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 Replies: 61 / Views: 7,234 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5850 Posts |
Quote:
If you are a long time invester There is no reason to be nervous.
The price for silver normally beats inflation ( It's better than putting cash in the mattress). I've heard this said before, but I'm not really sure how people justify it. Looking at various charts, it looks like the value of silver actually declined during the 30 year period leading up to the current rise. If you bought silver in, say, 1982 at $10/ounce, the value would have dropped to around $4-5 and stayed there for the next 20 years or so. That's 20 years when the value of silver either stagnated or actually went down. Sure, if you held onto it for 25 years instead of 20 it would have eventually gone up. But that's a far cry from saying it "normally" beats inflation, isn't it? Or am I missing something? I mean, I certainly hope the silver I bought at $30 will eventually be worth $50 or more, but I have nothing to tell me that it is something to be expected. Edited by barryg
12/03/2011 3:36 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
People who talk about the value of silver or golds vs. inflation are usually taking a very long term view of it and then averaging the results over all of those years. Yes, both silver and gold can go into long stretches where the prices do not change all that much. Then, they take off like scalded cats for a while and rise very rapidly in price.
For me, silver is an investment, insurance policy, and enjoyable hobby that I'm in for the duration. If bad things happen, I will have some coins available to use to help feed the family. If bad things don't happen, then I still have them for the enjoyment that they bring me as well as an insurance policy that might be useful in the future.
One thing that has pushed me into collecting silver, and perhaps gold too at some point, is the current state of the US / world economy. Both look like the drek scraped up off the bottom of a 100 year old industrial liquid waste dump. Debt is running rampant and is growing at 6-8% a year while the economies of the US and Europe are struggling along to achieve 1-2% growth. This is not a formula for success, nor is it something that can go on indefinitely. At some point, this cycle will break. It has to. The economics for continuing to spend 40% more than we have ad infinitum is just not there. While none of us knows when this will happen, we can all figure out that it is going to happen because there doesn't seem to be any way to avoid it without making some very hard choices that the elected politicians are just not willing to make.
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Valued Member
 United States
232 Posts |
I dont know whats going on but I have been rocking the ebay world, winning 9 auctions all well below melt. This has been the best I've done since the start of my collection so I'm pretty excited. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
Usually things go on sale for Xmas/Hanukkah, and also people need the cash to give presents. Others may be getting bored with their investment and they are giving up. I wouldn't mind either way.
lower price = people getting out of the game, more silver on the market for me
higher price = exquisite pieces come out of the woodworks
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Pillar of the Community
United States
667 Posts |
Silver & gold. Heck the price could go to $4 next year. They could find a new world deposit that just falls out of the ground and exceeds all that has ever been pulled from the earth. Who knows it could reach $200 by the end of 2012. When it comes to silver as compared to other true investments it really is hard to do anything but speculate. It is built on a trust in the value of the PM when you think of it. As long as we all think it has value it does, other than that nothing really backs it. It does has a good track record though because people have valued it for a very long time. Now does silver beat inflation? This really would only be a concern if I place 100% of all my investment money into the silver speculation market. Depending on when I needed the hard cash I may not have liked my financial planning. There are personal reason everyone speculates in silver. To me it is diversification and a safety net just in case the words money system would fail. I certainly do not ignore other true investments and place 100% of everything into PM's. That I don't think would be too smart. Buying under melt - not a big deal I do it all the time, really pretty easy if you take your time to look. No I'm not a fan of ebay for PM's. I think it has too much risk, though many people have never had the honor of getting fake silver. So if you are happy with your ebay purchases then why worry. If you are beating the market price then that is all the better. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
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There are personal reason everyone speculates in silver. To me it is diversification and a safety net just in case the words money system would fail. I certainly do not ignore other true investments and place 100% of everything into PM's. That I don't think would be too smart.  , MK. A number of the Oriental religions teach balance in all things as a way of achieving inner peace. This idea appeals to me greatly. Diversification is one of the few aspects of investing that can really work for the average investor. Having 5-10% of my money in PMs is great and works well for me. Having more than that could be good too but I definitely would not go over about 20-25% in ANY one particular type of investment. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1374 Posts |
Seems the silver market has been out of whack the last couple of weeks. Is it just me, or is it not following gold? I just checked where they are at, and gold is up $12 and silver down $.25?
Gold seems to have rebounded a bit from earlier drops, while silver hasn't?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
Quote:
Gold seems to have rebounded a bit from earlier drops, while silver hasn't? Because the silver market is small and prone to manipulation to a much greater extent than the much larger gold market?  |
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Valued Member
United States
493 Posts |
Central banks are buying gold, somewhat secretly in large quantities for the first time in years, they know something is up.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
Quote:
Central banks are buying gold, somewhat secretly in large quantities for the first time in years, they know something is up. Probably all part of the plan for what happens after they have destroyed the fiat currencies of the world.  |
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Valued Member
United States
333 Posts |
I enjoy my small silver stash, but I will eventually get rid of my non-numismatic coins. I'll eventually get rid of my remaining 25th anniversary ASE set too. There is a time for PMs and a time for other investments. I'm just going to enjoy the ride. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
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There is a time for PMs and a time for other investments. There is, indeed. For the most part, though, this is not an either / or question. It is possible to invest in a number of different things at the same time. For those of us who enjoy collecting, the investment aspect of PMs only part of the picture.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1502 Posts |
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For those of us who enjoy collecting, the investment aspect of PMs only part of the picture. "honey, I'm just investing, some more" |
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Valued Member
United States
232 Posts |
My problem is that nearly 50% of my funds are in PM's, I have a hard time beliving in my works 401k or most money markets(and I wont touch individial stocks right now). I know I should have a more diverse "portfolio" but I dont trust the market. I would rather have my Investment were, I my self can own such as PM's. If PM's (mostly silver) were to crash and stay at low prices I would be screwed.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1502 Posts |
Quote:
My problem is that nearly 50% of my funds are in PM's yikes! hard not to have one eye on the spot prices all the time when 50% of your savings are in PMs. Hope you at least have a stable income! You have to have the ability to sit on your PMs for a goo 6mo to a year at the very very very least to wait out big dips. My wife and I made the mistake of betting heavily in silver about a year ago and had to be very creative to dig ourselves out of the hole we jumped into. my 2 cents would be to start diversifying more, however uncertain you are at the moment. Stocks are not as evil as some make it out to be, and there are good long term buys available right now in agriculture, mining, and even tech. Even holding a bit more gold as oppose to just silver is a good idea. IMO |
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Replies: 61 / Views: 7,234 |
First Page
Posted 12/03/2011 5:57 pm
