Thanks for the input everyone. Have bought a couple Perth Mint coins today and am looking forward to learn lots on this forum.
Gold can def hedge against uncertainty IMO specially when your fiat currency decreases value against the USD. As a matter of fact i just recently sold AU here in Canada to take advantage of our falling dollar. Although Gold havent really significally increase in value but with our falling canadian dollar i actually managed to make a bit of a profit.
This is just my opinion but I think everyone should own a few oz of gold and silver. I would be cautious about taking advice that says "all in" on it though. Just like every other asset class metals have ups and downs. Right now we are in a bear market for PM and it looks like stocks are going that way, too. Now it might be a good time to have bonds and real estate, in 5 years maybe gold will be king again? I don't know. I would think the best idea is buy when the asset class is down. Right now I'm adding dividend paying stocks that have a long history of payouts with wide moats and good valuations. Coke or McDonalds might not light the world on fire like a new tech stock but I'm pretty sure they'll be around well after I'm dead and gone. I'm about to start adding more metals to the stack, too. Bonds never excite me because there never seems to be any huge swings so I always add to them regardless (albeit in small amounts). I don't have the cash or risk tolerance (or desire really) to own and manage real estate other than some land banking so most of my real estate money is in REITs. I might reconsider that in another market cycle or two. All that said, yeah I think gold is a good idea as long as it is part of a balanced and well tended portfolio. Long: KO and MCD One other piece of advice; be mindful of newsletters and such that come from companies that profit directly or indirectly from the sale of whatever it is mentioned in the newsletter. These are not informational like they appear but well guised advertisements.
For me: a mixed (cockroach!) portfolio and try and keep my brain - and emotions! - out of it. 25% stocks 25% government and investment grade bonds 25% gold (with a sprinkling of silver) 25% cash Rebalancing periodically means I'm selling out of rising assets and buying others when they are relatively cheaper. For the most part though, I don't strictly rebalance - unless one gets >20% or so ahead of its next rival - just buy the cheaper three of the four to try and catch up with the winner. Grice's paper shows that, in recent history at least, this tends to perform well and reduces risk and volatility: http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defa...5/imageroot/2012/11/Dylan Grice - Goodbye.pdf
Grice has described, without acknowledgement, Harry Browne's "permanent portfolio" concept - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail-Safe_Investing
I agree, but he didn't take credit for it in his paper - merely analysed its performance over recent decades and demonstrated, over that time period at least, it reduced volatility with only a modest reduction in gains. He should have referenced the original author though, I agree.
Next question - bullion size? Consensus appears to be towards larger weight bullion to reduce impact of manufacturer & reseller margin. However, looking at pricing for PAMP Minted Bars, the 50g unit compares favourably price-wise while being reasonably liquid. I am looking at ABC for price comparison. Another option would be 1oz coins but Perth Mint coins do carry a bit of a premium too.
I started financially zero and alone, been many businesses but all went down if not, i closed it at least when ROI achieved. PM is the safest i had been till now and achieved results. Perhaps i am not good in biz because i used to work in a hard environment, so busy to check my shops. Until now, i don't predict PM, just moving some if need cash but eventually recover it. When i buy PM most especially some gold, i forget the worth, now i recognized the value. It is less stress on me, no premiums to think because no matter i seek for lowest price, the premiums are outrageous. Some of my stack i bought are in high price, eventually i recover it at the end for its true worth. Of-course, i always look for lowest premium but most of the time i got ripped off. i rather close my eyes each time i turns enthusiastic when buying. Sometimes web and financial literatures makes stacking more complicated. This is only my experience, Find what suits you, compare your locality and how you move it in times of financial need. Eg, i got a lot of semi-numis like kooks and pandas, but my locality have a very little market, need to move it via international buyers if needed. But i really love these items, and never planned to move them so i diversified with our local numismatic coins and continued my fashion. If i need a capital, i move some gold, silver is bit hard for me to move quickly because of locality. I can trade gold in split seconds without stress than silver coins, sometimes need to move gold to buy rolls of lunar and kooks. The ouncer bullion gold coins still suits me for its liquidity. Same with small properties or condos, need to move my gold to cover when i need instant buying plus my cash. So, it is not the worth of worry, if you are only moving few ounces worth of gold, otherwise stress premiums kills the bug. The loses can be covered by other means by deploying your head sharply in other matters. Anyway, savings makes your stack grow unnoticeably, PM helps value your savings and all uncertainty in different types will just come and visit us anytime.
round 50s... pamp cast kg bars come up cheap enough if you want low premium and they are fairly liquid.
I will keep on 1 oz bullion gold coins, as low as i can get if it is for trading only. If i can can get old circulated gold coins for near spot price as my pocket may allow, i will grab it quickly. In some establishment in our city, the gold is traded mostly by weight. You can easily get a loan in exchange of your gold coin when your in short of budget then collect it back after few months if you want it back. You can sell directly on spot +1% as well. Bars bit complicated for them, they are very choosy with certicards because of tampering. Unless it is bare but it's trading price is far less than coins.
Yup, a sort of pawnbroker specialized in expensive items such bags, watch etc, also some are specifically dealing with coins and antiques.
I live in the UK; we have to pay tax on silver so I don't buy it anymore, only gold. However, if I lived somewhere where I didn't, I'd be all in to silver rather than gold.
