Do any of you invest in silver and gold?

JOCCO

Well-known Member
Instead of stocks bonds or other vehicles. I have seen people also invest in guns, antique cars, tractors baseball cards etc. Can any of you add anything to this if you do use Gold, silver etc. One reason I am asking is a local fellow had some farm equipment up for sale and a guy wanted to pay him partially in silver. He was perplexed by this and a little unsure.
 

Does the guy even know what real silver looks like? I don't! Same for gold, platinum or any other precious metal. And then there's the purity issue, is it 99% pure silver? 75%? 50%? IMO when someone shows up with "silver" or "gold" in hand (or nnalert!) it's generally someone looking to rip you off and get something for nothing. Tell your pal to advise the buyer to go cash in his own "silver" and return with the cash!
 
I think that is the direction he was leaning in. I once had a item for sale and a kid wanted to trade me a super valuable sports card or stamp collection for it. I told him no problem just sell the collection and bring me cash haven't seen him yet and this was in the 1980's!! I suspect he will be along anytime!!!
 
Do any of you invest in silver and gold?
NO!
Don't invest in tractors, guns, knifes, or cars. I consider those items necessary, not investments.
A saving account at 0.25% interest isn't an investment either. Just a safe place to keep operating capital to backup checking accounts.

Even after the 2008 downturn and recent correction in Market I've made more money there than in my real estate investments. Real estate investments is a more steady income and my rents have increased 4x+ in 40 years. So has inflation, taxes, insurance, operating costs increased.

If you don't know what you are doing, you can lose your butt in both the market and real estate.

If there is ever a Great Depression, our market totally fails, World markets will fail too, you can kiss everything goodby. Gold won't do you any good.
Need someplace to live, invest there. Want to make money, pay everything off and stop paying interest. Get rid of credit card debt.
 
I have a pretty good amount of Gold and Silver coins like the American Eagle,easily identified and Gov't issued plus they sell as close to spot price as any coins.I don't look at my
Gold and Silver as an investment but as an insurance policy I hope I never need.All paper money will fail at some point,always has and historically Gold and Silver are what people revert back to for money.With the US Gov't 21 Trillion$ in the hole and no sign of a spending decrease something will have to eventually give in my opinion.I have sold several pieces of farm equipment and was paid in Silver American Eagles,I'll allow the seller what spot price is at the time which can be checked on the Monex website 24 hrs a day.The coins are always worth more than spot price so if that's what the buyer wants to do its fine with me.If they go to a coin shop to sell the coins they won't get as much as spot price so we're both ahead.
As the saying goes about different types of money
Gold is the money of Royalty.
Silver is the money of Gentlemen.
Paper is the money of Fools.
Credit is the money of Slaves.
 
It depends on what the situation is with the local fellow contemplating this. If he does this, he better be up on current silver market, and know what he,s looking at on the silver items he is going to be excepting. And also know how to re-sale the silver without losing any money on it if he needs to. A coin dealer won't pay full book price for silver coins, and you got to know things like this if your going to buy and re-sale. If not, the guy better just accept cash and have his buyer liquidate his own silver items.
 
Gold for the mistress
And silver for the maid
Copper for the journeyman
cunning at his trade !
Yes said the baron sitting in his hall
But iron , cold iron is the master of them all !


If you want to lose money buy gold , silver , and Bitcoins
 
Yeppers, I...

Make new friends,
but keep the old
one is silver,
the other's gold.

Sorry, couldn't resist - it's what popped into my head upon reading your subject line.
 
In reality any money deposited in a bank is an uninsured loan.Ask the folks on Cyprus how that can work out.Think the US Gov't insures your money? It does but ask the folks in
Venezuela how that works out when the inflation rate is 3,000 percent.Nothing to stop the Gov't from printing massive amounts of money when they get in a bind which is what gov'ts almost
always do.
 
YES I have a balanced well diversified investment portfolio INCLUDING SOME IN PRECIOUS METALS. Last time I invested in silver I made a great profit. HOWEVER I advise one to NOTTTTTTTT put all his eggs in one basket such as all in gold or silver. Spread things out like stocks and bonds and mutual funds and cash and precious metals. I don't agree its good to put ALL be it gold or silver or cash or stocks or bonds or cash in one place. So yessssssss "some" in precious metals and some in stocks or bonds or cash or mutual funds is a good strategy in my opinion. Of course to each their own if they want tO put ALL in precious metals or ALL in stocks or bonds or cash THATS THEIR BUSINESS NONE OF OURS TO CRITICIZE

My final advice, consult a trained professional and dont bet the farm on anything posted here...?.

John T
 
(quoted from post at 06:54:09 12/11/18) Gold for the mistress
And silver for the maid
Copper for the journeyman
cunning at his trade !
Yes said the baron sitting in his hall
But iron , cold iron is the master of them all !


If you want to lose money buy gold , silver , and Bitcoins

People don’t seem to understand that gold and silver are commodities, and you have to know what your doing with commodities. And nnalert is, IMHO, stupid.
 
(quoted from post at 06:31:45 12/11/18) Do any of you invest in silver and gold?
NO!
Don't invest in tractors, guns, knifes, or cars. I consider those items necessary, not investments.
A saving account at 0.25% interest isn't an investment either. Just a safe place to keep operating capital to backup checking accounts.

Even after the 2008 downturn and recent correction in Market I've made more money there than in my real estate investments. Real estate investments is a more steady income and my rents have increased 4x+ in 40 years. So has inflation, taxes, insurance, operating costs increased.

If you don't know what you are doing, you can lose your butt in both the market and real estate.

If there is ever a Great Depression, our market totally fails, World markets will fail too, you can kiss everything goodby. Gold won't do you any good.
Need someplace to live, invest there. Want to make money, pay everything off and stop paying interest. Get rid of credit card debt.


I never bought into the idea that a house is a investment. It’s a place to live. It’s only a investment to your heirs. I know a lot of folks that strain themselves buying a expensive house, then take Helocs on the place. Add that to taxes, interest and maintenance, it never has been a good investment. And it isn’t very fungible, I can sell a stock anytime, a house sale can be complicated, and long.
 
I invested in a gold circle with some stones on it and ended up costing me a small fortune down the road!
 
I've been watching the price of gold for about 15 years thinking of getting into it. It runs today about what it did 15 years ago so I think I will pass. I like the idea though. With the government running the national debt higher every second they are bound to go bankrupt eventually. I just think it will be past my lifetime.
 
Stephen ...... This reference link below would contradict your statement about the price today being about what it was 15 years ago (so 2003 or thereabouts) even taking inflation into account. Looks like 2011-12 it hit its high point. Problem is with looking back at investments, it often ends up being coulda, woulda, shoulda and that doesn't put any money into your pocket unfortunately. Using the numbers in this reference tells me that a gold investment in 2003 would look pretty good today. For myself, I tend to stay away from the stock market, I worked too hard for the money I took home to gamble it which is often the case I think.
Untitled URL Link
 
Spook, I would never had invested in nnalert myself but for those that did say two years ago (or anytime before that) and got rid of it last
year at this time, that would have been a great decision. Mind you it's headed downwards now and who knows how hard it would be to sell
today. Always easy to look back and see when or how you could have been a multi-millionaire I guess. Here's the historical values below in
this link ....
Untitled URL Link
 
Even if the government were to "go bankrupt" if that is even possible, I would not expect to see many changes. Day to day commerce would most likely go on just like it always has.

So far, nobody has ever asked my for my share of the national debt. I don't expect them to, either.
 
Over the years, I have invested in collector coins. Overall, some do well, others fairly steady. Seldom lose on any of them.

BUT, you need to know what you are doing or you can get ripped off very easily.

Good "key" coins do well. They generally will earn about 10% per year or better. Semi-key and common dates will appreciate slowly. Full sets are desirable, and will generally command a bit of a premium over the individual coins. There are a number of factors that go into evaluating a coin for investment. Condition, age, rarity, and desirability top the list.

There are coins so rare as to be nearly unique that can be had for not much more than pocket change. Why? Because nobody collects them.

There are also coins that seem to be plentiful that cost a fortune. Why? Because everybody wants them.

So, as an investment, you buy the rare and high priced ones. As a collector, I like full sets. But, either way, you better know what you are doing.
 
Back around 79or 80 the company I worked for decided to give us a special Christmas bonus in the form of silver. The bonus was formula driven, based on years of service, and was, of course, taxable. At that time silver was worth about $20/ounce. Seeing no practical use for pure silver, I and many of my co-workers chose to sell the silver at the current value to other co-workers that saw it as an investment opportunity. Right around that time, a couple of brothers in Texas decided their lives would not be complete unless they cornered the silver market. When they were caught, silver prices went down to less than $10/ounce and the co-workers that bought all of that silver looked like fools. I just checked current values and see that it's up over $14/ounce. 38 years later, I'm still ahead.

No. I don't invest in gold or silver.
 
Actually the gov't won't have to ask they can just take it from you in the form of inflating the dollar$ to pay off the debt and the result will be the money you have would have
far less buying power.Has happened many times in other countries.Well look at the Federal Reserve notes we use now in 1913 when they were first issued 20 of them would get you an ounce of Gold now you need between 1200 and 1300 of them to get that ounce of Gold.
 
GOOD ADVICE COUNCELLOR!! I would have to add that through history gold has never become worthless and history is on its side.
 
But, it still only takes a couple of them to buy a pound of hamburger or a loaf of bread.

All I am saying is that I see no major changes in lifestyle coming along. Debt or no debt. Bankruptcy or not. I don't see farmers plowing under their crops or destroying their livestock regardless of the state of the national debt. This has been going on intermittently for my entire life. I still have food to eat, a dry, heated place to sleep, and I am able to travel around freely within the confines of my own finances.

For what it is worth, there are still many safeguards in place to keep us away from another great depression. Banks are insured by FDIC, inflation so far has been kept to a reasonable level, and there are actually people in government that keep things in check.

Over all, I get really sick of all of the "doom and gloom" talk about things that we have no control over. The debt is one of the big ones. I cannot control it. I cannot change it. And I am tired of talking about it to no good end. Nothing we say on this tractor forum is going to have even the slightest effect on the government and its policies and shortcomings. Not worth a worry to me.
 
But, it still only takes a couple of them to buy a pound of hamburger or a loaf of bread.


--------------------------------


in 1989 I could still buy a loaf of bread for 25 cents - at the local Aldi's or at the local Dolly Madison. Bought some last night and it was over $2 a loaf. And all I've heard is how there hasn't been any inflation the last 30 years. Mean while a bushel of wheat was $6 in 1974, today its barely breaking $5 It was around $4 in 1989.....
 
If he doesn't understand it then tell the guy to sell the silver and pay him in cash. Lots of people get in trouble when they try to operate outside their comfort zone. Personally I wouldn't mind it but - I probably wouldn't take in a large amount from a guy I didn't know. I couldn't tell you if something was pure silver or a nickel alloy if my life depended on it.

I buy small amounts of silver rounds in various weights from time to time. No real reason except it seems like a more tangible investment than buying beer from a barstool. Someday my kids will open my safe and wonder what I was thinking....
 
And, back in 1989, I was making a bit less pay as well.

If I go back to 1970, I was making about $7.50 per hour working at the local Buick dealer flat rate. I drove a 1967 Buick Electra 225 that I bought from our used car lot for $350. Hamburger was around 59 cents a pound, and bread was around 30 cents a loaf. Gasoline was around 35 cents a gallon, and life was good.

Now, on the grand scale of things, in 2000, thirty years later, I was making considerably more money. Decent used cars were in the $3000 range for the ones that I would buy, and every other thing cost more. BUT, if I stopped to calculate how many hours of labor it took to buy a gallon of gas, a pound of hamburger, a loaf of bread, or even a used car, it figures out to be pretty close to what it was 30 years ago.

It may not be that way in farming, but if you had a town job, inflation was not as bad as it seemed IF you look at the whole big picture. I do feel that I lived better years ago, but advances in technologies and medicine make up for a lot of the differences we find today.
 
Gold and silver are commodities, not investments. Yes, you can speculate in commodities and make money, but most people do not.

If you had bought gold in 2012 and sold it today, you would have lost about a quarter of your investment. Care to know how much the S&P 500 returned during that same period?

Some folks buy gold as an inflation hedge, but it's a pretty unreliable hedge as the example above shows. Other folks buy gold as a hedge against uncertainty; gold tends to rise when there is uncertainty and/or volatility in the markets or economy.
 
You can buy 1200 hamburgers at Wendys with 1 ounce of Gold. Do you really think the US Gov't can continue to spend and borrow about 1 Trillion$ a year more than it takes in indefinitely?
Just like charging more on your credit card every month than you take in and making the minimum payment sooner or later something is going to give,happens all the time people go bankrupt.
Not so simple with the Gov't a lot of people depend on the Gov't a living,services etc etc.At the very least the budget would have to cut to 2/3rds what it is now.That will affect the lifestyle of every person living in the USA.Or do what other countries have tried and wildly inflate the money supply,your hamburger could then cost $100 or more.
 
But when you invest in gold now to get much, don't you just but it as a commodity, on paper? Is it not pretty hard to get the actual gold?
 
No problem plenty of places like Monex,Schiff metals etc sell physical Gold,Silver,Platnum etc in a number of different mediums.The problem is small amounts carry a big premium usually,to get the best prices at most places you need to buy at least $10,000 worth.You can also buy Gold and Silver Eagles at coin shops but you pay a big premium most times.
 
I wouldn't accept silver or anything like that in payment or trade for a couple of reasons.

First, how does he know its real? A shiny piece of metal is just that. If it turns out to be fake the buyer will claim it was switched.

Second, why doesn't the buyer sell it for what he claims it's worth and pay cash? Most likely because it isn't worth what he claims.

I did sell some silver once. Paid $10 for a set of silverplate flatware at an estate auction because there were several spoons in the box that I guessed were sterling. Sold them to a place in Texas for about $200.
 
I was just guessing the time frame. It was a long time ago I started watching the price of gold and it was about $1200.00 an ounce then. It's not like I've been watching it daily. Every couple of years when I think of it I look up the price and it runs $1200/$1300 an ounce every time I look it up.
 
George - That would be $250,000 per person per institution. So a married couple with a joint account would be covered for $500,000 at each FDIC insured institution that they have their money in. I have CDs in several different banks all FDIC insured. If I had them in the same bank my limits along with my wife would only be $500,000
 
(quoted from post at 13:08:28 12/11/18) I've been watching the price of gold for about 15 years thinking of getting into it. It runs today about what it did 15 years ago so I think I will pass. I like the idea though. With the government running the national debt higher every second they are bound to go bankrupt eventually. I just think it will be past my lifetime.

Someday, for fun, look up the total value of all physical gold in the world and then look at our national debt, or better, our unfunded liabilites down the road. Theres about $7.5 trillion in physical gold last I checked, and we have at least $115 trillion in unfunded liabilities. That kind of makes our paltry $21 trillion national debt pale in comparison.
 
Yeah but for the guy that bought it for $300 today's prices can move all over the place and it's still s deal.
 
You are right about the unfunded liabilities(commitments) there are going to be a whole lot of very disappointed people in the future,already some localities and states have huge pension deficits.
Its the 800 lb Gorilla in the room no politician wants to talk about.
 
I don't really invest in silver or gold but like others, I do keep some on hand as an insurance policy. I have made money on it at times by selling it when the price is high, then buying it back when the price comes down.

I also don't see a reason not to accept it as payment for something I am selling. It is no different than trading anything else, you have to do your home work to make sure what you are receiving is worth what you are selling, like a tractor or anything else.
 
The stock market is only a gamble if you buy and sell. People who buy and sit are unaffected by the ups and downs. Say you purchased stock today for $30 a share. six months later the price drops to $15 share. Did you lose money? Only if you sold. The key to good vs bad stocks is the RONA, return on net assets. Every company pays a dividend almost every year.
Company I worked for made a major purchase, picked up most of the assets of a competitor near the end of the fiscal year. Stock prices slid drastically and a lot of people sold short further driving the rice down. The dividend that year was almost double that of the previous year. A year later the price of stocks was back up and the company did a stock split, two for one to bring the price per share back down.
One coworker who'd bailed commented about the price of stocks not recovering much, but did not account for how the price now reflected a half share from the previous year.
 
(quoted from post at 17:36:09 12/12/18)
Someday a 50 round box of .22 ammo will be worth a lot.

That was a couple years ago. I saw 50 round boxes of 22lr selling for $15.00 a box and they couldn't keep up with the demand. Thankfully prices have come back to something more realistic, but still not the 49 cents of my youth.
 

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