Need A Pick-Me-Up :(

you say you want to invest in the long haul, then what is wrong with buying individual coins. Silver for the long term is unknown, but keys and semi key coins will never lose value and pretty much always go up in value.
as far as long term, you can hold onto 5-10 coins valued at around 1 thousand dollars now, that you could get back at any time, or you coud buy 1 thousand worth of silver that may double or may half it's value in any given month.
seems to me like you aren't thinking it all the way through and maybe thats why your stocks are crashing as well

Somebody needs a 12 step program here ... This oldtimer has been immensely enjoying coin collecting even more so, since retiring at age 55. IMHO, looking at coins as commodities can be profitable, given good luck and good timing. The real joy is learning and using that knowledge to see things that others don't see or even think to look for, like varieties, anomalies and coins that are scarce by virtue of their condition.

A case on point was an 1861-O half in XF that I won online a year ago in a midwest auction. The coin's condition allowed me to spot a telltale die break, extending from the bridge of Liberty's nose into the dentils. It cost all of $110, and similar specimens have sold on ebay in the $600-$700 range; this, with it being a so-called Confederate half, as the New Orleans Mint was apparently in their hands at the time this coin was issued.

IMHO, looking through boxes of coins to find silver is like buying a lottery ticket, hoping to score. Yet, the odds are likely better than the states offer. Arming oneself with knowledge about coins much enhances the chance factor. Then too, the hunt for unusual and historic coins certainly doesn't add to life's often tedious frustrations. It's far more so an enjoyable escape, an adventure.

I think you should be glad you have 13k to put down on coins--90 percent of America would kill for that money-- no offense. just my .02

he probably only searched that $13,000 in $500 intervals.

If you are not finding silver, and you are not keeping any of the collector coins you may come across, then your investent to go through that 13 grand shouldnt be a whole lot more than a grand or two. Get a couple boxes, go through them, dump the halves and get cash, go back to get more with the same cash. So the 13 grad figure is a bit misleading. It simply indicates how many coins you have gone through. So the only thing lost is the time spent going through the coins.

But then if you do find silver, even at lower prices, the halves are worth significantly more than face which is what you paid for them. So then you have insto profit. Its simply a matter of do you want to keep making the effort of sorting through the coins.

The 401 thing does indeed suck, but Ogodma the idiot has put ALL of us in that particular boat. Just gotta ride it out. I dont even know the balance of my account, and I dont intend on looking. It is what it is, and it doesn't matter until I get closer to retiring.

Consider searching for coins for their historical significance, beauty, rarity, errors, and just to fill that last hole in an album. That's what I do. And I've enjoyed every second of it. I'm not going to denegrate anyone for picking through thousands of coins in hopes of finding one "good" one - but I bet I had more fun digging up that last mangled LMC after detecting it than you did sorting through those boxes. In other words, maybe it's time to explore other aspects of the hobby?

Interesting thread. I feel your pain, wrestling_135. My 401 has taken a beating in the past couple months. But as many pointed out, if you're investing for retirement/long-term, this is a great buying opportunity. It takes guts but can pay off in the long run.

I think I've about topped off my current comfort level of physical silver, but I see that the ask is under 30 bucks again. I might have to revise that opinion and nab a few more ASEs if they can be found. :)

I completely agree with the sentiment that we should be very thankful to be able to gripe about the obnoxious price of ASEs on the US Mint site and debate whether or not to buy the latest 5-oz ATB puck. Many (most) aren't nearly as fortunate.

One last thing - I suggest not ever regarding a collection as a money-making endeavor. Collections tend to carry emotional surcharges and should be regarded as what they are... a hobby.

My 2 shekels.

One of the things you may be encountering is getting the same coins back over and over. Pending on the area of search, others too may be doing the same thing and as they pull out anything valuable, they return the left overs to a bank. Might well be the one your getting your coins from. Even possible one bank sends coinage to another and you keep getting your own back again.