At 83, I have been putting my life in order. I had been thinking about buying some gold coins and leaving to children and grandchildren in my safe deposit box. Now that it is in $1900s I will wait. Would a drop to $1500 be a good time to buy, or is that unrealiztically low? Any advice to a FReeping widow would be appreciated.
Glad to hear Putin has dropped his Rubble demand. Is he getting good economic advice, or is he settling down to the reality of the situation he has created? Does he need to stop bothering Ukraine so they can get their spring crops planted? Do his own people and guys at the front need to be doing the same thing in Russia? Has he decided his own people will be hungry next year if everybody doesn’t get busy creating food?
Russia will not be hungry. They produce far more food than they can eat. They export the food to China and other countries, especially Africa. So, they should be fine. If you walk into a Russian store all locally produced items are very cheap, even cheaper than they were. Most gas and food is locally produced. The foreign made produces are much more expensive.
You have to realize, Russia is the largest country by land mass. They have far more resources than they can use. China has the largest population but a difficult land mass for farming. They need to import food, gas and oil to feed their people. So Russia and China together are self sufficient. The largest population and manufacturer combined with the largest pile of natural resources. They are perfectly fine together.
The rest of the world needs to also become self sufficient. We need to have economies that don’t depend on Russia or China. For Europe that means not depending on Russian oil. For the US it means not depending on Chinese manufacturing. In both cases working with Russia and China corrupts our businesses who in-turn corrupt our politicians.
If you do buy gold and you can afford it. Give each kid a 1 ounce bar of gold. Its about $2000 a piece. It’s cheaper to buy and sell.
I don’t think it’s going down soon. Gold hasn’t been below $1500 in three years.
I’ll give you the advice that was given to me:
“You need gold to buy your neighbor’s house, his truck, and his daughter. But for day to day business you need silver and to a lesser extent, copper. Because if you buy a bag of groceries that’s worth one or two silver coins and you pay for it in gold the grocer is very likely to say ‘thank you’ and see you on your way.”
The translation is that gold is concentrated wealth and it’s relatively easy to carry. Silver is less concentrated but it’s generally easier to spend.
And I buy 1oz copper coins for the simple fact that they’re worth about the same as a loaf of bread.
In any case, metals are not an investment. They are a place to shelter your wealth.
It’s a good idea to have at least some gold, silver, and copper around because in a pinch there’s no substitute. But before things get that crazy my better recommendation is to buy land.
Something defensible.