Big A.D. said:
Following on from my first post (which a few people have given a +1 to) and as several people have said, don't waste your time and your energy.
I think a lot of new stackers feel unsure of their foray into precious metals and look to other people to validate their decisions - "Please, please Uncle Bob/Jane Co-worker/John Neighbour, buy some metal so I don't feel all alone with this lump of silver I just bought".
We have this niggling doubt that unless everyone we know is doing what we're doing, we're making a mistake. I'll certainly put my hand up to thinking that when I first started ("Oh s***, I just bought thousands of dollars worth of stuff that NOBODY else I know has. I must be an idiot!"
You can see that same thing happening with real estate, where everyone talks incessantly about their new house or investment property because on the inside they're thinking "Oh s***, I just spent half a million dollars I don't have on some house. Please tell me I'm not the only one and that it was a good idea!"
All I can say is that you get past this stage and regardless of whether you want to talk about your investments or keep them to yourself, you're the one who is ultimately responsible for your decisions so it really doesn't matter whether you convince a friend to keep you company.
(Well, it does a bit, so shut up and buy as much as you can while its still cheap).
+1
When I started stacking seriously in the big correction in 2008 I was offering friends the ability to jump in on my orders with the perth mint and share shipping etc.
This was before the days of online buying and everything was handled by phone/fax.
No-one wanted in! I was buying 1kg bars for $580 or so.
When those same mates ask what its worth now I just say if you had invested $1000 back then youd have doubled your money easily.
Given the time span and my ongoing committment to this investment class they now are starting to realise that I was on to something and now listen to my advice and actually ask for it.
This is the same as when I was guiding an ex girlfriend and her husband in buying their first house when huge first home buyer grants were on offer. I kept saying hold your money and wait, it will come down. I showed them charts, described buyer behaviour, explained why the grants were on offer but they didnt want to listen and instead took advice from their parents who said junk like " get in now, its only going to go up"...
Thankfully they got outbid at auctions that were illegally under quoted and never found their house...They now reflect on the advice given by me and their parents and look at what the market is doing...Also, due to their lifestyle they are now broke and living back at home unable to rent their own place...Imagine if they had a mortgage!!!
Funnilly I also advised their parents to sell their house back then which in hindsight would have acheived them another $1M on what they are facing today. The said "no no, we will wait because the markets are recovering and the GFC is over. Prices will go up and a spring 2011 campaign is the best".
I dont have the heart to say "I told you so" beacuse it only ruins relationships...and for what? to prove you were right?
Dont push your point...Just give advice if they want it and let time decide if you were right.
If you were right then you have built credibility to give advice in the future...but if you were a dick about it then no one wants to listen anyway.