I put all my money in Honus Wagner rookie cards.
Would you mind if we expanded it to other precious metals? I have been thinking about SLV myself (iShares silver trust).
How do you plan to “put 30% of my wealth” into gold? Are you going to buy bullion or gold stock? If you buy bullion, how are you going to store it? If you store it at home, what’s your address?
It seems to be hovering in the same general price range - in the 900s.
If I had invested in lead - bullets - a year ago, I could have doubled my money.
Gold was a good investment ten years ago, when it was $250 an ounce.
It is a commodity like any other. Weigh the investment value on what you believe the future supply versus demand will be as that will drive the price. It is not the magic investment that many try to sell it as, it is just a commodity.
You’re supposed to buy low. With gold near a high, unless you think it is going to keep running up, now is not the time to buy.
What no flame-fest? That will be a first in quite some time.
Let me give my uneducated opinion. Seems like it's probably too late to jump on the Gold bandwagon. Train already left the station. I hear “experts” tell me don't get out now or you'll miss the upswing. Who knows when the upswing is going to happen or to what level. Not me.
Bookmarking as a curious on-looker. I have similar 401K concerns.
Just keep in mind that the govt confiscated all the gold once before. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the Zero would hesitate to do it again.
Of course, if The Chosen One continues to emulate FDR:
“.... But the orchestrated hysteria not only prevailed, it prevailed in a single day. By 7:30 p.m. the Emergency Banking Act had also passed the Senate, and later that night it was signed into law by President Roosevelt. The following month, on April 5, the president issued Executive Order 6102, declaring that a “national emergency still continues to exist.” Therefore, he ordered: “All persons are hereby required to deliver on or before May 1, 1933, to a Federal Reserve Bank or a branch or agency thereof ... all gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates.”
“Failure to comply could bring one a fine of up to $10,000 and/or a prison sentence of up to 10 years. All safe deposit boxes were sealed, and all gold that could be found, with few exceptions, was confiscated. In some cases, other contents besides gold in the sealed safe-deposit boxes were not returned to the owners. The Federal Reserve Board also instructed all banks to provide a list of customers who had withdrawn gold or converted their paper currency into gold in the month prior to the bank holiday and had not turned it in afterward as mandated...”
“...One of the best-known victims of the FDR gold heist was Frederick Barber Campbell, the first American to be indicted as a felon for owning gold. Several months before Roosevelt’s proclamation, Campbell deposited 27 bars of gold at Chase National Bank, with Chase agreeing in writing to safeguard the gold for a fee, and to return the gold to Campbell upon demand. Campbell, a Manhattan attorney, put up a spirited defense, but was squashed by the New Deal steamroller, nonetheless—along with millions of American “hoarders,” who were stripped not only of their gold, but of other valuables and personal, sentimental effects as well.”
http://www.articlearchives.com/trends-events/holidays-observances/823863-1.html
Any time gold is above $900 an ounce, sell.
When it gets down to $750 an ounce, buy.
Just be wary of things like gold coins marketed by Ed McMahon - not saying they aren’t gold, but on many gold products, you are paying a big premium and/or high commissions.
Consider Gold mining shares (ABX, Newmont, Freeport) or low cost mutual funds.
Physical gold - where will you keep it?
With all that has been said, if you are looking at own physical gold, I would suggest an alternative route, either jewelry or a good Swiss watch. This will hedge some of the value. For example, you can spend $25k on bullion or $25k for a gold Audemars Piguet watch. If the value of gold crashes, you still will have the inherent value of the watch. If the value goes up, so will the gold within the watch. You won’t have as much physical gold per price and weight, but you will have an object that through history, holds its value (and even increases) comparable to some of the best investments.
There are three areas of this topic that merit discussion.
1.Should you hold paper representing PMs, ( i.e. mutual fund shares or or the depository receipts) or take actual possession of the metal..i.e. Kruggerrands)? If you believe that the financial system is indeed headed towards meltdown/implosion, then obviously you should favor physical possession.
2. Remember that PMs do NOT produce/earn anything..no dividends..no interest. There have been many studies of long term stock market performance, which show that over ANY 20+ year period, 60-70% of long term growth in stock portfolios is a result of REINVESTED dividends...You have none of these with PMs...
3. As to what % of your assets should be invested in PMs..I think that 10-20% is a reasonable number for most people..
I buy gold and silver coins. Pre 1964. I have never been reluctant to put my money into something I can sell later and make a small profit. I can spend a lot of money each month or a little.I look at it as a nest egg. It gives me joy to see sets and collections grow. It gives me a hedge against the unknown and pleasure to look at. Insurance.
FWIW
http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2079&Itemid=2
“Everyone wants to buy gold! “I buy gold. Pay cash” signs are everywhere, even on TV! I can’t believe I’m that silly!
I just didn’t relate it to what I read here because they deal with junk gold, like jewelry, either stolen or sold because they needed the money, not the gold coins that you guys talk about. No one pays for the true value of the stuff, so big WARNING! Sign on people that are buying gold coins.
Since it is impossible to determine the true mineral percentage of gold, small shops and dealers will pay for it as regular jewelry gold.
What I would do if I were you: Besides gold coins, buy a lot of small gold rings and other jewelry. They should be less expensive than gold coins, and if the SHTF bad, you’ll not be losing money, selling premium quality gold coins for the price of junk gold. If I could travel back in time, I’d buy a small bag worth of gold rings.
Small time thieves will snatch gold chains right out of your neck and sell them at these small dealers found everywhere. This is VERY common at train stations, subways and other crowded areas.
So, my advice, if you are preparing for a small economical crisis, gold coins make sense. You will keep the value of the stuff and be able to sell it for its actual cost to gold dealers or maybe other survivalists that know the true value of the item.
In my case, gold coins would have been an excellent investment, saving me from loosing money when the local economy crashed. Even though things are bad, I can go to a bank down town and get paid for what a gold coin is truly worth, same goes for pure silver. But where I live, in my local are small time dealers will only pay you the value of junk gold, no matter what kind of gold you have. So, I’d have to say that if TSHTF bad, gold jewelry is a better trade item than gold coins.”
It's an excellent life preserver, though.
ML/NJ