G'day. I am currently 21 years old. Still living at home, have a decent income for my age and want to get smart about wealth. I currently have a FHSA which means government are paying me 17% interest on a max of $6000 each financial year until I get a mortgage or develop property. I'm also saving money in a bonus interest account. Having just got my tax return back, I want to put some of it somewhere that may yield a very good return in 10 or so years. I don't want it to be a new full time job to manage or to have to trade every other day and don't want the overhead of gambling. Just something that isn't figures in a bank account earning figures interest. I want something different! Would a gold coin be a good option for me? I'm thinking I'll start with ~$1000 seeing as I don't know ANYTHING about precious metals yet. Is it wise to get 1 coin for that amount or get multiple to add up to that amount? Any help or insight in to this would be appreciated. If you think I should steer clear, so be it. I came here for advice. Should I just stick to leaving my money in the banks? Cheers in advanced.
Hi Jakey and Welcome Im not the best person here to be giving advice, but if you wanted to start stacking precious metals and your budget is around $1000 I would put it all in silver for bang for your buck. But Im a silver bug I did say im not the best person to be giving advice around here What you could do also is buy aprox.$540 worth of gold coins e.g 3 x 1/10th ounce gold coins And aprox.$460 worth of silver coins e.g 1 x 10oz Dragon, 5 x re-minted 91 kooks You could then hold them both in your hand and decide for yourself which you think is the better buy SS77
No advice here - only extremely biased opinions. To quote forum rule #6 (in the Rules link next to Search): "6. Do your own due diligence. Views posted in this forum do not constitute financial advice. Before making an investment, please seek financial advice from a qualified professional." My biased opinion is a 21 year old should focus on buying a first home before investing in anything else (well actually metals are speculating, not really investing). Don't borrow more than 70% of value and don't pay more than 20 times the annual rent you would pay if renting. There, that should get some reactions
Welcome. You will fit in well here. However, your biased opinion is also contradicting. Buying a first home is also speculative - that you will live longer enough to save on rent after being paid off (or upfront). Life is a gamble, risk taking. Choosing the least riskiest is the challenge we all try. If there was a sure way of protecting wealth, or investing, we would all be doing it. It would not be a secret. Property can be both speculative and investment. Metals can be both speculative and investment. Opals can be, well, opals are epic failure. pr0n magazines can be both speculative and investment. Perspective, perplexing, WTFs. I don't own a home. I have instead opted to invest in stuff unrelated to either metals and properties. My goal, as with most, is to first protect wealth, followed with investing. For me, and we are all different, I have sided with diversifying. Information is the best investment. .
21 Years old. My tired old eyes see a much older person's question. If you lost every penny you own tomorrow, you would have 50,60,70 years perhaps to get it back. I will likely be dead in 21 years time. I worry about financial affairs. You should worry about having a life and enjoying your youth. The list of things I wish I'd done when I was 21 and didn't because I was working and saving is very long, and that money is long gone, and I have no memories of those things I wish that I'd done. If I was 21 again, I'd look at how cheap gold coins are and put a few away every now and then, and the rest of the time I'd be travelling, and learning, and gaining skills and becoming adaptable. Plenty of time to be old and responsible. Not much time left to be young. Sure buy a house, be safe, be home at 6 pm and catch this week's best television before you go to bed to get up and do it all again. Millions do that. Billions perhaps. Some are happy too. Honour your parents thoughts and wishes but live your life, and keep in mind that this is the internet and there is an opinion on every web page, but you are the one that has the life to live and as Longfellow said, youth comes but once in a lifetime. Gather the memories and you can prove that a lie. Otherwise, buy gold.
Deep. I wonder if the 21 yr old will understand the subliminal. The life of a nonconformist. Unplug. It's a great feeling being 'unique', not having the same damm phone as the neighbour. Oh, wait a sec... Doh!
Good luck - in whatever you decide to do, but at your age I would not jump into commodities just yet ( which includes PMs.) Okay if you have a great guaranteed income steam, security, a house, an imminent inheritance perhaps or regular spare cash. However, if you do decide to dabble in PMs then my advice, for what it's worth, is not to invest more than 15% of your portfolio in PMs. You need a solid base to fall back on first then add the icing when you have the foundations sorted.
So much good 'biased opinion'. I could never thank you all enough actually paying you on PM's sounds like it will work) I realise priorities are priority at my age. Buying a house is at least 3 years away. Not because I can't afford it (even though I cant), because I want to wait until I am that little bit more lived. Eg traveled and done young people's stuff (I am still not 100% on traveling but in know it should be done, almost everyone says so. The big thing om trying to do I convert what is largely figures in the bank which devalued depending on what the banks decide (commercial Interests) into something that I can see which will still hold some sort of value in years to one (if not more). If the biased opinion is to wait until the big purchases in life are done before commodities, then so be it. I guess my next big question is what would be good denominations of coins or whatever the heck you buy that is shiny I would be best putting my money in? Again, I appreciate your 'biased opinions'
Here's sound advice for you Jakey : 1 - Don't assume you're being told the truth. With all things, one over shadowing paradigm applies - Do Your Own Due Dilligence 2 - Don't assume that you've timed your run perfect and silver/gold is about to go 'to da moon' at a moment's notice. Precious metals markets are the most heavily manipulated in the entire world as far as commodities go and governments the world over turn a blind eye to the fact. REAL price discovery of precious metals threatens the foundation on which this entire global economic model works upon. It IS fraudulent and the vested interests will fight tooth and claw to maintain the status quo, come what may. As such, trying to predict (accurately) where prices will go in the short term is a crap shoot at best. 3 - Very carefully think about your reason for PM investment. If you're just looking to ride the next wave or boom around the corner, you're gambling at best, a wishful thinker at worst. 4 - Never buy precious metals on credit. I know some here have and have done well, but buying an investment position that's reliant on 100% capital gains for a return and is as heavily manipulated as PMs are is not intelligent investment strategy. Chances are, you will lose. Precious metals are better thought of as a wealth protection vehicle over the long term and not a wealth creation tool. Whilst silver has a significant upside potential on it's commodity vector, you're better off looking at PMs as a 'break even' investment on your buying power / wealth. 5 - The very best investment strategy for PMs in my opinion is a long term physical, cost average strategy. That is, you're in the game for the long haul mate, buy at a slow, steady pace and never over extend yourself on purchases. If you need to liquidate to cover yourself until next pay for living expenses, you are investing too much. 6 - Silver is silver is silver. Whilst brand names and pretty designs appeal to the collector in you, at the end of the day it's all going to end up in a melting pot. Understand the difference between premium trading on numismatics and opportunity cost on going simply for more ounces. 7 - Lastly, be prepared for a rocky ride. The establishment is against precious metals because it undermines the fake economic system in the world today. Government deficit spending and banking fiscal policy requires you have no means to protect yourself from their skimming practises for profit. That means the price movement's only real predictability is the fact it's unpredictable as market & political forces collide to control the price. Silver spot has been as high at $47 US and as low as $9 US in the last 5 years. If you don't have the stomach for such a wild ride, you're best off finding another place to park your dollars and pray the government will save you. (tip : they won't) 8 - Actually, this is the last tip... get EDUCATED. I'm not talking about technical smarts, charting IQ or economic jargon. I'm talking about understanding how the system really works, who are the big players and what their agenda really is. Much of the system around you is one of control and the biggest players have what you can only consider an insidious agenda. I know even many stackers look at the metal with a micro view, but I'm here to tell you that everything happening around you that governs your experience in the world is tied together. Understanding the impact of decisions across all realms of politics, finance, social & relationships, right down to our role in society will help you further understand and appreciate where we are and more importantly, where we are headed next. The journey is more than about just stacking precious metals because 'that's what the insiders are doing'. It's about self discovery and true education and understanding of the system we live in and how we can protect ourselves and those who matter to us most from outside forces. Much of the world you cannot and never will control. But your mind is your own and expanding your knowledge base is key to understanding, appreciating and developing as a well rounded, educated individual. Done the right way however, this journey will undoubtedly change your life. Once you take the red pill, there's no going back.... so welcome aboard. PS - If you want a rundown on specifics, I highly recommend the sticky here to get you going : http://forums.silverstackers.com/topic-880-buying-silver-in-australia.html It's a good place to start & will give you good direction to get you going. Best of luck!
I suspect i recognise the influence of a barefoot guy on your current decisions. I am impressed if at 21 you are wise enough simply to listen to advice on finance. I would say its fine to save 20% of your income towards your future. A certain percentage of that may be in gold and or silver. I would remind you that one of the most important investments you can make at your age is in your personal skills and ability to add value to things for others. DO NOT read that to mean you should drop loads of cash on university studies, but it does mean you should wisely invest in your skills and education. This is possible through things like internet provided learning aswell as experience like julie suggests, and the old school method of reading wise old guys autobiographies. The worlds alltime best seller is good for that too. Look beyond the normal options and keep an eye out for when people need a solution to something. These are more important than simply buy silver or gold. That is just a savings plan...Which is always a good baseline. Love your youth and use it for fun and experience not all grind.
Baffled at the responses. How can you tell a young man to spend his money on travel and shit and not save? Especially on a stackers site Jakey you save what ever you can but most of all enjoy what ever you do. Wish more youngin's would put something away for tomorrow.
Whilst I agree with you saving is crucial to having a comfortable future- too often you hear stories from old people saying they wish they did this and that while they still could. I would like to think I can balance it well, and that doesn't mean I can't stretch my portfolio to be diverse. If anything I would say that is living (which surely means going against the normal day to day lives of people; which, a big part of is putting all their money in to banks).
Hey Jake, I'm a lot younger than half of these old crumblies here... I feel I can give some advice I'm 27, wish I was back in your shoes - unfortunately I bought a house pre-2008 and then lost $30k in the UK property crash. Since then I took my leftover capital and bought gold. Now, the interesting part - I haven't lost money on it, and though the fiat value may have rose, it is still worth exactly what I paid for it. I would highly recommend gold if you want a nest egg to put away - I aimed to put 10oz of gold aside (around $15-20k's worth dependent on spot fluctuation.)
Welcome, Good decision, and maybe unlike what others have told you, you have already done your due diligence, by having decided to buy some gold, and posting it on a public forum. If i tell you something publicly, and it smells like a rip off or close to it, than other members would join in and correct me or something like that. imo, with $1k buy a 10 oz silver bar, and for the rest buy the cheapest half sovereigns, and for the rest buy the Aussie 50 Cent pieces.
Hi, Suggest you grab Mike Maloney's book on investing in gold & silver (http://forums.silverstackers.com/to...sting-in-gold-and-silver-michael-maloney.html) before you do *anything*. Best primer on precious metals that you could read first. Good to see you already have a timeframe in mind - as many have pointed out, PMs are about wealth preservation in the long run, but there are opportunities for wealth creation along the way. Right now the gold/silver ratio is 57, which is leaning towards silver being a better buy over gold - for about $900 you can get a kilo bar of silver. Firm believer in gold though - I would either look to the kilo of silver, or stretch yourself and get a full ounce of gold - 1oz coins never go out of fashion, but a 1oz bar will be a little cheaper, and have the same intrinsic value. Both have low premiums over fractional items, meaning more oz for the dollars. Old adage is to pay yourself first - pay debt, pay savings, then spend money. Keep a cash warchest, write out some investment goals and a strategy (eg save 15% net pay as cash, 15% net pay in metal, put $6k pa into FHSA, accumulate a kilo of gold and 1000oz silver, buy a house when the house/gold ratio is below 200 etc). But first thing is to read that book and learn about cycles.
^^ This. There is a very cheap ($0) electronic copy of this book available in pdf format. PM me if you are interested.
Also remember that travel doesn't necessarily mean 'holidays', you can live and work in many countries quite easily and not pay ~~~$999 a week for a 'package trip'.
