I bought my first $1500 Gold today

[on2wheels52]

You sure don't get much of the stuff for your money these days.
Jim

[imcarthur]

Now put it in the safe & forget about it for a while.

The bigger ones aren't any more impressive . . . but they sure are nice to own.



Ian

[daepp]

I count 20 coins. Can you tell what they are? 1 oz? 1/10 oz?

[on2wheels52]

I'd have to dig deep into the shoebox if they were 1 oz. They're 1/10.
Jim

[Dottore]

I would be interested to hear a justification for buying gold at $1,500.- This price already seems heavily fueled by speculation.

With interest rates rising world-wide and a global economic recovery well underway "safe-haven" plays like precious metals seem pretty dicey to me.

Is this purely a USD hedge for you?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Dottore

I would be interested to hear a justification for buying gold at $1,500.- This price already seems heavily fueled by speculation.

With interest rates rising world-wide and a global economic recovery well underway "safe-haven" plays like precious metals seem pretty dicey to me.

Is this purely a USD hedge for you?

Same reason it was last year when I established a position in gold/silver when both were substantially lower...diversification and hedge. Fruit seemed to have been "heavily fueled by speculation" so I traded some apples for metal as I had too much of one and none of the other.

[on2wheels52]

Dottore, I own a small gun & pawn shop. I can choose whether or not to buy anything that comes in the door but I've never turned away gold or silver in 25 years.
That said, I haven't been selling any of the bullion gold that has come my way in the last few years. I justify it as a better investment than the stock market of late, and a bit of diversification is usually a good thing.
Oh, and I don't want to give the impression that I make a purchase like that every day, perhaps not even every month. I just show up every day and see what happens.
Jim

[Christien]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

Now put it in the safe & forget about it for a while.

The bigger ones aren't any more impressive . . . but they sure are nice to own.



Ian

I remember when I was a kid my dad brought one of those home for fun. It was maybe 1.5"x3". I had heard that gold was very malleable, so for fun I tried to bend it. It bent to a 90 degree angle with hardly any force! So I quickly tried to bend it back, and ended up with a wave in the middle of the piece. Man, was I terrified! Out came the hammer and I managed to get it pretty flat. Never heard anything from the old man, so I guess I did a decent job of it

[klaus]

Dealing with gold and silver (along with other "investments") on a daily basis I am terrified that gold is a bubble that when it bursts will go down in flames faster than the Hindenburg. I submit to everyone my mall theory. When something is readily available at a mall kiosk it is time to run the other direction. To support this theory lets look at the bast few bubbles

Tech Boom - At most malls you could open a brokerage account and start trading pets.com and you were sure to make millions

Beanie Babies - Everyone remember this lovely little bags of fun trading for hundreds of dollar right?

Housing Market - Not only could you get a mortgage at the mall, they were prepared to loan you 110% of the homes value just to help you make your initial payments

Gold - There are ATMs spitting out gold coins (at a bit of a premium over spot, you know like 10%), and you can buy and sell gold at not only malls, but just about anywhere you look.

There are more supporting items to the Klaus Mall Kiosk Theory (KMKT), but I see gold down below 1000 once the free fall starts.

[lukeh]

I currently have bars of silver with me today at work that I'm taking to sell. I doubled my money in roughly a year so I figure no need to get greedy. I still see more upside in silver than gold at this point. We'll see.

I do agree when the bubble burts it will drop fast. My parents bought silver back when it hit record highs in the late 70s and they had to hold it over 30 years until it got back to that price again.

[Drisump]

Gold may be in a bubble, but with all western governments printing as much money as they can, it's difficult to choose a place that will store wealth... it seems high inflation (currency debasement) is the likely scenario. Remember not long ago, $250 US bought you an once of gold....of course $20 bought you a barrel of oil. Cheers

[rattlsnak]

I dont follow gold's value but my wife just turned in a small handful of old necklaces and rings and stuff and got $750.00 for it all!!!

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by klaus

Dealing with gold and silver (along with other "investments") on a daily basis I am terrified that gold is a bubble that when it bursts will go down in flames faster than the Hindenburg. I submit to everyone my mall theory. When something is readily available at a mall kiosk it is time to run the other direction. To support this theory lets look at the bast few bubbles

Not only that, but it has happened in the past. We are in an economic situation that is in many ways like the late 70s - fear of inflation, etc.

Gold hit, as I recall, into $800s in 1980 or so. Which was a bubble. The price collapsed after all the profit takers and speculators left, and it took decades to recover to that level again.

Adjusting for inflation, gold probably has never recovered to the 1980 price.

[Jim Bremner]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

I dont follow gold's value but my wife just turned in a small handful of old necklaces and rings and stuff and got $750.00 for it all!!!

DON'T sell any more of this. first is that if Gold does skyrocket ( I don't think that it will ) you'll be out.

Next is the reason that you got $750 for it is that they'll get $1,000 more.

Third is that if SHTF and we're trading gold for food. Jewlery gold is a lower denomination think of it as a $100 bill. It's hard to buy something with a $2,000 bill

[on2wheels52]

"Next is the reason that you got $750 for it is that they'll get $1,000 more."

But where can he take it to get that $1000 instead of the $750 offered?
(not to imply that I operate with that kind of spread)
Jim

[jrdavid68]

Originally Posted by Jim Bremner

DON'T sell any more of this. first is that if Gold does skyrocket ( I don't think that it will ) you'll be out.

Next is the reason that you got $750 for it is that they'll get $1,000 more.

If his stuff could sell retail right now for $1000, what would you expect to get for it? Whoever you are selling it to needs to eat too.

I'm going to visit the safety deposit box and pull out the dozen or two Franklin Half Dollars I bought several years ago for $2.50/ea. I'm more that happy selling them off on eBay for $15/ea right now. I can buy some back when the bubble bursts.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I've been investing in metals too. Mostly lead, copper, and brass.

[Tishabet]

I can understand investing in precious metals, but isn't physical receipt of th bars a bad idea? I.e. Aren't you losing a percentage both ways by physically taking possession of the commodity in the form of bars or whatever? I'm not disputing the cool factor, just wondering if it makes sense from an investment standpoint.

[on2wheels52]

Originally Posted by Tishabet

I can understand investing in precious metals, but isn't physical receipt of th bars a bad idea? I.e. Aren't you losing a percentage both ways by physically taking possession of the commodity in the form of bars or whatever? I'm not disputing the cool factor, just wondering if it makes sense from an investment standpoint.

All valid points. I have no experience with paper receipt of metal, though I've been called by a number of companies that handle leverage accounts. They all promise the option of taking delivery of the metal but there's always been a few details of how it would work out that make me decline their offers.
Understand I've never ordered any precious metals, one would have to absorb shipping and insurance both ways. Then the buy-sell spread both ways, your chosen metal would have to go up x% just to break even.
Then where are you going to store the stuff? Safety deposit box? More money. $20k in gold doesn't take up much room, I guess you could stash that somewhere in the house. That much silver starts getting pretty bulky.
I've talked a lot of people out of buying with these kind of arguments, perhaps you have to be a bit irrational to get involved with the stuff.
Jim

[Tishabet]

Jim, I figure it's just part of business for you... If you are buying it from the public you have to handle it. I'm just wondering how often "normal" investors get their hands on a precious metal rather than owning it on paper.

I assume that if I found a 1oz gold bar on the sidewalk, in order to turn it into cash I'd be taking a decent hit on a middle man one way or the other... But I have never traded precious metals so I could be totally off base here.