Posted on 05/20/2011 10:34:24 AM PDT by republicanbred
Okay, my 18 year old daughter has $5,000 dollars sitting in investments and I would like to cash out and invest 1/2 in gold and 1/2 in something else secure for when the dollar collapses. We already have food storage enough so no need to spend it on that. Any ideas on what is best for an 18 year old would be appreciated!
Gold purchased 20 years ago has done well.
ping
I would look into Central Fund of Canada — CEF.
It is a fund that only holds gold and silver and has been around for many years — since 1961.
For more info the link is: www.centralfund.com
Having been to Columbia, I beg to differ that they are “dirty green”. Again it comes down to an EDUCATED INVESTOR.
As in ANY business, gold, real estate, start-ups ... YOU have to deal with people of integrity. You will KNOW who they are after you are in the business for awhile.
All I am pointing out is that there is OPPORTUNITY for smart investments with diamonds and precious stones. They are portable and fall off the radar screen for taxes. There, I'm being BLUNT. There are reasons WHY royalty and wealthy people SEWED diamonds and precious stones into their garmets as they fled a country in trouble. To blow off these kinds of investments because of initial buyer ignorance and not having a huge money filled wallet to begin with is condensending and ignorant. I just wouldn't want others to miss out on a very viable and time tested investment that GROWS in VALUE and out of sight ... from the government.
Well the US economy is the American people, not the government. Also the government reflect the American people, with a lag of course.
But if you believe in the American people, then your daughter should buy some US equities as if you faith in the American people is well founded, ownership of American companies will likely pay her the best return over her next 50 years.
Whoa! I was not at all about being condescending and I don’t believe I am ignorant, although, even after 20 years in the business, I am aware of my own limitations as far as stones are concerned. I am really trying to save someone from a mistake, especially concerning a young relative’s limited savings. What is even available for $2500, if the original poster were to invest 50% of the available $5k on the chance of appreciation?
I do not have a Gemology degree and, IMO, that is a limitation to investing in stones. It is not a fast or inexpensive field of study and it demands some equipment and, at the least, a set of control stones. Gems are subject to a huge amount of faddishness, as well. Recall that prior to the 1990s, no one wanted brown diamonds. Then Australian marketing made them a *must have*. Heat treated rubies and sapphires? How do you tell? Will they be *valuable* in a SHTF scenario? Who knows?
Even in good times, I watched women, after a divorce, trying to get the reputed value out of their engagement rings and discovering that there is a difference between cost, insurance value and resale price.
As for emeralds: it is a matter of taste. I prefer the older Brazilian stones. What I see today in jewelry shops do not excite me, as far as color and quality go. The pure green stones I love often turn out to be created. All emeralds are subject to scratching and internal flaws, as well. Back in the day, we were offered Columbian stones and, to tell the truth, we didn’t find a lot of interest from our clients. Suddenly everyone wanted Tanzanite, not only for the ultra-violet flash of color, but because of media stories highlighting limited availability. Pink diamonds at multi-million dollar price points are now coveted just because celebrities buy them.
The experiences of the past, with regard to diamonds sewn into coat linings, etc, was in a different world. People were fleeing from chaos to democracies with functioning economies. There were no created stones. Many diamonds of decent quality were available to those in Europe, especially through family and business connections. The stones could be exchanged for stable currencies. Today? Where would you go? What would you exchange the stones for? Who will buy them at *retail* (whatever that is) from an individual if the current retail venues that buy wholesale from, as you point out, trusted sources, still exist? They aren’t in short supply, there are tons of mediocre stones cut to disguise or enhance their quality, there are created stones that are difficult to differentiate without technical equipment and the gem quality ones have no other use.
While we are all dealing with the fallout of corrupt governments and bureaucracies and everyone has a favorite hedge, the real problem is that we have no idea what the future holds. We have probabilities and possibilities. The best plan, IMO, is a mix of everything, including cash, skills and tools, just in case the PTB actually pull together all the messes they have made. At some point, yields have to rise and governments have many ways to leverage their currencies. Look at how just a few rule changes seems to have put a ceiling on silver, at least short term. I watched the huge melt of valuable antiques in the 1980’s silver run-up. Even today, for example, sets of antique sterling flatware can be sold to firms dealing in them for 2x their melt value. Some firms will pay spot for good sterling pieces, but they are also inundated with sellers. So, PMs still can be traded for that nasty old devalued fiat currency.
Hey, I hope you are 100% correct! I will be very well-off! All I know is that right now, I see few markets even for quality stones and the prices for investment-grade stones are relatively astronomical, which limits that market,on both sides of the deal, as well. I just think that we need boom times again and average folks again purchasing jewelry as they did in the 1990s before stones are again a good investment.
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