Hi all, just thought i would introduce myself as a new member. 37 from the UK, only started collecting PM's this year. My reasons for doing it are not a SHTF thing, or to make a quick buck, for me its two reasons. The first is that i like collecting stuff! Silver and gold are good to look at, and hold, and also have intrinsic value. Compared to the 300 i used to spend a month on fags before i gave up this year, at least i cant set fire to silver and gold. My other reason is that i am looking down the road to retirement and the last god awful thing i want is to be poor. I dont trust the government to keep things together forever, and i dont really trust the banks after all the recent messes. Having a stack of silver (60kg at retirement is my modest goal) and about 60 sovereigns (again modest i feel) will mean i will always have a buffer of at least some sort, and if the worst comes to the worst, at least i can probably go somewhere nice for a month in the sun each year of my retirement by selling a bit, so i dont have to freeze my knackers off in the UK winter. Selling a 250g silver bar per month of retirement will give me something at least on top of the pensions etc, and the gold will help me for the month in the sun. Not too much to ask is it? Anyway, hello, and thanks for reading.
Welcome to the forum! I love collecting silver/gold items as well, and as you rightly pointed out it's not really money wasted compared to buying some fancy clothes etc!
Welcome...big congrats on A) quiting smoking! and B) investing money into pm's. I consider myself a new stacker / coin collector....made my first earnest purchase about 9 months ago...a $10 purchase of a 90% silver Franklin US coin. From that point on, it's been a lot of learning, excitement, and plenty more purchases. In what way exactly do you believe that gold and silver have intrinsic value? Thanks for elaborating. .
Thanks for the welcomes. When i say intrinsic value, I doubt I am describing it correctly. I guess for me, it means that food goes off, clothes become unfashionable, cigs get set alight, washing machines break, computers go out of date etc, while an ounce of silver is just that, an ounce of silver. It isnt going to melt away, it isnt going to go off, it will pretty much always be there until i sell it, Maybe i should say that its a sense of "solidity". It is what it is, it has a value based upon ( among other things i know) the difficulty of mining and smelting and preparing it On the other hand, maybe i should just say that it has pretty pictures on it that i like (i am looking at you metalor 100g bars and 1oz kooks).
Welcome to SS...You will sleep well at night in your retirement. Good to see a lot of new members joining up to ss from the UK and the USA... Regards Errol43
I do get what you mean and I also like all those traits about gold and silver (especially collector coins). I think most of us get a good feeling when we actually hold a pm coin that we like in our hands. Here's what I have come to be convinced of since I started buying pm's and have learned how the value of silver for example has gone from a little over $1 an ounce to nearly $50 an ounce (not inflation adjusted) in merely a very short (historically) 60 year time frame: I think the value that those people who treasure it (people like us) hold for silver and gold is derived solely from our desire / demand for it. Gold and silver had no value throughout time before humans started to value / desire to want it for various purposes. In other words, so long as there is human desire for it, it has value; gold and silver have no intrinsic value unto themselves without the desire by us to own it....we give objects value. A ton of gold or a grain of sand can not value itself or its traits. Therefore there is no intrinsic value in these objects. Human desire must be present and that desire creates extrinsic value rather than intrinsic value. Of course, all objects have intrinsic characteristics or traits even though only through the mechanism of human desire will some objects gain value. To me this is an important lesson to learn because it means that gold and silver are no different than any other objects on earth in how their value is derived. It means that there certainly is risk involved in buying these objects that are valued today very differently than they may be valued in another 60 years. Of course, some of the intrinsic traits (remember, gold and silver have no intrinsic value) are what makes humans desire these objects. But those traits are not unique and man-made substances like graphene may prove to be the spear of silver's Achilles heel in terms or industrial demand. Any thoughts on this are welcome. .
Welcome, we got a few things in common. We like the way silver looks and are putting towards are retirement, d-mn sure don't have much faith in our governments and are both new at this. Now if I could just give up those old nasty cigarettes how did you manage to pull that off. You must have some major will power my friend.
Hi and welcome to the site, I think you have made the best step to secure your retirement. "Keep at least 10% of your assets in pms and you should have a happy retirement" was the advise I was given years ago. The way things are going now I'm thinking of increasing that. There are two ways to view pms, either they are a commodity or they are a currency. If you view them as a commodity, best to steer clear of them. The price swings will keep you up at night. However if you view them as a currency then stack away as much as you can afford, the swings in the price should not keep you at night because You will still have the same amount of pms regards of the paper price in your hands to sell when the time is right for you.
Welcome, I too quit smoking and the $4000 or so a year from not buying cigs goes into PM/ Numismatic and then some lol. Grats on quitting smoking ,PM is a much better investment and its easier on the lungs!
