Precious metals demand

mmm....shiney! said:
Some 60 somethings don't carry wallets either.

I prefer the freedom that my mobile phone provides rather than the inconvenience of having to carry around a physical wallet. It's just something else to lose. ;)

Or drop in the urinal.
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Jeez, why take out a wallet in front of a unrinal? You loose bugger!

But when we had a bank outage optus/Telstra outages, cash was king at coffee shops, etc... you might as well throw the phone in the proverbial urinal then!

Even the government mouthpiece, ABC News admits that a major cyberattack could take down the banks:

"The third risk relates to a physical disruption – the threat posed by cybercrime and state-sponsored hacking should it take down major financial or economic infrastructure for an extended period."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03...view-mortgage-stress-interest-rates/103619210
 
You know you can stick cash in your mobile phone case? :p

You don't need to carry a wallet then. Frees up your hands to give it a good shake.
 
mmm....shiney! said:
^ I don't understand your point sorry.

These tough economic times have shown that cash is king, not gold or silver.
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Cash is king if used properly simply holding the last few years means it drains quickly through our hands eaten up by inflation and cost of living,timing of any market very hard even if good knowledge of indicators, at least allocated cash can provide return
 
mmm....shiney! said:
That's the same argument people use for hyperinflation.

We don't live in Turkey, just as Australia is not Zimbabwe, Venezuela or the Weimar Republic.
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True but similar basic principles remain just to lesser degree...if you'd held $ you lose purchasing power longer you hold, unless you hold to allocate to assets, and time market to make your cash profit. There's also the insurance and security of metals as they're a form of universal currency and globally recognised, if your countries fiat has gone to shit your $ allocated into metals still has value and always will unless such scenario renders worthless and if so $ wont be concern likely anyway
 
mmm....shiney! said:
The issue is that mortgage holders are the ones paying the price to control inflation
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That's a pretty skewed way of looking at it. It's as if everyone else except the rich is not affected.
Have you thought about:
-Pensioners
-Uni students (or any young people)
-Renters
-singles and divorced people
-small business owners.
-dole blusgers... lol

insurance, energy, basic staples are all up double digits.

The thing with inflation is that Everyone pays the price. You talk as if mortgage holders are the only ones suffering. Debtors of all kind suffer (the rich try to be net creditors, not debtors), as a tightening in the money supply is required to tame inflation, and TBH, they haven't done the job at all. Just look at the white hot housing market and a 3.7% unemployment rate.
 
Michael Kay said:
That's a pretty skewed way of looking at it.
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No it's not skewed. There are two forces at play which you are not taking into account, the problem (inflation) and the solution to that problem (monetary policy). As you point out correctly everyone is impacted by the problem but the solution to the problem is borne by mortgage holders only.

Michael Kay said:
as a tightening in the money supply is required to tame inflation
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That's the mainstream view and one I do not share.

Michael Kay said:
Just look at the white hot housing market and a 3.7% unemployment rate.
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Higher rates is not going to make housing more affordable, it's a supply and demand thing unaffected by the RBA's policy tools, and the unemployment rate is only part of the story eg hours worked and the participation rate have decreased.
 
Real $ Return said:
True but similar basic principles remain just to lesser degree...if you'd held $ you lose purchasing power longer you hold, unless you hold to allocate to assets, and time market to make your cash profit. There's also the insurance and security of metals as they're a form of universal currency and globally recognised, if your countries fiat has gone to shit your $ allocated into metals still has value and always will unless such scenario renders worthless and if so $ wont be concern likely anyway
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I'm talking about current demand rather than long term stores of value.

At the moment cash is in greater demand than metals because we've got a cost of living crisis in this country. This suggests to me that the narrative that gold is a safe haven in times of economic stress in an advanced economy such as ours is shakey. Gold is great in a liquid market, but when investors are running to the doors for cash those holding precious metals looking to sell have to take a cut as liquidity dries up.

Now what happens if a country goes to shite is another matter and is probably a scenario we don't need to consider in Australia.
 
@Real $ Return by way of a further example to explore my argument further, if you approached a homeless person and wanted to help them which would be more useful to them in their current situation, cash or a sovereign?
 
mmm....shiney! said:
everyone is impacted by the problem but the solution to the problem is borne by mortgage holders only.
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Seems like renters are the ones getting hit the hardest atm. Mortgage holders can always restructure their debt to something more manageable, renters can't.
It will take an extreme scenario for a bank to foreclose on a home owner, but a landlord will happily and quickly kick out a renter if they fall into financial hardship.

Imagine a tenant asking their landlord to drop the rent down from $700pw to $600, that will never happen, but that discussion can happen for a mortgage holder with a bank, as a bank can reduce the rate and extend the repayment term.
 
leo25 said:
Seems like renters are the ones getting hit the hardest atm.
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They are getting hit hard but your statement conflates the problem with the solution. The RBA is raising rates to control inflation, debtors are the sole target of this policy decision not renters especially as the vast majority of mortgage holders don't rent their property out.

A more effective and fairer solution would be tackling inflation through fiscal policy eg raising taxes while also increasing spending to meet supply needs. Governments won't do that because they abandoned their responsibilities for economic management and handed that over to central bankers decades ago.
 
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mmm....shiney! said:
Governments won't do that because they abandoned their responsibilities for economic management and handed that over to central bankers decades ago.
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They seem to pick and choose when to implement economic management, so they haven't completely abandoned their responsibility (to theirself). Though you can say they have completely abandoned their competent management of the economy in the interest of the people. :p
 
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mmm....shiney! said:
@Real $ Return by way of a further example to explore my argument further, if you approached a homeless person and wanted to help them which would be more useful to them in their current situation, cash or a sovereign?
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I've been homeless mate and have given cash to many over time from sunshine coast to byron bay etc,etc many times theyre happy with a ciggy ;) if smart enough,educated or willing to learn some may take the gold as luckily enough theres soup kitchens and charities with food parcels. When i lost my job afew years back and was struggling i swallowed pride a bitter meal thats hard to digest and had to use these services too. Your 100% right but some may take gold to convert if you could get a lil more fiat for it...others would take something else as long as they can eat then have higher priorities. In warmer mths many homeless are actually there by choice as lifestyle allows for more pursuits of what they value.
 
mmm....shiney! said:
No it's not skewed. There are two forces at play which you are not taking into account, the problem (inflation) and the solution to that problem (monetary policy). As you point out correctly everyone is impacted by the problem but the solution to the problem is borne by mortgage holders only.
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Are SMB business owners somehow immune to interest rates? People with car loans, personal loans, too. Why this narrow focus on mortgages? It is the cost of borrowing money, period. If I am wrong, can you explain your position?
 
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