Does anyone here invest in silver or gold?

CNBC had great things to say about investing in gold through Stanford Financial.

 

How many bricks of gold can you fit in a Prius?:brick:

 

So you "invest" in gold or silver, you have little pieces of paper that claim you own a piece of it. What happens if those little pieces of paper become worthless?

The only way I'd invest in gold or silver is if I could then rent a large truck and drive the gold/silver home with me

 

I'd want to know why you want to buy silver before many of your questions could be answered. Are you buying silver for investment purposes? As a diversifier? Because you think silver is going to rise faster than the prices of other commodities? U.S. currency concerns? Do you want it so that you can use it as currency in some sort of doomsday scenario?

I think once one knew the answers to those types of questions, one would better be able to suggest the "best" way to invest in silver.

 

Buying any precious metal, in my opinion, is worth the investment. Unlike money which was created as a medium of exchange back in the days when goods and services were bartered, precious metals will always be the good investment. If the world economy tanks, money will be worth less than the paper it is printed on. But precous metals will be where it's at.

 

One way to invest in precious metals directly is with bullion based ETFs like IAU for gold and I don't know what for silver. It's clean, cheap and easy. Although I would advise against putting more than 5% in precious metals in your portfolio. It's purely a speculative play, and pretty risky.

 

Precious metals are anything but precious. They are a commodity and the gold and silver bubble will burst just like all of the other commodity bubbles have.

If we get back to the days of bartering good and services you better be able to provide a service or have goods that people need. A gold coin won't be any more valuable then a steel coin or wooden nickel.

 

Gotcha

Is it even legal to possess large amounts of silver and gold, asides from jewlery and other such uses? I haven't been able to confirm or deny this, but have always been told the government made it illegal to posses "large amounts" of gold or other rare metals

Any truth to that?

 

I agree. If push comes to shove, food and water are all that matter. Unless you can eat precious metals they are as worthless as paper if we reach a scenario where we have a total monetary collapse. Gold/silver are as much a fiat currency as the US dollar.

 

You couldn't just fit it in your pocket?

 

Jayman must be loaded.

• 1 pound = 14.58 troy ounces.
• 1 troy ounce of gold is $939 @ 14:00 CST
• 1 pound of gold costs $13,690.

If he needs a large truck to transport all his gold he must be buying millions in gold.

This reminded me of a locked up abroad episode. This American gets talked into smuggling gold into India. He had something like 20 kilograms of gold sewn into a canvas vest that he wore under his clothes.

 

I'm thinking Jayman is a marijuana sumggler. Damn Canadian hippies with thier almost legal pot.

 

Precious metals are not an investment. They are a speculation. If you buy low and sell high, you make a bundle. If you buy high and sell low, you lose your shirt. If they rise less than the market while you hold them, you come out behind.

They have no intrinsic value other than their utility in manufacturing (electrical contacts, for example) and people consider them pretty in jewelry. In the event of a total economic collapse, they will be worthless. As someone noted above, food and water will have value, as will guns that can be used to steal food and water.

They may have a place as a hedge against currency devaluation, and they may hold their value in a nation whose economic system collapses if the world economy remains intact. But if the U.S. economy collapses, the world will follow and metals will serve only to hit people over the head with so you can steal their food. I.e., gold will be worth about the same as lead.

There have been times when owning precious metals would have been a winning speculation. My guess is that they are over-priced now, and due for a drop, as many people have probably moved some of their assets from stocks to metals.

What do you mean by "junk silver"? Paper money is legal tender, as are coins above a penny or a nickel in the U.S. Pieces of silver are not. And I don't think the U.S. issues silver certificates any more.

If you are wanting to buy metals because you expect a general collapse of the monetary system, and you still believe they will retain their value, then you should buy minted coins, which are more likely to be trusted as to their content than ingots. But if you merely want a hedge against inflation, and you are willing to gamble (speculate) that metals will rise against currency, then a mutual fund might be a better way, since it's easier to buy and sell: You don't have to ascertain the actual metal content when buying, or prove it when selling.

I own a few gold coins. I own them because they are pretty. A couple of U.S. $5 coins, an Isle of Mann 1/8 oz kittens coin, and a beautiful Austrian coin about the diameter of a silver dollar but much thinner. I think it would be cool to own a 1-oz Canadian maple leaf, but not cool enough to spend the money they cost today.

 

I sold all of my IAU shares a month or two ago.

 

Not quite, but I am considering my options. The vast majority of my assets are in property - free and clear - and "cashy" investments like guaranteed CD's and GIC's

Oh, wait a minute. Apparently the FDIC is about to go Tango Uniform

FDIC warns US bank deposit insurance fund may tank

So much for my "safe" cashy investments

 

If we really do have a total collapse, the only things worth bartering are essentials like food, water, medicine, booze, cigarettes (My grandparents claim that during the Great Depression smokes were easily bartered), gasoline, etc

Skills can be bartered too. If we have a total economic collapse, not much demand for accountants, programmers, or engineers. But if you're handy with cars, generators, framing a home, etc, that could really be an asset

 

Hardly! I never use the stuff and am willing to prove it. Also, I have a security clearance, so it would be very easy for official agencies to track what I'm doing

 

He's only "on" PC