GOT GOLD? Why do you need it?

don't bet the farm on any one thing!

you can't, drink, eat gold and it sure as hell wont keep you cold at night. there have been plenty of times where gold hasn't hedged against anything. If you purchased gold at the peak in 1979 and held it today you've lost money relative to inflation.

 

I wouldn't want gold to keep me cold but I might be able to trade it for something to make me warm.

 

LOL....yeah guess i should proof read before i post

 

Gold

Would think a box (50) .22 shells, a quart of green beans, a blanket,or a good anything would be of much more value. :scratch

 

Sure they would, but you can't toss them in your pocket and away fast if needed. I think a bit of everything helps to make you well rounded.

 

I'm starting with silver, junk silver coins to be more specific. They will be more tradeable for small purchases than gold will. And nickels too. They are retaining their value and sure to go up even if only for the metal content.

 

I think gold and silver are good to barter with if you don't want to work.:scratch

 

Gold and silver are just tools to obtain the items you don't have but need or want. While there are other means, like working for someone in trade for what you want, or bartering other goods, gold and silver are easier to carry and a more common means of trade, one that has gone back to the beginnings of history.

 

Yes, I have often heard that when the SHTF - having a stock of items to barter is the way to go!

I plan to have a little bit of cash tucked away - but am firmly thinking of what items to store up for that purpose... i.e. extra food, ammo tools etc.

 

Good points! Obviously meeting our daily needs are most important but gold/silver have universal value as a type of currency no matter when or where they are used. Precious metals are like everything else - they must be part of a balanced plan. Barter would no doubt play a part in a collapsed economy but there may be times when you simply have nothing to barter that the other person wants. Or you may be travelling and don't have time or space to carry barter goods or spend time trading labor. Precious metals fill this gap rather nicely. Just keep it in balance.

 

I'm a firm believer in keeping some cash on hand. It can come in handy even it if isn't the end of the world. Something like the blackout lasting several days like the great north east b/o or just a bad storm could leave you with only the $25 bucks in your pocket.

I'm also concerned about the potential for the dollar to drop and I feel metal prices will rise at the same time. Pre '82 pennies and current production nickles are worth their weight (or more) in metal value. It might be a little crazy, but I would rather have 1 or 2 thousand dollars in nickels or pennies in my safe than a few green bills that could end up with the same value as toilet paper.

Right now an old penny is worth .02 cents and a nickel is worth 5.5 cents just for the metal.
Current Melt Value Of Coins - How Much Is Your Coin Worth?
A $50 bill may not be worth the paper it's printed on, if things get real ugly. I think stocking my spare cash in nickels is a safe easy hedge against inflation. Sorting through boxes of pennies might not be worth your time, but nickels are easy, just a get a couple $100 boxes from the bank and drop'em in the safe. It's sort of like the poorman's silver coins and they're fire proof too.

Any thoughts or comments?

 

You mean something like these?



Or these?



Or the boxes and boxes of silver coins I've been collecting since I was a kid?

I saw Ronnie Rayguns drive gold prices through the roof, I started buying gold when it came up at the 'Right' price, I have several waiting for the next Republican Reactionary President to screw the economy up,
So now gold I purchase for $50 an ounce is worth up to $1,300 and I HAVE been selling!

Silver came to me under 50¢ an ounce, so I purchased 1,000 ounces,
And the coins... I have next to nothing in them but they are paying me back now!
People said I was crazy for saving those old silver coins when the faces were worn down, scratched, bent, ect...
Now they are worth about $13 an ounce (and that's TROY ounce, not standard US ounces)

I used to use them a lot when I silver soldered, they were MUCH cheaper than the Silver rods,
Now I sell them off when I want a little extra money.
Silver is about $18.30/Troy Ounce today... If you have any around to sell...

Just sold three gold coins like the one above to some collage kid that thinks gold is going to increase another 100% from right now,
(Seems his 'Teacher' is a religious 'End of the world' type and is Convincing him that gold is going to skyrocket to twice what it is today!)

He paid $1,230 an ounce, (yesterday's 'Spot' price) I paid $220 an ounce when I purchased them...
I'd say it was a good investment to sit on for 10 years!

 

I think that having some 'portable wealth' in the form of gold or silver make sense if you currently have them, or have the resources to acquire some. In coin form, they really don't take a lot of space or weight and are visually easy to discriminate.

That said, in a barter driven economy, be prepared for the potential of losing a lot of former value in the presence of scarcity for goods.

 

I don't believe in having gold, in a SHTF situation, it will be hard or unsafe to trade or barter with because of it's worth. junk silver will be the best, pre 64 silver dimes, quarters. even silver eagles could be cut in pieces to trade with.
Gold will be for the very rich to grab up all the land they can.

 

This subject comes up all the time and for me the answer never changes...

As old LL Bean told it..after the whatever..man walks into a farm yard and says to the farmer "see this $600.00 Krugerrand? Farmer says yep, see that $600.00 chicken?

Anything can have value, but it's value has to be the same too both party's or it's not worth hauling around..

To me in a SHTF situation a brick of 22 ammo would be worth more to me then your gold coin... but if I have 100 K rounds of 22 ammo then it might be something I'd do, but would you? a brick for an OZ of gold?

I would not try to screw a hungry person but how many would? If a person is hungry then they are desperate , better to give them some food and send them on their way , sometimes ya gotta do the right thing..

So, for me, I'll just prep as I always have, I can buy a lot of preps for the current cost of one oz of gold... for 10 ozs I can be ready for most anything..

I know folks who bought gold in 1980 when it was at $600.00 and watched it drop to 300.00 soon after... of course if they sat on it and sold now they would break even...30 years of lost interest can add up...

Here's an example ... right now, Aimsurplus has new Wolf 308 ammo for about $240.00 a thou...even with shipping you can buy 5 K rounds for an oz of gold!

Remember the folks talking so much about buying gold aren't buying, they are selling!

 

What's that brick of ammo worth when you want something like a pump handle silver soldered back together?

Need silver for your colloidal water filter?

Need some bullets cast from lead?

Need some gold for a tooth cap?

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Besides, were are a LONG WAY from a total collapse, where money would be worthless.
Depressions, natural disaster, chemical disaster, ect. gold and silver will ALWAYS be worth something.

What I do recommend is you buy smaller coins than the one ounce coils of gold,
It's hard to separate pieces of a coin, most people want to trade for the entire coin, so smaller coins would be a better way to trade, and they are made VERY small, just a gram or two.

I consider anything that has MONETARY currency value a good thing.
Something that isn't tied directly to the dollar is a good idea.

Gold has gone WAY up, which is good for anyone that has been sitting on it,
Same with silver. I've made a tidy amount so far, and If it goes up even more, I stand to make a great deal.

Right now, the most valuable things I have are old muscle cars, they are selling for outrageous amounts, and my time in restoring them has been worth about $100 an hour...
The market goes up and down, but those old cars that have been sitting around in our back field at the farm are bringing up to $150,000 when restored... And most were dumped there years back, no investment at all in them prior to refurbish and sale.

Copper, brass, sliver, aluminum, gold, lead, steel, iron, ect. will all have uses DIRECTLY for you if you have the skills to work with them.
Casting parts from things like bullets to valves isn't difficult to learn, and will make you money VERY QUICKLY in a really beat down world...
Right now, I make a lot of parts for old farm machinery, and that pays VERY well, around $75 a hour when I'm working.

A Re-Built Magneto for an historic tractor usually runs me around $100 in parts, but sells for around $600 (Average), some are much more,
And sale of parts via internet makes even more...
Generators and starters are a little less, but they still average about $50 an hour when you have the work...

I can cast the parts I don't have and can't get, and I can cast/machine many more parts if I need to, but there often isn't any reason to if I can buy the parts for cheap...
In the event of a collapse, I could cast more types of parts since I have the stuff to cast/machine needed parts...

So now the saying goes,
Farmer,
"How much is that brush holder for my generator is worth?",

Metal Worker,
"6 of those $600 chickens..."

Gold isn't the only 'Precious' metal!

 

bingo!dead on target.

 

Gold

I've often wondered why people get the gold bug. If you're speculating and then want to sell when the price gets high, that's one thing. But if your buying for a shtf scenario, then why bother? When it gets to bartering time, I wont take gold in trade. I'm going to have goods that I will trade for other goods that I can use, but dont currently have. And what are you going to do with a 1 oz. gold coin? It'll be worth too much to buy most things. And if no one wants to trade in gold, it may end up worthless. Not me, I have a small hoard or silver coins. Much more practical and it didnt break me to buy them. Things that people need and want will get you more than gold when the shtf. So good luck gold bugs, but count me out. You're gold will be worthless to me when the time comes. I wont be making change for your gold coins. lol

 

Precious metals have their place like everything else. Just don't go to extremes on them unless you have every other need for yourself taken care of. It's entirely possible you'll want to trade with someone who doesn't need your goods or labor. PM's may be the only thing he's interested in. They key is to have your physical needs covered. That gives you greater bargaining power in any deal. If you put all your preps in gold you could very well find yourself paying an ounce of gold for a loaf of bread. If you have all the food, protection, shelter, etc. you need then you may be the one getting the ounce of gold for the loaf of bread. Eventually things will stabilize unless we go to a true EOTWAWKI situation. In that case your gold could very well be worthless during your lifetime. But in most situations PM's will always have some value to someone. Just make sure your physical needs are met before you go overboard on acquiring PM's.

In the meantime, work on acquiring skills that will be valuable in any type of economy.