Posted on 11/20/2012 7:26:04 AM PST by Nachum
For those of you that have followed my writings for the past 7 years on my blog, theUndergroundInvestor, you are well aware that I have been advocating conversion of the majority of fiat currency savings into physical gold and physical silver as a means of combating the system of financial enslavement that the bankers have tried to impose upon the people in every country around the world. The bankers are now entering the second phase of their enslavement through the imposition of austerity measures on people that can least afford this imposition. Though we, at SmartKnowledgeU, have been advocating the purchase of physical gold and physical silver since the mid-2000s as a means of destroying the monetary slavery system of the global bankers, very few of those that have read my arguments still understand why this is a viable approach to gaining freedom from the control of bankers. Thus, I have often thought about alternate ways to explain my arguments that may be easier for the masses in general to digest and grasp. At times, I have even provided short discourses that only deal with psychological enslavement in an attempt to free people's minds from Central Banking propaganda that continues to enslave them (see my videos about ideological subversion below).
How Ideological Subversion Enables Financial Fraud, Part I
How Ideological Subversion Enables Financial Fraud, Part II
How Ideological Subversion Enables Financial Fraud, Part III
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
The video “The Story of Your Enslavement” was fascinating. Thanks for the link.
I’ve been considering purchasing precious metals for a while now, any suggestions?
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Small denominations/coins. Bear in mind that as an individual when you buy you are buying at ‘retail’ and selling at ‘wholesale’. Basically 10 - 15% above spot and at best 15 - 20% below spot, respectively. That is a rule of thumb. Diamond always tries to piggy back in such times and they are a dreadful ‘investment’, as diamond prices are largely due to artificial scarcity and limited production.
I am told that such things as ammunition, spices etc. would be better barter goods in a real collapse. I repeat what I have heard, not vouching for it.
Thanks for the help.
One thread I saw, from a real life shtf experience showed that
butane to refill lighters was in high demand. People would risk their lives to get to this guy and trade food for a bic refill.
You are welcome. I don’t pretend to be an expert, but have seen the precious metals exchange a few time.
Just make sure the dealer is licensed and reputable. Take physical delivery and a secure place to store it. :)
This video is well worth the 32 minutes of your time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DU6fxC5CXMg
Then take the time to read through this thread AND the whole site:
http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?38556-Redeeming-Lawful-Money
I never would have thought of that. I have read several times that if the bottom really falls out, no one is going to be interested in bullion, coins etc. Water, food, shelter and relative security will be more important. The butane could affect all of those. Fire to sterilize water, cook food and provide light to see and warmth to conserve calories.
There are stages on the way to that primitive a level where where gold has always had some sway, however. Just don’t drown with it in your boots like a Conquistador.
As a long-time (mainly) silver buyer (and...seller) with some gold (wish it were more) what I would recommend is to just simply buy *some*. Not a lot. There is this threshold thing that people on the sidelines have to pass through, and this is, being the owner of *some* versus the owner of *none*. $100 will buy you 3 silver eagles. Beautiful coins, by any measure. Or, you could buy generic rounds/bars and heft them in your hands if you think that’s sexier than having silver eagles which you really should not handle too much if at all. Some people like junk silver (pre-1964 coins) but you’ll probably feel better getting 3 beautiful shiny coins rather than 16 worn old quarters. Try to buy them locally, preferably from a seller at a coinshow (coinshows.com) and spending $3 admission to blow off a weekend afternoon wandering around a coinshow if you can find one locally will give you an idea of how much (some, enough) people value this stuff. The coinshow is so that 1: you don’t pay $25 incoming freight and 2: you avoid sales tax with a cash transaction, because most states have a $1500 or $2500 minimum purchase below which you have to pay sales tax.
And that’s that. Don’t overthink it. Lotta times, those dumb chunks of metal are smarter than the smartest folks who tout them or ponder them.
The idea is to dollar cost average into owning some gold or silver and just see how you like it. And a secondary notion is, you have to see how you like owning chunks of metal versus green dollars. Because that is the nature of the trade you make. You take dollars which you spend without thinking about it into metal which you might have to hang onto for 5 years and which does nothing in that time. Maybe you hate owning the metal. But, at small dollar, you are not making a life-morphing decision to change all your assets into gold or even 50% or even 25% or even 10%. Follow the price periodically (kitco.com or APMEX.com)
And that’s it. It (silver or gold, whichever you prefer) might double, it might do nothing, it might lose $5 (silver) and gold could lose $100 or even more (that would be on a (now) $1805 Eagle) But you have to find a comfort level. Most people have no issue owning shares of stock, but, before they own a single share, it feels weird to buy this synthetic thing that has this price and you can look it up and read news about it. Silver/gold are not much different in some ways and are absolutely different in some ways.
Thanks to all for the great advice. My primary goal is to convert IRA/retirement savings $$ as an insurance policy against obama attempting to get hold of it. I may be paranoid but I wouldn’t put it past that barrel of snakes in the current administration to try it.
later
My neighbor pays about 5k in taxes and I have to pay about 70k in taxes! We drive the same roads, use the same fire/police services, the value of our homes are the same, the military protects us the same, etc... Now who is the slave to the state?
I find the concept of a gold/silver IRA a little iffy. Why?
First, understand that in some ways you cannot touch any actual asset in an IRA. You cannot, for example, buy a gold eagle and send it to the custodian of your IRA. You can send your custodian an amount of MONEY and have THEM buy and take delivery of a gold eagle. Such a gold eagle, within an IRA, undergoes some degree of storage fees every month/year. It may not be a lot, but it is some. And furthermore, I am going to assume you are newish to gold/silver investing; one thing about it is that it is in your hand. Now, there’s no question that it can be stolen therefrom. But, inside a vault where you cannot see it but pay storage charges on it, there is a piece of faith that it is really there. And, it is there so you can become the owner of it someday, but, you really cannot, because when that day comes, you cannot take delivery of the actual gold. It has to be sold by the custodian and the proceeds remitted to you. [concept: MONEY is the only thing that can enter/exit an IRA as seen from your perspective] And hence, in the macro picture, you are making a pretty sizable bet, some would say a deeply speculative one, that the increase in the dollar-price of gold (aka POG) will outrun a: your storage fees, b: the incoming handling fee, c: the exit handling fee. Those fees absolutely exist. They may seem small, but if you think of an IRA as a 20-year thing, what are storage fees over 20 years? The increase in the POG may or may not outrun that. So this is an item of speculation on your/ones part. Now I as a physical holder take some of the same risk, because the buy/sell spreads on the metals are highly punitive. Example: APMEX gold eagle: Buy $1776.7 Sell $1817.7 add $25 incoming frt. 2.3%.
Now you say you wish to guard against 0bama (or whomever might be in power at the time you need or THEY need it) confiscating or forcibly converting your IRA into “something”. I would posit that the inclusion of an asset into an IRA is one of the strongest guarantees that it WILL be so converted, because its existence and location are profoundly documented, not to mention your general inability to rapidly access it.
So....think about this some more.
I think it is fine to have cash in an IRA, especially if your employer matches or partially matches your contribution. I think it is good to have stock in an IRA that pays dividends. I have heard of the possibility of having an asset such a piece of real estate in an IRA. I’m not especially well informed as to how that works, so I have no fully-formed opinion. It would probably have to be in the form of a trust. I have no idea how a RE IRA would handle depreciation, which is one of the strongest advantages of owning RE in the first place.
But I don’t think it is all that great to have gold in an IRA. That’s just me. I kind of think it is better to have silver in an IRA, but to have enough silver to make a sizable difference in your net worth, unless we think silver is going to octuple in price (and it might) you are going to pay some serious storage fees for the mass/size involved.
Nothin’s free, but your specific statement that you think of an IRA as a bulwark against seizure—I have to disagree. It is, in some cases. But only some.
The problem with this is that the oil industry has just created over a 100 year supply of oil and gas by means of fracking and created a path to energy independence in less than 10 years.
This has the financial consequences. What is 100 year plus supply of oil and gas worth? Say 100 trillion dollars? That means that the dollar is backed by an extra 100 trillion dollars worth of oil and gas effectively created ex nihilo.
That can’t be true can it? After all since when did oil collateralize a currency?
And yet there are no oil independent countries with weak currencies. None.
Ok then what happens in 10 years when the US balance of trade is chopped down to nothing.
The value of a currency works just the same as the value of a stock. The value of the stock is a function not just of present earnings but of anticipated future earnings.
Look for the dollar to put in a bottom here in the next year or so and then around 2015 when the widely anticipated oil balance of supply and demand shifts in favor of supply (meaning there is more supply than demand—and the price falls)—at that point the dollar will start to rise—and rise for several decades.
Think about it. Gold is being barked about continuously on TV. That’s not generally considered to be a sign of a bottom but rather a top.
Likely there is more room to go on the upside in the next year or two but only if the Obama administration really screws up which is very very possible. One way or another its a blow off top.
On the scale of decades — next big secular move for gold is down.
“I have read several times that if the bottom really falls out, no one is going to be interested in bullion, coins etc. Water, food, shelter and relative security will be more important.”
The zombies will kill you for your food, water and ammo. But they’ll take your gold as an afterthought, too.
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