My lovely former girlfriend would consider herself from the better end of town, good property assets, healthy blue chip share portfolio, all the trimmings. Anyway she believes PM collecting is a geeky, kinda weird pastime. When silver was around $15 I would tell her it's a great time to buy, show her my latest purchases & she would be all ho hum about it. She would hold a Kook in her hand & ask me what all the fuss was about. So now with silver trading around $30 Oz on some of my coins I have effectively doubled my money without considering freight which is always conveniently forgotten. So does anyone else suffer from this stigma ? How is it that such an obviously good investment can be seen by some as a Nerdy style activity ? Perhaps it comes down to education, cultural awareness ?
Absolutely not! My wife is a very big supporter of my stacking endeavours and she regularly gets excited when I bring home a new purchase or take the kids to the coin stores in the city to buy over the counter. She has a bar or two and coins on her desk because she loves to hold the stuff. Because our desks at home are basically side by side, she listens in on all the YouTube / Paltalk discussions as well and regularly asks questions when something catches her ear. In other words, she absolutely 'gets it' and as long as our regular living expenses are covered, she's more than happy for me to buy silver & gold with what's left. I asked her once how she felt about me buying the stuff and she said words to the effect of "Some guys spend money on cars, booze, gambling, gadgets and the like, often on credit. Do you really think I'm going to have a problem with you spending your earnings from all those weekends and overtime hours on Gold and Silver as an investment to protect us?" She's an absolute treasure unto herself in my book.
Because typically coin, stamp, comic book, baseball card collecting has been for "nerdy" individuals. It's definitely not hip to collect coins or similar items. But from an investment perspective you are hardly collecting coins. It's more like building a rock solid inflation proof holding of your wealth. I can see where the stigma of a nerdy hobby comes from. A little education would help all of them.
Until they decide to take the red pill of their own free will, I'm content to let them believe what they want to believe.
Yes, but everyone who knows me already thinks I'm a bit nerdy and off-the-wall. Actually, I was telling some of my more "jock" friends about some banknotes I bought recently and they were all having a good laugh about it right up until I got to the bit about the 600% return on what I paid. They'll still keep having a chuckle at me and I'll keep making money being a silver nerd. I can't think of anything worse than being "normal".
The Road Not Taken TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost (18741963). Mountain Interval. 1920. I have this on my wall at work and at home. I learned it many years ago and it's the path of thinking that lead me to where I am today. Taking the path less travelled by - taking the red pill instead of the blue - learning to break free of the learned practise of conformist thinking and ideology is one of the best things you can do for your mind and for yourself as an individual. I drill this into my children completely because I want to raise them as free thinkers and respectful of who they are. Think about how much of this ideology has been lost on the paradigm shift towards the collective even in Australia and it's enough to raise alarm in any critical thinker. I take absolute pride in knowing I am not one of the herd. In fact, it's an absolute badge of honor and sign of respect in my view for being noted as such.
I agree. Normal to me is slumping on the couch watching 4 hours of junk on TV every day. Normal is believing everything you hear on the TV and in the paper. Normal is thinking Australia is different. Normal is buying an overpriced house because "rent money is dead money". Normal is investing in the housing market and getting an IP. Normal is loading up everything on credit cards to keep up with the other normals. Normal? No thanks!
Hahaha Silver Nerd.... My girlfriends Dad is a hunting/fishing type of person. Same with me. I use to go out fishing every week. He asked me one week, so whats the plans for this weekend? Expecting to hear... ohh going out fishing at a certain location.. I said, "Im going to a coin show". I could hear it in his voice.......a confused WTF?! He's turning into a nerd and taking my daughter with him. lol Coin show?.... that's the last place he imagined his daughter would be... lol.
When the market moves and the fiat system craps itself, he's going to find a lot of respect for you I am sure. Then it'll be the 'how the hell did you KNOW?'
I don't know what they are saying behind my back, but no one says anything to my face. They understand that I put 1000s of hours into my research and that I am 80-85% in precious metals. So, they might consider me insane, but not nerdy. My investment clients know my philosophy. And next year, any new investment clients are going to have to agree to let put as much of their money into pms as I believe is proper. Otherwise, we are wasting each other's time. My pms investments and my biotech stock are either going to make or break my reputation. We shall see.
I've always been a massive nerd in general. I have a collection of comics and toys as a grown adult, used to be an actual dice carrying dungeon master in high school, was runner up in my primary school chess competition. Being a massive silver nerd is just a natural extension and all of my friends understand and accept this. And give me copious amounts of shit.
If a nerd is someone who quietly sits in the corner of the class, planning success in whatever field they are interested, much to the bemusement of the vast majority who have little understanding of that field, then yes, I am a nerd. Still like rugby and cricket though! dccpa, will you be advising your clients to be "80-85% in precious metals" as well, or will you have to temper your own view with, "A sound investment strategy must spread the risks" and advise your clients to go a little easier on the PMs?
My girlfriend doesn't think I am a nerd now, after buying her this: http://www.downies.com/australia/store/product.asp?id=5642 lol she is a fan of these cute Japanese anime figures. Slam
I tried the trick from a video on this site, wandered around my work with 1oz silver Maple Leaf, offered to sell it for face value of $5. People looked at me like I was an alien, got told it was worthless, got told to wake up to myself and drink some beer. Explained what it was worth and no one wanted it, all said i should not waste my time and get pissed and have a good time like the rest of the moron clowns. Happy to be a Silver Nerd.
