Greetings, New Friends: I have been lurking around this forum for a couple months, and have finally decided to register. I have been curious about metals for many years, seeing it rise and fall with the changing times. I finally made my first real purchase last month. The original plan was to own a "stack" of 100 Silver Eagles so that I could simply look at the daily spot price, multiply it by 100, and know in an instant what my financial stake was for that day. Well after my order arrived a couple days later, I knew that I had to get MORE. I have since purchased an additional 400 Eagles (for a total of 500). I plan to have a total of 1000 Eagles by the end of this year (provided that the price remains around $20 or below). I have also collected about 30 other individual 1oz coins, representing the various mints of different countries, as well as some interesting "rounds". These are only for my personal amusement and curiosity, and are not really calculated into my "bullion stack". In hindsight, I am glad that I did not have the fiat to invest when the spot price was flirting with $50. I now feel comfortable investing while the spot is between $19-$20 per oz. I suppose that the price could go even lower, and that I might wish I had waited to buy at the bottom but my crystal ball isn't any better than the next guy's. Of course any readers who happen to stumble upon this post, ten or twenty years from now, will probably find the price of $20 per ounce, to be unbelievably cheap. And while I don't want to see the day when the world economy goes into total collapse, I think it's just good sense to have at least some "real money" available to trade for "real things" and opportunities, when the fiat currency has been inflated to oblivion. So, guys that's my introduction. I have already learned so much from this forum, and have finally decided to engage the conversation. I am happy to have found you, and look forward to learning even more about this fascinating subject..
Welcome to the forum mon ami Glad you decided to register, good intro. PS, It would be prudent not to tell a public forum of your present and potential future stack size
However, we are all friends here so just let us know your address and what times you leave for work and we will keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. Welcome! I got a tube of ASEs back in 2007, they cost me $36 each (I overpaid), they were briefly worth more than that but I held on to them anyway. 1000 eagles, you could decorate a wall with that many, probably.
Thanks for the welcome, House & Jislizard: I was not aware of the protocol regarding mentioning the size of stacks. At any rate, I will be burying my stash away from my home - But I will not tell you which cemetery, nor under which headstones to look
We used to have a very long thread where people took photos of their stack in its entirety (I am guilty of contributing to that thread myself) but then someone pointed out that location information was often encoded in the picture which could lead people right to your house. The thread died pretty quickly after that. We also had a club, the 1000 oz Club where to join you had to have, well, you can probably guess. But now people are a bit cagey about such things. We have three high profile break-ins on Australian stackers, probably a co-incidence because I also know of several other break-ins of coin collectors with no affiliation to this site, so people are now getting a bit more quiet about what they have, which is odd because silver and gold are essentially worthless now, but I am ok becaue I lost all my metals in a boating accident.
Very readable intro and you're starting off at a much cheaper price than a lot of us here, so good luck with it!
i am 100% against people just "starting out" and already having a bigger stack than i do. there should be a law against it. but welcome anyways.
@hilaire9 - You found my stash spot !!! Now I have no choice but to find a leaky boat and pray for an "accident"... :/
Thanks for the welcome, ego2spare: Under normal circumstances, I would probably use dollar-cost-averaging to gradually build my stack over time. However, at this time, I happen to have some extra fiat on hand. If I were to just drop it off at the bank, they would probably reward me with a measly 1% interest (hardly enough to keep up with inflation), and getting a bank statement in the mail every month is nowhere near as exciting as getting a box of silver coins !! Also, I beleive that the current price of silver ($19-$20 per ounce), is about as low as it's going to get. It might briefly lose a another buck or two, before the bargain hunters take notice and bid the price back up - but I don't want to start my buying in a hot market. Stacking physical silver also provides a residual benefit: I have become much more engaged with managing my finances, which in turn, has resulted in a greater personal savings rate - which provides a sense of security and peace-of-mind. One more reason for my collecting as many Eagles as I can afford, is that the US Mint is considering a new design for the 2015 Eagle, which will result in a bit of added numismatic value to the Eagles of 2014 and prior. My motto for this year: American Silver Eagles: "Stack'em High & Watch'em Fly"
