Economic Collapse - Numismatic Coins Vs Bullion

Backing a currency with metal creates more problems than it solves. You have to constantly be at war amassing more and more metal as the wealth of your country and population grows. Its one reason why Rome fell once they stopped expanding. It also doesn't leave any wiggle room in times of crisis. The US had to be bailed out by private wealth in its early days, and the Romans started debasing their money to compensate when necessary.

Granted most of the worlds population would die in a world wide collapse making it more doable, but the days of metal currencies are over. Theres not enough metal to go around with todays populations and its too restrictive in down times. Theres numerous examples of other metals or bills being put into play during hard times throughout history of pm based currencies.




Which is actually smart if someone thinks it really will happen. Pleasure items would have great value as opposed to heavy metals that would have to be lugged around.




It really depends on your economic situation. Theres definitely times when bullion can be very profitable, but without a price increase you will lose value just from buy and sell rates converting money back and forth to pay bills. Someone living pay check to pay check would likely be better off just leaving their money as is unless they time it right.

If you live comfortably or have a lot saved up you could do well putting a percentage into bullion. Its not that they represent a historical store of value, theres only certain times when that holds true adjusting for inflation as theres just as many times if not more going year to year where they would have lost value. But during uncertainty everyone runs to PMs which gives a good change of a fast value run up like we saw a few years back and in the 80s.

On the flip side though you can also do pretty good in the long run with numismatics once bullion has topped out. A lot of things prices are down from a couple years ago, and if you expect a recovery at some point its a good time to buy stuff while its cheaper than it used to be. Kind of like stocks how picking the right things during the crash can get you great values dirt cheap when everyone else is selling out of fear.




Well said. Its more about just liking coins than anything. On the bright side its a lot better than going out and blowing 100+ dollars at the bar every night.

You can't really survive on bullions or cash alone. What's important is that you need to network as well as certificates / credientials to show that you are capable of doing all sorts of works to ensure that you have a job well into retirement age. You can always stash away some cash / bullion for emergency purposes but unless you have a fair amount stashed away when you lose your job, you always need to have a job to keep you going.

I'll rather invest in education and ensure that I keep in contact with important people. I'm sure you can afford a few cups of coffee once in a while to keep your network in check. I'm sure just one ounce of silver can get you a few cups of coffee AND you get interesting conversations / knowledge from others.

Currency backed by precious metal is very unlikely happen - there's just too much cost associated with maintaining such vault. A bank cannot earn interest by having hoards of gold in their vault and instead lose more money from security, insurance etc.

If everybody is going to panic, it is best to have it organized professionally.

I would recommend the leading managers in the current World banking system.

the idea of economic collapse is a silly one. So I am not going to waste my time at all addressing it because it wont and isn't going to happen.

But I do want to highlight what works and what leads up to panic and fear and market crashes briefly.

One of the first weak components to a another financial panic will be as has always happened each time, it will happen in the banks. When you the financial start to rattle, shake and roll, the fear and panic is spreading. It spreads to all banks, everywhere.

Credit spreads go crazy. One way to monitor this everyday is by watching the TED spreads. Very simple to follow and use and you can compare it to historical points where it has gone into crisis mode.

The way to prepare for this sort of financial panic is-

1- buying US dollars
2- buying the US long bond
3- selling short markets


gold would be the last and farthest vehicle on my list.

All these panics and the crisis points all start the same.

Can you smell the irony?

Steel and lead make more sense as stores against catastrophic collapse. Or, you know, liquor.

yup7676
How do you KNOW there won't be an economic collapse?
A quadrillion dollars in promises are out there and if (when) the market takes a hit there is no guarantee that a crisis like 2008 will again be averted. Only takes contagion to take hold and all bets are off.
Who will get their contracts met when Comex has 114 calls on each ounce of silver?
The day EBT cards stop working expect the Rodney King riots x 100.
How healthy is the US economy? or Europe, or Turkey or China or...
A similar big problem with oil. China is now the worlds biggest importer and their credit is better than Americas. Only takes a small disruption in supply to see oil over $300. Back in 73-74 the OPEC shenanigans quadrupled oil prices in a year, caused queues at petrol stations, rationing, odds and evens (remember that) and stagflation. The embargo only required world oil production to fall 5%. Peak oil will do that and then keep on doing that.
Chuck in Obamacare being a drag on the economy, debt ceilings, the SS fund running close to max, munis risking default, bank leverage, sky high PE ratios and everything is just hunky dory (not).