Buying gold/silver as a secure investment

[robbiedublu]

Ain't nothing in life guaranteed. Canadian Maple Leaves, Austrian Philharmonics, and Mexican Liberdads all have one ounce of .9999 or .999. When the shit hits the fan these other three minted silver ounces should have less taint or political baggage than the Eagles.

I personally prefer them over Eagles.

And Libertads are one of the prettiest coins out there IMO. I also like the Taku. Mapleleafs are ok and I think the philharmonics are about the ugliest coin going. If you care about such things.

 

[headiez247]

when the world collapses and all i have is $700,000 in gold, how do I break it down so I can pay for my loaf of bread?

 

[zenoonez]

Lets just start paying one another in grain. At least then no one can talk about it being a fiat currency and if shit gets too bad you can just eat your currency

 

[Hydrosun]

when the world collapses and all i have is $700,000 in gold, how do I break it down so I can pay for my loaf of bread?

See Gramps post above.

1. Food
2. Guns
3. PM's
4. Some physical cash

So the finer points of (3) may be this: First investment in "Junk". Junk is an American silver coin with a known silver content. For example a 1960 dime has .0715 troy OZ of silver. The quarter has 2.5 times more, the half dollars 5 times more and the silver dollars of that year 10 times as much silver.

If you have Junk you can trade for bread. Having all your PM wealth in a single gold bar has problems as you have pointed out.

 

[In~Plain~Site]

My general rule of thumb is 10 oz silver bars and 1 oz gold.

Very easily denominated

I highly doubt a loaf of bread would constitute a road trip

when the world collapses and all i have is $700,000 in gold, how do I break it down so I can pay for my loaf of bread?

 

[igrowone]

what i find recently interesting is the silver/gold trade has taken a sharp turn in direction recently
it was doing the opposite of the stock markets(most of them), a real refuge from disaster
and in the last month or so, it's begun to track with the markets, both gold/silver took a major hit when the europe shit looked ready to hit the fan
which is not what you expect(or want) in a disaster insurance plan

 

[In~Plain~Site]

No, not ideal...but much better than having a handful of toilet paper(Dollars) potentially.

what i find recently interesting is the silver/gold trade has taken a sharp turn in direction recently
it was doing the opposite of the stock markets(most of them), a real refuge from disaster
and in the last month or so, it's begun to track with the markets, both gold/silver took a major hit when the europe shit looked ready to hit the fan
which is not what you expect(or want) in a disaster insurance plan

 

[Scottish Research]

I remember when gold was like $300 per ounce...

I can't stand these "We Buy Gold" shops that are now on every corner. They invariably have some zombie out front waving their "We Buy Gold" sign.

 

[The iD]

lol, is the 700k in one giant nugget? you dont haul in an entire monster box to buy a loaf of bread. how does one make an eighth out of a huge cola? one breaks it down. it is quite easy to shave off a gram or two from an AGE or PAMP bar. we all have scales already. hell, i can imagine being able to walk into Goldamn Morgan Bank of NAU after the "world collapses" w/ an oz AU and walking out w/ a loan (or credit) in the new NAUSD based on the value of the asset. like taking out a mortgage on a house you fully own. i like 10:1 AG/AU as well. pre69 coin hunting can be an enjoyable hobby. stay frosty,

-iD

 

[SpasticGramps]

In case anyone thinks I was being hyperbolic about Europe having three choices, here it is from the horses mouth. Europe Central Bank high priest Trichet.

Trichet Repeats Call For European Finance Ministry, Abdication Of National Sovereignty

The outgoing ECB president has just released an extremely long-winded speech titled "Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow: a vision for Europe" in which he once again makes the simple case that without someone paying for the European experiment (ahem Germany), and without a Finance Ministry being created (read fiscal union), there is not much future to the creature known as the EMU (and parodied earlier). To wit: "This European finance ministry would, first, oversee the surveillance of both fiscal policies and competitiveness policies, and when necessary, have responsibility for imposing the “second stage” I just described. Second, the ministry would perform the typical responsibilities of the executive branches regarding the supervision and regulation of the EU financial sector. And third, the ministry would represent the euro area in international financial institutions. Since my Karlspreis address, it seems to me that the case for such an approach has strengthened." He reiterates his call for the United Empire of Europe: "Increasingly, it seems that it is not too bold to consider a European finance ministry, but rather too bold not to consider creating such an institution." Naturally he concludes: "Exactly how these new institutions would eventually evolve one cannot say." So don't worry about the details (typical Europe) just promptly sign off your independence to those who know better than you what to do (and can afford to pay for what is best for you). Wonderful. Now have fun selling the proposal of abdicating sovereignty to those European countries which are not Germany, with a particular focus on France and Italy.

German students promptly booed him off the stage holding up signs "no more money for banks" and other niceties.

So to recap.

1. Europe becomes a Superstate with Germany defacto taking over the fiscal power for most of the continent. All states would lose their sovereignty to an appointed EU oligarch in Brussels. UK would be on the outside looking in.

2. Print

3. Collapse

 

[Greenstar420]

I've been buying up the smaller pieces of gold when I can, 5 & 10 gram pamps and engelhards here and there, they are easier for me to afford and do add up quickly. Also they would be easy to use in trade situations.

 

[dragongrower]

any pics of the gold/silver you have been buying??

 

[hashcat88]

lots of good information here...thanks everyone.

besides investing in precious metals, i know a few other things have been mentioned such as ammo, and nonperishables like rice, wheat, flour.

one great commodity though that i was thinking would be great for bartering is cigarettes. i fucking hate cigs...but just think what it would be like if they stopped being produced.

even though they are bulky, you could easily stash 5 cartons or so and save them until people started going nuts. who knows how much you could trade a single cig for to someone who was really fiendin??

 

[ReelBusy1]

Seriously folks, let's not turn a nice buying precious metals thread into a Shit Hits The Fan thread about buying bread at the WalMart after the "collapse".
Go to goldismoney.com for that shit.
There will be no walmart if there is a "collapse".
That's why it will be a "collapse".

I buy gold and silver for one reason only.
To accumulate Liquid assets easily hid-able from the taxman and ex-wives.
So many ex-wives....

 

[ReelBusy1]

lots of good information here...thanks everyone.

besides investing in precious metals, i know a few other things have been mentioned such as ammo, and nonperishables like rice, wheat, flour.

one great commodity though that i was thinking would be great for bartering is cigarettes. i fucking hate cigs...but just think what it would be like if they stopped being produced.

even though they are bulky, you could easily stash 5 cartons or so and save them until people started going nuts. who knows how much you could trade a single cig for to someone who was really fiendin??

This isn't WW2 anymore, most people don't smoke.
In Kosovo when society failed one of the most valuable items on the black market were baby wipes.
In crisis people value cleanliness and food.
here's a good list.
Pay special attention to the hygiene section
http://sibitotique.blogspot.com/2009/11/equipment-for-your-home-check-list.html

 

[trichrider]

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...ng-much-worse-society-breaking-131030651.html

 

[SpasticGramps]

Good news for those who have bought and are still buying gold. Over the past few months the European Central Bank has been printing money quicker than the FED. I know, I know the ECB states they aren't printing money, but only the most naive investors believe anything the central banks say. All they do is lie.

Here is the ECB's exploding balance sheet now at $3.2 TRILLION!! Bigger than the Federal Reserves! That's money in the bank.

Looks like the FED's. Gold is dipping on deflationary pressures, but as long everyone keeps trying to monetize everything those holding physical gold/silver will be smiling in the long run.

Print away Keynesians. QE to infinity.

 

[SpasticGramps]

More positive fundamentals for physical metal holders. The Federal Reserve is printing money to bailout insolvent European countries and banks. I know I know, Bernanke has said countless times that he isn't bailing out Europe, but again, it's naive to believe anything these pathological liars say.

The Federal Reserve's Covert Bailout of Europe Wall Street Journal

America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, is engaged in a bailout of European banks. Surprisingly, its operation is largely unnoticed here.

The Fed is using what is termed a "temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangement" with the European Central Bank (ECB). There are similar arrangements with the central banks of Canada, England, Switzerland and Japan. Simply put, the Fed trades or "swaps" dollars for euros.

Printing our way to prosperity. Yeah, that's really going to work out well.

 

[igrowone]

was thinking about this thread with the current activities
no question about the printing, how much is more the issue
but in spite of that the PM's have taken some hits, and aren't looking very good at the moment
more risk in PM's than out? it's all a mystery to me

 

[SpasticGramps]

how much is more the issue

Until all the insolvent countries debt is monetized or until enough people are out in the street rioting due to inflation and economic misery (unfortunate side effects of printing money). Lots of that already going on, but it will get a whole lot worse before it starts to get better.

Paper metal prices are going to get crushed as we come under deflationary pressure. Institutions will liquidate paper metals and other commodities to meet margin calls and reflect deflationary repricing. Going to be a great buying opportunity IMO.

I don't worry too much about the paper price of metals. It's heavily manipulated anyway. Buy on the dips, store in a safe place, and forget about it. It's the only way to not have counter-party risk.

If you store your physical metal with the broker they will use it as collateral to make risky bets and when they go bust you'll find out your assets don't exist (typical ponzi scheme). It's what happened to all the clients with supposed segregated accounts at MF Global when it collapsed. The regulators made the preferred TBTF institutions (JP Morgan) whole and fucked over all the normal investors. That's why nobody trusts "the system" anymore. And with very good reason. Everyone's assets have been pledged and repledged as collateral to infinity (rehypothecation) and when these institutions eventually go bust people will quickly learn that all of their assets are gone and the corrupt regulators won't help them, unless your name is JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs of course.

In other words owning and storing your own physical metals is one way to eliminate counter-party risk in an unraveling ponzi scheme.