Thanks for putting this together s1lv3r, what a beautiful idea. So if the cost of an item rises from month to month, how do you tell if that is inflation or if it is rising PM costs? (Is that one and the same thing?)
Could do that..but they look at it I think only yearly..but if more people want it's not a problem to add
Well, within a spreadsheet I have different tabs which track obviously the prices in AUD, and the g/s spots. So there I can see what actually has changed. Am not sure at the moment how I can transfer that info into the resulting tab, which is what you see..
Sliding a little off-topic, the following book may be of interest to some: Ten acres enough: a practical experience, showing how a very small farm may be made to keep a very large family. With extensive and profitable experience in the cultivation of the smaller fruits (1864) A simply written chronicle by a man who abandoned the 1800s Philadelphia business world for a small farm in the New Jersey countryside. Features thoughtful reflections on how to choose a site, select crops and maintain them, the difference between city and country life, and the joy of establishing a home. http://www.archive.org/details/tenacresenoughpr00morriala I've had a little bit of a look at it but yet to read it... looks interesting for those who would like a 'small' patch of land. I'm still undecided between a small suburban block + farm acreage or a large suburban block (i.e. >=1/2 acre) as a long-term goal. Selecting a suitable property is a non-trivial task when you consider rainfall, artesian water, soil types, fires, floods, access to transport, access to medical care, access to other amenities, insurance, crime rates, government regulations, etc. Be aware that councils are slapping/have slapped on building restrictions on land zoned for farming, so if you plan to build on less than 100 acres DYOH or be prepared to lawfully tell the council to piss off.
Excellent resource. As for land, the great Australian quarter acre block was actually for house, a few fruit trees, a vegie garden and chooks. Us lazy city folk turned it into grass and LG laws took care of the rest of the potentials but in a country town you could do quite well with this sort of holding and live well on an oz of Au a month. For trending toward self sufficiency you'd want between 1 and 5 acres tops depending on how self sufficient you were planning to be You won't be making more than food and some barter for other food so you'd need an outside income. I think 5 acres is optimum but 2 would be big enough: Good all seasons orchard, large vegie patch, pigs, sheep, milking cows or goats, chooks and cropping for animal feed etc. More feasible for anyone not born to the land, or prepared to do 14 hour days for a few years learning the ropes, is to trend toward self sufficiency on a few acres, supplementing with the goods on offer locally and trading where possible. John Seymour wrote a book - five acres and independence - which is a good read for anyone contemplating this option. http://www.amazon.com/Self-sufficient-Life-How-Live/dp/0789493322 For anyone who is or has been married, the comparison of Seymour's book to reality is Mills and Boon to week 500 of unpaid housework - but there are other benefits lol. Assuming something nearish to a reasonable size town I'd say 250-350k to sit on the porch surveying your domain. If the house and land are rubbish and you're prepared to renovate house and repair the land, then 200 perhaps, but that is a piece of string. Better to buy something a bit better and save much heartbreak and backbreaking work. Town water if possible and power and the ability to walk to the store within an hour will make more difference to your self sufficient life than you can imagine - not to mention the reduced transport costs. So 1000 ounces of silver should put you on the land if you're inclined or around 200 oz gold at the moment I think that rural Australia is heading for a very hard time and there will be a lot of small holdings adjacent and abutting small towns near regional centres up for sale over the next few years, so expect your 1000/200 ounces to buy something quite reasonable and at least stock it, if not renovate it.
I was asked couple of times how do I differentiate between price changes in an asset itself and gold/silver, affecting the the final result. Well, I decided to color code the changes. Green or red arrow near the date means the gold/silver price is up or down. Green or red arrow in the relevant cell means the asset price itself is up or down. Wherever there's no arrow - no price change. Obviously that won't give you the % change - how much each component affects the overall result, but there's some indication of what's happening. Any other questions, suggestions or comments - let me know.
This time there were almost no farms for sell (2-3), and the ones that were, were very expensive comparing to the previous pricing. Probably due to lots of features included in the house on the land, but nothing related to the land. So will see next month if the trend is continuing.
To Malachi: apologies for answering that late, but at 31st of March silver was 3 (and change) ozzie dollars higher than at 28th of Feb; and gold was lower respectively. For this month, I realised that I can just paint the cells in red and green for reflecting lower and higher prices in AUD, instead of the arrows. Regarding the acreage, comparing to the previous month technically it went down in price, however the previous month was really odd and didn't follow the trend. Once I have more data, at least 6 months, I'll be able to disregard extreme values. As always, happy to hear any thoughts, suggestions and ideas.
Excellent work and very interesting results over the three months. Many challenge the 'gold price' concept ("may as well measure prices in ..... since gold is not currency"), but it is the measure I'm starting to use for the commodities above that interest me.
Wow.. yeah I am too. Well, not formally.. but as a mindset. It's kinda like EVERY retailer you know having a massive sale.. and the funny thing is that the longer you wait to buy, the bigger the % off.. hahaha. Just had to sell some silver to a mate to pay bills and I didn't really quite realise the sort of mulah coming into my account from such a small amount. Great times. Great times. *remembers the times of buying a roll of 20 kooks for $650 and thinking I was getting ripped off* ... now I just smile
I'm a country girl and grew up on a 8000acre poroperty... You can do a lot though with a small acreage. I would suggest 10acres for a house and fruit trees, vegie patch, chooks and other animals. Remember that there are lots of multi-grafted fruit trees and also dwarf varieties for space saving. I agree with ? JulieW who mentioned the labour factor of fixing fences etc....the work is NEVER done!
i think quite few properties will be on the market for 100k in the next year, with an acreage and established veggie/orchard situation, stream, isolation and backed onto national park. not many, but worth an ear to the ground saw one today of 28 acres with a converted shed for 149k dreaming, I thought, but under 100 I'd consider it
