one more time: Gold

Re: Gold
My older (now deceased) brother made a number of wise investments in his lifetime. And it wasn't gold. He bought good land with run down farmhouses. He fixed the houses up and rented the houses. Never sold anything. Always had rent money coming in. Leased or rented out the land if he trusted the person. Widow is now setting pretty.
Gold brings you no monthly income. They are making more gold all the time. Not making anymore land. Don't listen to the fear mongers telling you we are headed for a financial armagedden. That is political BS.

Gold isn't a manufactured product. Stuff is manufactured from gold but not gold itself. Your post is rather odd. Dave

Yes, sorry about that. They are mining more gold all the time.
The point is he made a fortune buying land not gold. He bought 14 properties over a 30 year period. For you guys who think gold is a good investment have at it. For the rest of you
think twice.

Hughb My grandad did the same thing invested all his money in land Worth alot more than gold in my book

You maybe incorrect. Congress and the president pioneered methods of manufacturing gold or a synthetic derivative therof about 2 years ago. It's made of thin air, hollow promises, and the linings of the pocket books of anyone who ever tried to work for something. This has been made in batches as large as 700 billion dollars. Sadly it has been found to be only of value to professional thieves and those who don't have any interest in working for anything. All encompassing title for this is 'new wave abundant civics 101'.

Over time gold keeps up with inflation, land keeps up with inflation. During different periods of time gold may be ahead of inflation, during other periods of time land may be ahead of inflation. It's all a matter of timing, and anybody who claims to be able to tell which will be better is probably making their money off selling advice.

Being a landlord usually brings in income, but factors like an employer shutting a plant can destroy that income, and bad tenants can cost you money.

Are financial bad times coming? Of course, the question is when? The best way to invest is to assume that good times will not last. People got in trouble in the real estate bubble because they assumed that prices would continue rising faster than inflation. The Dot Com bubble people thought any internet investment would make money. In the 1980's people gambled that farm land prices would continue going up. All these people were wrong.

Personally, I like land. But still, the price has to be right. Lock in interest rates and don't gamble on inflation bailing out bad investments. Interest rates will go up and that will hurt land prices. And Congress will do things that have effects they didn't predict.

I've never sold a piece of land But I do think land is still better because you can raise crops, cows, and build on it Yes there is some financial hard time here an there But you got to take the good with the bad

"Don't listen to the fear mongers telling you we are headed for a financial armagedden. That is political BS."
I have been involved in way too many internet arguments over the years, I have been flamed too many times for offering unpopular opinions. So I usually stay out of these sort of things. However, this statement deserves a reply. Frankly, I wonder if the author of this statement has had his head stuck in the sand for the last three years. So I offer a few points for the author of this statement and others to ponder.
1. The dollar has lost 98% of its value due to inflation compared to not very many years ago.
2. The economy of the US is founded on debt and quantitive easing, which is the running of printing presses to cover the shortfalls.
3. The purchase of property to preserve wealth can be very lucerative in good times. However, property purchased at the wrong times can wipe people out completely. (The number of property owners who are upside down right now due to declining property values is astronomical.)
4. The common man faces a stacked deck on financial matters. Has anyone read the recent revelations of what Goldman did? They sold and promoted risky financial securities, and then bet against them and then gloated about it. Now a senior Goldman official, says that the the revelations many be embarrassing but are not evidence of wrong doing. That bankster is smoking crack, in my humble opinion! These criminal banksters have wiped out peoples retirement through their chicanery.
5. The ownership of gold and silver has been debated innumerable times over the years. There is not just one answer to this question. It is an individual thing. The same banksters who manipulate the financial markets also attempt to do the same to gold and silver prices.
I don't favor holding a lot of gold. There are many problems with it. Other posts have pointed out some of them. I think that junk silver coins is a much better idea. First it is legal tender in the US. Second the denominations and values of each coin is much smaller than gold coins and more convenient to use. If I had some extra money, I probably would purchase some silver. Oh well! Any way, that is my two cents worth. Ted

Yes, like the proverbial "golden handshake". Are last police chief got that. His contract said that if he was let go would only get a max. 1 years salary but ended up getting about $250,000 for less than 2 years as chief. He tried to cover up a sting operation involving a newspaper reporter that wasn't always kind when reporting the police departments activities. A few undercover cops tried to pin an impaired charge on the reporter which were proven false. There are also some people that seem to walk in manure and it turns to gold.LoL Dave

Hey listen, I respect your opinion. This is my opinion. People are fed a steady diet of misinformation from talk show hosts on both sides. I am 73 yrs old and I have heard this political BS every time an election comes around. mid term or presidential. It is always the same. The other party is leading us to rack and ruin. This time is "financial armaggedon" coming. What will it be next election? I stand by my opinion that gold is a poor investment. Who's making money from it. the people selling it. Have a nice day. I respect your opinion.

I think you are taking a bet either way. If you
think inflation will continue, as it has for
several decades. Both land and gold, if bought
right are good investments.
If you think are headed for a period of deflation, probably neither are.

In the long run Gold will always be worth something.......Never has gone to zero. GM common stock is totally worthless paper, the US dollar could become worthless paper too.

Inflation runs its course every year in the US.
Some years are worse then others.

35 years ago the family car was $3,500 now the family car is $30,000. Have incomes gone up 10 times, not really.

If a person wants a real solid investment then buy staples that will always have a value, like food, fuel.

Look what the bible says: Lay your treasure in Heaven, not on earth.

Hughb......good posts.....however, I have to disagree with your premise that one party is good and one party is bad at any given time so it balances out over time......have you given any thought to the idea that BOTH parties are selling out the people of the United States. Just do a little reading on George Soros and his involvement in all sorts of dealings worldwide. His power, money and influence may currently be placed heavily on the party in power but he will bring the U.S. to it's knees regardless of who is in power........and if he can do it so can others. We are at our most vulnerable when we feel comfortable because "our party" or "our guy" is in power.

I agree that land has been a wonderful investment over the last 30, 40, 50 years. But most is overpriced now, and has come down in both real and adjusted terms over the past 2 years. I will be 62 in August, and have plenty of real estate to sell to be set up for retirement- or that was the plan. Now, because of decrease in value, I'll keep working, I guess.

As far as a coming financial collapse being just political BS, we have never been in as bad a deficit position as we are now, and with "entitlements" making up over 60% of the budget, there's no easy solution. As long as we can keep "refinancing" the national debt by selling new bonds to pay the old ones (guy named Ponzi invented that technique), we're OK- but when we can't sell our bonds anymore, "granny bar the door". They will just start printing money to hand out, and inflation will run wild. That's when I'm thinking my silver will come in handy.

just asking a question here,what was an ounce of gold worth 35 years ago compared to today? did property take the same kind of jump in net worth percentage wise?Also wouldnt it be easier for some one with a little extra cash from time to time to buy some gold versus buying land

You need big money to buy a rundown farm AND renovate the farm house. If'n you got that much money it should be easy to make more.

I own my land free & clear & have it rented out. I barely get enough to pay the taxes.

The only way to save wealth (ie: value) from the legalized thievery of these days is to put it somewhere the thieves won't think to look for it. Yes, land can be an excellent investment over time. Gold can be good too, but you can't eat it.

We are obviously in uncharted waters. Being a bit younger than others involved in this discussion (42 y.o.), I've got to wonder what lies in store for us say 20 years and more from now. What we've been doing with part of our 'investment' money is to plow it back into our land, literally. For starters, we've worked very hard to have all the land we own debt free. Beyond this, we put a lot of effort into permanently improving the fertility of our soil through good management and adding organic and mineral amendments without worrying about whether they'll pencil out this year or next year. Urban government types don't really understand farming and certainly don't understand soil fertility. Hiding our wealth there will give us access to it later when we might not be able to afford fertilizers or fuels. And in the meantime, it will help grow better crops.

Sounds kind of like a crackpot idea, I admit. But the games being played with the money supply, etc sure makes you wonder about the future.

Christopher

Through the miracle of Google, it appears the price of gold in 1975 was about $150 per ounce.

Main problem with land investment nowdays is you have to have so much capital to buy a "unit", of whatever size. I would think gold (or even better, silver) would be good, compared to the stock market or (shudder) savings accounts or CDs, assuming you can't put together enough $$ to buy land. Should be noted that an investment in real estate in 2005-2007 would have been disastrous, compared to almost anything else. Who'da thunk it.

Like some others I"m somewhat confused about what to do but I always refer to some advice from a millionaire that was a PIA but it made sense and that was number one land cannot be reproduced number two dwellings on the land can be so simply put bid on the land only based on what it may be worth in say ten years from now forget there is a dwelling on it. You may lose the bid but sometimes you win. Dwellings depreciate land doesn"t.

"not headed for a financial armageddon"- so we can keep increasing the deficit, forever, without consequence? How is that going to work, once the Chinese (who are the only ones with any money) quit buying our bonds?

The prices of real estate have marched upward, almost without a hiccup, from the '40's until 2007, and were a great investment during virtually all of that time period. But as pretty as your sister-in-law is sitting, I'll bet its not as pretty now as it was in '07. The old rubrick that "real estate can never go down, because they're not making any more of it" has now been proven wrong, by all the folks that are "underwater" in their property. Investment decisions have to be made according to the conditions of the present, not the rules of the past.

Not according to the tax people around here. I had an old abandoned house that no one lived in for many years. I found out I was being assessed over $3000.00 for it. When I complained they reduced it to $1000.00 salvage value. There was nothing to salvage. When the kids tore it all down they finally removed it from the taxes.

So I guess when everything goes belly-up the guy with the gold will get what he wants and not the guy with the ak-47? Hoss

Wrong on both subjects.

1. Land is being created all time as the continents move about and volcanoes erupt.
2. You just can't make gold its a basic element AU.
Walt

If you had bought gold about '79 - '80 around $800/oz you would have reached the break even point about 2007. If you bought gold during 2000 for $300/oz you would have quadrupled your investment this year.

Gold is like land, stocks, bonds, etc - timing is everything. Buy low, sell high. Right now gold is high.
Gold Price History

I think the main lure of Gold is the fact that it is portable..

Don't get me wrong. I like land and wish I had more of it. However, it is not a no brainer, and paying too much for it can ruin you.

The other disadvantage of land is that it can be taken away from you. We have some of the highest property taxes in the nation here, and they just keep raising them Mine went up 11.75% last year and up over 120% total since 2002. People are being taxed out of their homes and livelihoods here--and the government does not care. You do not know what it will cost to keep land--I hesitate to really load up on it.

Gold has its disadvantages too, and the posts about wall street being a stacked deck against the little guy DO have merit.

However, the best alternative is buying OIL in Canada. Canada is in better shape than we are and more stabil. Your dividends are paid in Canadian dollars which protect you against what the gov. is screwing up here.

Lastly, as opposed to gold, you get a cash flow from your investment, AND we will be using oil for many years to come. There STILL is not a viable alternative. This is a good place to be IMHO

The charts indicate that gold went above $970 in 1980. Twenty years later it was down to about $280. My investments have been diverse in stocks, bonds, commodity futures and real estate. My small farmland investment has treated me far better than any of the others. If agriculture in the U.S. were not so heavily subsidized this would not be the case
CHARTS

Very Interesting Post , Kinda Reminds Me of the GOOD OL Days when Useful information was swappeds on ther Forumm , It is a WONDER it Did not not get Ate by the POOF monster

Re the countries terrible deficit, politicians got it for us and they will cure it for us - more taxes, problem fixed. Gold has only recently been a free market, the gvt. fixed the price ect. for years so you wouldnt want amy more than you can hide. Silver has a more use transacton wise as your not going to be hiding all that much value anyway. Land is like any other tradeable asset - buy low and sell high - and be sure you dont forget the selling part.

This post is interesting. Although I'd never call myself an expert, in the last few years I've read a lot of books on gold, silver, money, the economy, and the way government interferes with the markets.
I believe that gold & silver definately have a place in ones investment portfolio, but it isn't what you can make money with. Precious metals should be used as a store of wealth you've already accumulated. They have the ability to retain buying power as inflation increases.
Those who say that gold is just another commodity like oil, land, crops...etc. are right, however it is the commodity of choice. Compact, easy to carry and store (and hide).
Those of you naysayers consider this: What caused the biggest movement of settlers westward in the 1800's? GOLD
What did the Spaniards send home from the conquest of South America? GOLD & SILVER !!! They didn't send home beans & rice or land. Ships laden with tons of gold & silver. Why was that? What did the Egyptians bury their kings and queens with? GOLD !!! The reason for this is simple... gold wasn't invented or made by anyone. It came to be what it is because of it's physical properties, in addition to countless billions of transactions between individuals that determined that gold, and later silver were the items that kept their value. One could be confident in accepting gold in payment, that they could use it at a later time buy an equal value of items. It's still true today. My bet is that if gold ever goes down dramatically in price, the cost of other items such as gas, milk, bread...whatever will also go down, thus the retention of purchasing power.
I'm not a gold nut, but I do own some as well as some silver. I also have a little land and an IRA. The smart thing to do is diversify, and that's where owning some precious metals come in.
From what I see in the U.S. economy as well as world conditions in general, I think that even at $1200 gold is underpriced. I won't put all my cash there, but I will be buying more, as well as silver.
Jeff

You really need a new tenant or a new county government one. Chances are better that government is the problem.

Dave

Was a landlord over ten years. If all you want is making money, you gotta be a real mean SOB. I was not. Could never be. That was 25 years ago. Today it would be insanity. Unless you are a real mean SOB. Dave

The other news did a story on Glenn becks conflict of interest. He's saying Armageddon and buy gold while he's one of the pitchmen for the gold market.

ChevCase. I agree with you that both parties share blame. I agree that one man with to much power can be dangerous. I try to stay out of the political lambasting on this site. The stuff that gets poofed. I was raised by English parents in the U.S. So I didn't get that political indoctrination that most parents pass on to their children. Yes, I vote. I try to pick the person who I think is best for the country. Been disappointed every time.