Silver Is Crashing! Oooh, The Humanity

First, no one said that higher risk = higher reward... but that IS the general trend in investing. Exceptions do occur, of course, but the fact is, if you want investors to take on more risk, you HAVE to pay them more or they will not do it.

The trick with retirement investing is to not pay too much attention to your account. Check it quarterly, at the most, and adjust your asset allocation annually, again, at the most. Other than that, let it swing and don't be overly concerned about it. It is the nature of the market to rise and fall on a routine basis. You can't let that sway your need to be invested. Just realize that the value of your account is a lot like the tide... it WILL roll in AND out. If an investor gets too concerned about this aspect of investing, they will almost always do the wrong thing at the wrong time. I know... been there, done that, and got the prize at the end of it.

As to the asset allocation, I tend to use the "rule of 100". This is a generic rule of thumb but it works pretty well. It says that a person should have an asset allocation to stocks equal to 100 minus their age. At age 22, for example, the investor would have 100 - 22 = 78% of their money in stocks and 22% in other investments. This 22% could be divided among real estate via REITs, PMs, bonds, and cash. Note that the rule of 100 has a person in at least some stocks until they reach age 100... which few do. The point is that we all need at least some stocks as inflation hedges. PMs are also great at hedging against inflation. I agree completely that an allocation of 5-10% of PMs is very good. More or less than this results in a portfolio that is less balanced.

One very important aspect of investing is to learn about diversification. It really is the only "free lunch" in investing. Everything else costs money! With proper diversification, you can build a great portfolio that just fits you and your needs. It can be more stable or it can rock-n-roll... or it can be just somewhere in between.

I also want to commend the OP for being aware of retirement planning at such a young age. Compounding is a VERY powerful force in investing and time is vastly on your side when you are young. As time passes, though, it turns against you and you then have to start running uphill against it. That is very difficult to do and many do not make it. By starting early in life, though, you can make it work for you and that greatly increases the odds of you being able to retire successfully at an age young enough to enjoy the fruits of your labors. Been there and done this too! Retired financially independent at age 55.

One other thing... the stock shares of the PM producers should be considered as part of the PM allocation and not as part of the stock portion. Just my $0.02 here. I am sure that others will disagree and that's fine. We all have to find our own way and do what makes the most sense for us and our particular financial situation.

Let it fall. I'll buy more.

I agree Ed about those two fellows, I would invest any way they told me to, no questions asked. My dad drilled into my head growing up...."If you wanna be a expert in anything, get with someone who already is an expert in what ever that may be, and do EXACTLY what they are doing."

Words to live by....

His other favorite saying...."If your gonna be dumb, you better be tough."

Great point Ozzie as we talk about sliver 90% of the time (90% lol, pardon the pun), and I like it!

I don't have the means or knowledge to invest in what the two guys Ed mentioned, so physical gold an silver will have to do. They say 5 to 10 percent pm's, to hedge the other investments eh? Not this guy 100% into the pm's, lol!

The standard stuff that is taught is business schools doesn't really apply in the real world. Schools are selling education so they need to stick to the program. The program is to teach the students how to sell the services. That's how the industry makes money. And look what happens when people sell something that is worth little money. Service provider makes money and seller is caught holding the ball............GFC

I just can't see the dollar situation getting resolved. I'm buying physical silver.

Personally, I really don't care what Warren does, or any of those super wealthy guys. They will always be o.k. financially. It is us little guys that need to protect themselves with physical metals.

I don't know, if Warren Buffet would to dump his silver holdings all at once silver prices would probably fall under $5.00 an ounce and m,ay be that low for quite some time because he has an astronomical amount of silver in his portfolio and it would flood the market with just his holdings, so I can't say I don't care what he does because I definitely do care but I will not be watching his every move to decide what I am going to do