Similar reasons to JP Shmorgan and The Crow really. How many interests/hobbies can a person have where spending money on that interest leaves you with goods which are still very liquid and a great way to save. Also, there's just something about vintage silver and round 50's.
You only lose money if you sell for less than you paid. Metals will have their day in the sun again....just like everything else. Everything goes in cycles. May take 30 years...but I'm young.
I began to collect silver and gold primarily as a hedge against currency deflation in the long term and also to add another dimension to my retirement funding one day. I believe in a balanced portfolio of various assets which in itself is a hedge against one of your asset classes under-performing. Silver attracts VAT at 14% in South Africa which is a negative but Krugerrands do not.
I stack as a percentage of my wealth. I try to keep between 5-10% of my assets in physical metals, 5-10% in cash, 40-60% in stocks, 5-10% in bonds, and 20-25% in real estate. I choose gold vs silver based on GSR and since I am still in the "growth" phase of my life and career I typically just add at the current moment each month to the % that is out of whack. Thus right now I am heavy buy silver until my percentages get out of alignment and at that point I will change to the new low man.
Precious metals are one small fraction of my saving strategy. They are part saving and part insurance. Most of my numismatic coins aren't even made of precious metals. For income generation I have other investments. If all goes well, then my silver and gold will not do anything spectacular. If it all goes a bit pear shaped then they might go up in value. I used to look at my silver coins and try to put together sets but the novelty wears off after a while, completing sets is a way to overpay for silver on key dates and the coins just get a cursory look before being chucked in a pile with all the rest. I still collect pre dec coins as they don't have any onerous storage requirements. If I could be bothered I would start trading out my fancy coins for bars but it looks to be a lot more trouble than it is worth. I still keep an eye on the Gold:Silver (GSR) for my Self Managed Superannuation Fund but don't pay such close attention as I used to.
Or...if their business tanks, it's easier to off-load precious metal than any other product. Edit Well...nearly any product!
Thanks everyone. Looks like a lot of varying points of view. I stack as a hedge with only around 15% max of my portfolio in PMs. Also I just really like Silver a lot (I can't explain this one). When I started stacking I was really into the thoughts around complete world economic meltdown just around the corner. In the time since (about 4 years) I have calmed down and think that although PMs have a definite role as money and should be part of every portfolio, I should really have all asset classes as part of a balanced investment portfolio. Sure bad economic events are very possible and market crashes are a definite on a regular timeline, but going all in on PMs is not something that I can see as investing.
:lol: Much like political debates - there seems to never be any clear "winner"..... But it's still interesting to hear lots of perspectives. :lol:
I'm a prepper. Our nation is in the hole for $18 trillion. It would take you one week to count to one million-it would take you well over 32,000 years to count to ONE TRILLION.
