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 Replies: 19 / Views: 2,413 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
526 Posts |
There are times when I wish my father would have mentioned Silver and Gold to me as a small child. I have made every attempt to educate my two sons, both grown and getting on with the own lives, the importance of having something to fall back on. I was born in 1961 when silver was in every coin above the Nickel. I do remember seeing Franklin's being used when I was around seven. My mother ran the concession stand for our little league and would always bring home the money and deposit it. She would often say "Look at this" or "This reminds me of my childhood" and so on.
Silver was very affordable in the early 60's and then past the "Hunt" brothers debacle. I did some easy math and figured that instead of savings bonds which my family was big on, I should have been buying 1 toz of silver a week or more.
As an example, I started working at a golf course when I was 15 years old. If I had purchased only 1 toz of silver a week since 1976 the computations would be as follows:
36 Years of working multiplied by 52 weeks in the year would roughly equate to 1,872 toz of silver or on todays
spot price of $30.14, $56,422.00. That is two or three dollars invested weekly for the majority of the 36 years working. The last four - five years would skew the cost
of the silver purchased but not the ending sale price. I have always made a "Fair" paycheck and to be quite honest, I would have invested at least 5 toz a week or roughly accumulated 9,360 toz of silver with a market value at todays spot price of 30.14, $282,110.00. As I progressed in age and followed the markets I probably would have started hitting 10 toz a week after age 35 which would have
given me even a nicer "nest" egg.
Just wish dad knew about silver and what its value might have been. Hindsight is 20/20 but you better believe that my kids are educated on the price/protection of income that Gold and Silver can provide.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Where's inflation in the equation? You can't just multiply historical price back then - silver was not cheap even though it may have been 5 dollars / oz in 1970s. Take this for reference http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/Personally education is the best way to go as well as having to work in the hospitality sector. Why? Once you know how to deal with difficult people in hospitality + education, there's no reason why you can't succeed in life. Need a good balance - can you imagine dealing with smart people but with difficult altitudes? Precious metals is just another part of an equation of retirement funds, not something that one should wholly invest one's life in. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
526 Posts |
It is merely a reference piece, it was not intended to be used as the holy grail of early retirement.
I merely made a point that I wished my father was more educated about PM's and passed that information
down to his offspring.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Not too sure if I would recommand it to be honest. It's good to have a stash of precious metals but you need to know the environment when you buy it.
Here's something to share: my mom kept telling me the importance of precious metals. She appearently has a kilo gold bar stashed which I still haven't seen it up to date. Now here's the irony - when she bought it in the 1980s when gold price spiked up and this was bought in a time when there was heavy tax in gold, unfavorable exchange rate and such, it turns out if I factored in inflation and if she were to sell it now, she will make a loss. This can happen even accounting for the high gold price right now.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
PM's have done very well, and I believe you could do worse than invest in them even today. Having said that property has historically doubled every 7 years and everyone jumped on that bandwagon and it's not so easy anymore. (hard to get approved on a mortgage now)
Anyway what I guess I am saying is although it has performed well (as the stock market did for a time, as endowment policies did for a time) it is not possible to say with absolute certainty that the bottom wont drop out of PM's at some time in the future...
As for having something to fall back on that was the reason I bought a very expensive watch when I first started working, I can't forsee ever parting with it but if ever I need a couple of thousand I know I can always get that for it either by sale or pawning it.
Nothing is without risk but I might well try and buy a few ounces of silver or a gold coin whenever I have some spare money because the way things are going over here with "means testing" if you keep your money in cash it can all get eaten up if you need care in your old age and its one way that your children are likely to see some inheritance should you pass away.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
526 Posts |
You would obviously need to use your head and do your research prior to any decision being made. An toz of Silver was $3.00 and toz of Gold was $300.00 or so.
Big difference in price. Instead of a six pack of beer, by an oz of silver is what it amounted to.
I still stand by my statement of "Reference". If my father knew and didn't share or didn't know at all. I have educated my children and shown them
first hand what I am talking about. If you do care to read the first post again, you will see where I mention the "Hunt" debacle that skewed the
price of silver through manipulation in the early 80's and yes, the bottom could fall out of PM's again. I still have 15 years before retirement and with the world economy in the shape it is in now, I doubt that collapse will happen anytime soon.
Edited by Freedom
08/24/2012 09:02 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Fatherly advise would have been useless. Think of this, just how much do you know about what will be valuable in 20, 30 or more years. You could tell your kids to always save glass bottles because in 20 years there will be none. Then POOF, everything used is now glass. You and all of us just don't know. Save Silver? Then what if a fantastic large mound of Silver is discovered with billions of tons of Silver. What if it is found that Aluminum can be turned into Silver? Who would have thought that an Edsel auto would someday sell for over a hundred thousand dollars?
Save all the 57 Chevy's since someday that $2,700 car will sell for a fortune.
Our world is full of coulda, shoulda, woulda stories. Lucky your parents didn't say put all your money in Beanie Babies.
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
I would say in fairness it was hard to predict the rise back then. Your father grew up with silver coins and probably just didnt view it as anything that special or with that kind of potential. I too have though about it had I started buying it in high school and college when the pm prices were much lower, but if I could do it all again I would take that money and put it into apple the first day it hit the stock market.
That said I do think its a good lesson to teach kids about saving and investing. I'm not speaking about your father in general now, but I also think that some fathers may not want to just because of limited success theyve personally had at it. Its one the harder decisions about being a father deciding what to teach your kids and knowing where your short comings are and either finding someone who knows about those areas to teach them or just stay hands off in those areas
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Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
Beanie babies might make a comeback....  |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
My advice? Bronze. May as well stock up, its cheap and still plentiful.
Also, Cupronickel is on its way out due to inflating prices, who knows where that could go.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1064 Posts |
Quote:
Your father grew up with silver coins and probably just didn't view it as anything that special or with that kind of potential Couldn't agree more; when growing up, we could go to the bank and ask for silver dollars, I think we got mostly Peace dollars, but had no clue about silver or value beyond a dollar! I consider it an accomplishment these days to bring up children as responsible adults and successful citizens, I guess an economic education would be a nice bonus!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1770 Posts |
no one could have predicted anything specially with the low prices of silver back in the 70s how could anyone know? answer : they didnt everyone now always says the same thing (why didnt I buy microsoft stock in 1986? ) apple etc
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New Member
Canada
34 Posts |
There is no way that your father could have known that silver and gold would one day become worth something. It was as common in coins as steel is now and cost once pennies to the ounce. How did anyone know that in the 70s the world would repeal the silver and gold hoarding laws and allow it to be traded on the open market again.
Just like nobody knows for 100% sure that gold and silver won't once again take a massive drop once the "big spenders" decide they don't want to buy the paper on the markets and let it go down to its actual value.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
863 Posts |
well now we know.Silver and gold have always been worth something. they have a much better history than both microsoft and apple. and will continue to be worth something.
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
they have a much better history than both microsoft and apple. I would disagree with that. If you bought an ounce of gold in 1999 you paid about 300 and now have 1800. If you bought silver you paid 5 and now have 35. If you bought 1 share of apple you paid 10 dollars and now have 4 shares from 2 splits worth almost 700 each. In all honesty nothing has out performed apple up to this point if you got in early Edited by basebal21
09/08/2012 12:19 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1116 Posts |
Most of the time when we were young our parents would try and tell us something and when we were 5 or 6 we believed them. By the time we were 17 we knew all the answers before the test was written and wouldn't pay any attention to them because they were old school.
When we were 25 much of us had lost one parent, had kids of our own and now we were going to teach them the lessons that we never learned. Now our kids think that we are smart ones, by the time they reach 17 they won't be listening because they know everything. Meanwhile, we are scratching our heads trying to figure out which investment to make, for how much, and hoping that we get it right.
It seems that it's all comes full circle and bites us hard. I just hoping that the grandkids will listen to me and learn. In the end we are all trying to keep chips in the game.
The one thing that I learned from my parents is that nobody learns without listening. I just hope that I listen to the smartest people in the room, but sometimes the smart people keep quiet.
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Replies: 19 / Views: 2,413 |
Posted 08/24/2012 07:34 am
