[cradle of freedom]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I am thinking of buying silver coins what do you think of that?

[Pecos]

I have not been following any of the precious metals for investment purposes. But if I were to consider doing so, the first thing I would do is chart the price over the past 10 years (data should be easy to find), and then plot the prices of other metals, other commodities, and the various Dow-Jones indexes, looking for leading indicators. That is, can any one thing or a group of things be used as a predictor of the price of silver?

If you decide to go that route, stay away from coins whose price is driven by their numismatic value (i.e., rarity and condition). Those are more in the eye of the beholder than other factors.

I obviously do not know your personal situation, but my tendencies in investing these days go in the direction of (a) learning practical skills that others will pay for [think blue collar trades, Semper Gumby!] to augment my good college education, (b) food storage, (c) high quality non-trendy clothing. This is not to say that all of my buying power goes to this sort of “head down, the disaster is heading our way” mentality, but you were asking about investing. We all have to enjoy the journey as well. Maybe your journey will include learning a musical instrument, regardless of age. Maybe it will include building an airplane, even if you don't currently have a license to fly it.

“Man is that he might have joy”, a thought that I often forget when cleaning out the cesspools that can develop at work or at home.