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=83460

[The Tin Mom]

Originally Posted by texican

Buy things you and your family use today, and will need to use tomorrow, and next year. Once you've got your entire prep list in order, you then should start buying the barter goods. Spices, tools, whatever you think someone might need, for bartering...

Beans and bullets are always good. I also like multiple backups of tools (shovels, hoes, axes, drawknives, files, blacksmithing tools), extra parts for building maintenance...

I only get silver, when I can get it cheap...

This is what I was doing. Good to hear it from you.

Even if gold is a good thing to have, it is probably too high right now to make it worthwhile for me. I would rather have a good hot cup of coffee!

[Marshloft]

I wouldn't buy anything at the present that fluctuates in the market..
If I had the cash to invest in something that will hold its value,, and probably increase in value during the worst of times..
I would invest in "Fine Art"...
I should have done this 15 years ago when I read a book by Larry Burckett...
We are going thru an exact scenerio today that he mentioned in his book 15 yrs ago.

[Karen]

If I were investing in precious metal right now, I'd buy Rhodium (used in catalytic converts and also used to harden Platinum and other metals). It is down to it's lowest price in 10 years ($1,300) and will be going back up as soon as the recession begins to end and/or the auto industry/lending turns around. It would be a good investment to do now for getting back on your feet later. As a comparison, last July Rhodium was at $10,000 and ounce. Historically, it's held pretty steady through the years at between $6,000-$9,000.

[kvr28]

go to your bank and ask them if they have rolls of half dollars, search thru them for 1964 thru 1969 silver dollars, 1964's have .35 oz and 65 thru 69 have .15oz, I went thru 70 rolls today and found

1964-11
1965-3
1966-3
1967-18
1968-25
1969-7

plus a 1960 franklin and 1946 walking liberty, so I basically got 12 oz of silver for 34 dollars plus the franklin and liberty are about 10 apiece, plus they gave me a 2006 uncirculated mint roll which I priced online for 50$

[Gunga]

Karen,
I encourage you to rethink your view of rhodium. If a large part of its demand is based on catalytic converters for automobiles the price may have much farther to fall. Materials that derive their demand from industry will underperform gold and silver for many years IMHO.
Gold and silver, however, are being recognized as alternatives to "paper" for people seeking to preserve their wealth. There is so much paper wealth in the form of different currencies, stocks ,bonds and all of their derivitives that a small transfer out will be huge for gold and silver. Actual gold and silver supplies are tiny compared to the "market" value of all the different paper wealth in the world.
This is why I think the fundamentals for the monetary metals are much better than those of the industrial metals.


Regards,
Gunga

[ChristyACB]

I do the same thing as kvr28. 500 bucks at a time buys a sealed box. I use it as my method of transferring to my savings. Order a box from my checking back and then deposit the screened halves into my savings bank. Works like a champ. And it is fun!

[texican]

Originally Posted by ChristyACB

I do the same thing as kvr28. 500 bucks at a time buys a sealed box. I use it as my method of transferring to my savings. Order a box from my checking back and then deposit the screened halves into my savings bank. Works like a champ. And it is fun!

I haven't run across any sealed boxes... Guess our small town banks are the problem. If I can find 100$ in halves at a time, I'm lucky. Glad to see others play the silver lottery game too!

[The Tin Mom]

Originally Posted by ChristyACB

I do the same thing as kvr28. 500 bucks at a time buys a sealed box. I use it as my method of transferring to my savings. Order a box from my checking back and then deposit the screened halves into my savings bank. Works like a champ. And it is fun!

Thanks to Christy ACB & kvr28!

I will do this next time I go to the bank! How fun!

[kvr28]

where do you find a sealed box at? and can you fed-ex me 4?

[ChristyACB]

Sorry for the long delay in response. I lost track of the thread.

Sealed boxes come from the currency supplier for your bank. You order them via your teller. Just tell them you want a sealed box. Sometimes they have a form to fill out that removes the 500 bucks from your account right then, sometimes when you pick up. It just depends. Sealed boxes only come in 500 buck counts where I'm at. I did see a 100 buck small box once but I think those aren't produced anymore because machines don't take them anymore.

Hope this helps

[ChristyACB]

Oh, and as far as fed-ex'ing them to you. I believe it weighs something like 50 lbs a box. I hate just carrying it to my car! So small and so heavy!