Wealth preservation
- Thread starter ounces
- Start date
No! 
but maybe a silver coin may loosen my lips?
but maybe a silver coin may loosen my lips?
There are many different SHTF scenarios. Some preppers for extreme scenarios may skip hoarding PMs in favour of building SHTF retreats with large stores etc.
At the end of the day, when talking about significant economic disruption nothing will have the same purchasing power compared to today simply because there won't be anything to buy. Hence nothing will preserve your wealth, not even food, water, alcohol or bang-bang sticks. These sorts of commodities will however, increase the chances of your survival and relative comfort.
In currency-derived SHTF scenarios essentially the medium-of-exchange has failed or is being abandoned (think Zimbabwe). To function, the economy will have to find another medium of exchange and PM's serve as a natural replacement and/or are still valuable to economies outside your own which are still functioning. The transition phase will most likely involve significant disruptions in the structure of production. In different time frames and different scenarios different mediums of exchange play out - eg water, alcohol and cigarettes may be significantly better bartering items than PMs in certain circumstances but in a semi-working trading economy PMs (or another currency) will most likely be very useful.
In essence, you need to define what scenario you are hedging against and whether PMs will play a significant role versus other things. Is it a local, regional or global economic collapse? Is the cause localised natural disasters, foreign invasion or global nuclear war? Is it simply your economy experiencing a decade of stagflation? Are you trying to protect against onerous capital controls? Are you wanting to be able to pay the people smugglers to help you escape? etc etc
At the end of the day, when talking about significant economic disruption nothing will have the same purchasing power compared to today simply because there won't be anything to buy. Hence nothing will preserve your wealth, not even food, water, alcohol or bang-bang sticks. These sorts of commodities will however, increase the chances of your survival and relative comfort.
In currency-derived SHTF scenarios essentially the medium-of-exchange has failed or is being abandoned (think Zimbabwe). To function, the economy will have to find another medium of exchange and PM's serve as a natural replacement and/or are still valuable to economies outside your own which are still functioning. The transition phase will most likely involve significant disruptions in the structure of production. In different time frames and different scenarios different mediums of exchange play out - eg water, alcohol and cigarettes may be significantly better bartering items than PMs in certain circumstances but in a semi-working trading economy PMs (or another currency) will most likely be very useful.
In essence, you need to define what scenario you are hedging against and whether PMs will play a significant role versus other things. Is it a local, regional or global economic collapse? Is the cause localised natural disasters, foreign invasion or global nuclear war? Is it simply your economy experiencing a decade of stagflation? Are you trying to protect against onerous capital controls? Are you wanting to be able to pay the people smugglers to help you escape? etc etc
Read these two articles:
http://www.usagold.com/halldiscussion.html
http://www.constitution.org/mon/greenspan_gold.htm
Then we'll talk
http://www.usagold.com/halldiscussion.html
http://www.constitution.org/mon/greenspan_gold.htm
Then we'll talk
ounces said:
Goodaye ounces.
*Consider this mate...If those Cypriots and Icelanders had their bank savings converted to precious metal and stored at home in a safe they would still have their wealth.
*We (Not me)
saw with the stock market crash of 1929 and recently the GFC 2008 how stocks can plummet; a bloke can be left with a share certificate that is worth nothing but atleast, if you buy some bullion gold or silver you'll have a couple of blocks of metal.*Then there's bcullion coins that can become a numismatic collector piece that has a very good premium, for example, if you had of purchased 2oz, 5oz and 10oz 2008 Lunar series 2 Mouse silver bullion coins, you'd be sitting on a very handsom profit right now.
See, if you are lucky, a modern bullion coin can give you a decent capital gain.
I think the trick is to have diversification, Aussie dollars, precious metal, good soil, a few fruit trees and grapes, a reasonable home that's in good shape and keep ya self in reasonable shape.
If you buy a bit of gold or silver each week or month, just like you would fill up the car or buy food, you'd slowly have a good swag of metal; that's better than pissing it away or...
Having said that, I'm buying silver and gold as a speculator and for the long term, I don't expect to get rich from having a few ounces of silver, gold or platinum but if, like many suspect, we could see the worlds currencies and financial sector turned upside down, in that case I'd rather hedge my bet by owning precious metal.
All I see is countries in debt, I see central banks hoarding gold and I see many people worried about where they can safely put their nest egg for retirement.
End of rave, sorry for going off-track abit ...err... a lot.
H
Holdfast, thank you for the wise words. There is one specific line of your post that I thought best relates to me and my stacking situation. That line was "It's better than pissing it away."
Since I've started stacking I've gotten so strict with my finances that I've even amazed myself. I have a strict rule that I follow and it's helped me save a large amount of money instead of "pissing it away" as you mentioned.
The rule that I follow for myself is that I have to put equal amounts of cash and precious metal into my savings. Say I want to buy $1200 USD in precious metals, I equally put that same amount of cash into my savings. If I see something stupid that catches my eye, something that I'd "piss my money away on" I think twice and save the money for my saving/precious metal purchases. Precious metals have been the best thing that ever happened to me financially. I've saved alot of money and have started diversifying my investments rather than having minimal savings and "pissing my money away" on stupid unnecessary purchases.
I do it as a long term and having seen what my friend's grandfather did with gold, I know it's well worth it. My bet is on silver since its so low but I continue to buy both.
I hope I didn't derail too much
Since I've started stacking I've gotten so strict with my finances that I've even amazed myself. I have a strict rule that I follow and it's helped me save a large amount of money instead of "pissing it away" as you mentioned.
The rule that I follow for myself is that I have to put equal amounts of cash and precious metal into my savings. Say I want to buy $1200 USD in precious metals, I equally put that same amount of cash into my savings. If I see something stupid that catches my eye, something that I'd "piss my money away on" I think twice and save the money for my saving/precious metal purchases. Precious metals have been the best thing that ever happened to me financially. I've saved alot of money and have started diversifying my investments rather than having minimal savings and "pissing my money away" on stupid unnecessary purchases.
I do it as a long term and having seen what my friend's grandfather did with gold, I know it's well worth it. My bet is on silver since its so low but I continue to buy both.
I hope I didn't derail too much
AngloSaxon
Active Member
Hello Muchdiver. I suggest reading "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George Samuel Carson, it can be obtained cheaply on Ebay/Amazon etc.
Written with growing, preserving and guiding wealth in mind. It's a good start and will help you with that mental discipline on saving and not wasting money.
Written with growing, preserving and guiding wealth in mind. It's a good start and will help you with that mental discipline on saving and not wasting money.