Gold and a certified scale to weight it , you left the scale off , i.e. if transactions are no longer in dollars they you need a scale people and a good one ! . That aside buying gold is always falling into the survivalist game , you need gear , generators , dried food , good water purifier and guns lots of them . So are you in or out , can't go half way ? And this is the problem in times of volatility the sales of gold go up but most think there safety deposit box will stay open for them to get it out , LOL .
If our social order breaks down it's going to be gun and ammunition that will be worth far more then gold !
Baltimore student has it right; small amounts of gold are better, because if the dollar is close to worthless, then gold will be prohibitively high priced. If all you have to pay with are 1 oz. coins, how are you going to get change? And, yes, Baltimore, silver in dime and quarter values is a realistic base level currency along with common caliber ammunition. Diaper wipes and toilet paper, baby.
As a semi-serious coin collector, I have maintained a small collection of gold coins starting when I was a teenager. I like having them, and hope to pass them on to my daughter someday, but her reaction might well be WTF should I do with these things? They, and even bulk gold, are difficult assets to liquidate even by savvy investors, and would be even more so in an economic Armageddon for which many people want to buy and hoard precious metals. Pretty stuff, though.
An elderly friend at work said in Hungary after WWII, when currency collapsed (hyperinflation), that his mother clipped off an inch or two of a gold chain, such as woman's jewelry necklace that held a locket. She would give it to grocery store owner and he let her run a tab for food for her family for a couple weeks.
He advised small amounts of gold were more useful. Possibly small to medium amounts of silver (poor man's gold).
My only serious disagreement with this article is the assertion that gold "doesn’t perform as well as other assets like real estate or bonds." True, but it's irrelevant, because it's a false comparison. Real estate and bonds are investments, not merely assets: they are expected to produce a return. Your car is an asset, too, but no one would consider it an investment. No one should consider gold an investment, either: it doesn't pay interest or dividends or rent, and even if you sell it for a nominal "profit" in dollars, that will generally represent little more than the price inflation that occurred since you bought it. Gold is a store of value--the best and most proven store of value in human history. Silver is a close second. To echo "Sumdood's" point: In 1962, you could buy a gallon of gasoline for a quarter. That quarter contained .20 ounce of silver. After 1964, the U.S. stopped minting silver quarters and dimes. That 1962 quarter today still buys a gallon of gas--and you'd get about a dollar in change, to boot. That's a store of value.
Let's not go overboard. Gold and silver have been a useful medium of exchange since before the Greeks and Romans rose to power so it never hurts to have some stocked away pending whatever unforeseen disaster awaits. A few silver dollars and some small gold coins might just help you survive an Electro-Magnetic Pulse until civilization is restored but there is no way you will be able to get into a safe deposit box come the apocalypse. Gold and silver are heavy. You better also buy a shotgun and a mule if you are thinking quantity. Your HOA won't be pleased!
Nobody will buy gold in a catastrophic event. Why would they? Stock up on lots of what you would need to survive in the unlikely event of a true catastrophe. If stuff hits the fan, you can be sure people will trade anything for food and water, guns and bullets, and booze and tobacco. Not necessarily in that order.
In a true apocalyptic scenario- people absolutely would trade Gold. It’s precisely useful in that scenario. But also, it looks and feels great and it’s cool to own.
Gold is just another commodity and these people are buying at the top of the market. Strategic metals such as copper are probably better investments. That said the long term trend for gold has always been up
Saying is you can always buy a good suit and a quality revolver with an ounce of gold and that is still true today
I feel bad for the poor saps who are taking advice from "a financial adviser in the L.A. area who tells his clients to carve out 3 percent of their portfolios for gold"
Well, because of the MAGA Christo-fascist Cult, most of them want to usher in the "Rapture" and ensuing "Tribulation" time, mostly for the evil Liberals, but, see, if any of them don't make it in the Rapture, or can't grab onto a 'Christian's' leg as they rise into the sky, I think the book of Revelation instructs them that only Gold will be a bargaining chip for food, water, shelter...oh and your life.
I heard it all growing up Southern Baptist in the 70's and 80s, culminating with an actual book we studied in our Sunday School class...get ready: "Christ Returns by 1983" Lots of talk, oddly, about investing in Gold so if the rapture came after the tribulation period, we 'Christians' would be okay as we'd have gold to bargain with.
I'm still pissed over that. I want my money back and I'll never get back those Joan Jett tickets I bought in 1983, after our pastor told us "would you want to be seen at a rock concert when Christ comes back? It is 1983." bwahahaha
Yeah, my life was an actual episode of "Freaks and Geeks" as I surely didn't care about the soul of the high school friend I sold my tickets to, lol... but how tragically hilarious was my "walk of shame" the following Monday at school
Christo-fascist BS since before 1983 and beyond!
Now are the vending machines at every Costco? (asking for a friend)
Christ returns in 1983 sounds a bit like Al Gores inconvient truth. Was it Miami underwater by 2010. Religions can’t live with them can’t live without them
I grew up Southern Baptist in the same time frame, three different churches, and I never heard of the 1983 thing. Maybe I was asleep or hung over during those lessons.
It's 2008-2009 all over again. I could have been reading (and indeed, I did) the near exact same article in 2010. I guess gold & silver stacking, prepping, and homesteading are making a come back.... and Armageddon is always right around the corner.
If shit *truly* hits the fan, what good will your gold bars do you? Can you eat them?
Those gold bars won't do you a damn bit of good until some rebuilding happens. Until a barter society decides it's time to use coinage again. And at that point you'll have to figure out a way to melt your bars down into small enough pieces to make purchases.
In the run-up to Y2K, I was pondering this problem, and I came to the conclusion that the best investment (if I were going to make one) would be cartons and cartons of cigarettes. A cigarette would give me a lot more useful bartering value in a world of desperate nicotine addicts than a gold bar would.
Cigarettes! Yes. I have a friend who's mom was a child in 1939 when the Soviets took the eastern half of Poland. The town leaders were all executed including his grandfather. His grandmother and mother were packing up after surrendering their house to a Soviet army general officer, who felt badly for them. He wrote a "letter of protection" informing all soldiers they had better keep their hands off of the grandmother's huge duffle of toilet paper. In the work camp the toilet paper was traded to guards who rolled cigarettes with it. In return the little girl was fed well enough to survive until their release.
I thought about investing in precious metals many times over the years. But I could never figure out how I would sell it when the need arises. I mean where I will take it and how. If it is kept in a bank safe deposit box, it is possible banks will collapse at the time of crises. Also, it is heavy. Does not seem practical, but maybe I am missing something.
Considering how few people smoke these days, I'd go with whiskey and other alcoholic beverages over cigs. Also, about those bars - people who prep for a collapse buy small units, such as gold grams or silver rounds. The bigger units are good insurance in the case where fiat currencies are collapsing but wouldn't do a lot of good in a true shit-hits-the-fan scenario as you rightly assessed.
I guess it depends on where you live. Here in the Midwest, smoking is still a very popular habit that kids tend to pick up early, so as to look "grown-up" or "cool" to their friends, without the slightest consideration of what the consequences of getting addicted to nicotine will be.
Fascinating piece that illustrates a variety of monetary/economic concepts, written in plain English. Really, this should be on the syllabus of every Econ 101 class.
(I've also heard that beer has been used as a means of trade during natural disasters like hurricanes, but I wonder how you're supposed to keep it cold. Hard liquor is probably a far more useful item due to ease of storage.)
Whatever one holds for prepping / worst case purposes, the reality is that SHTF probably within 3 days of the incipient event (no food in stores or gas etc). From there, figure 2-3 months max for civil order to be restored or else it’s lights out. The idea one can live on rice, beans and bottled water longer than that seems unrealistic. Maybe several thousand souls who have the skills, land to support agriculture, shelter / heat, and luck. We all need civil order.
And then there are those of us with all of the above. Fortuitous in my case as I simply cannot abide living in cities or large towns, and I’ve raised livestock and grown food for decades because I like to do so.
My takeaway on this article is people are nervous. Lots of people. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, lots of degrees or a high school drop out - there is a sense that something is not right and folks are hedging their bets and investing in gold, silver, art etc. Passports are hot now because that nervousness goes beyond economic uncertainty. It’s a sign many want to be able to get out.
This is not a party thing. This is a human survival thing. V.
Gold and a certified scale to weight it , you left the scale off , i.e. if transactions are no longer in dollars they you need a scale people and a good one ! . That aside buying gold is always falling into the survivalist game , you need gear , generators , dried food , good water purifier and guns lots of them . So are you in or out , can't go half way ? And this is the problem in times of volatility the sales of gold go up but most think there safety deposit box will stay open for them to get it out , LOL .
If our social order breaks down it's going to be gun and ammunition that will be worth far more then gold !
Baltimore student has it right; small amounts of gold are better, because if the dollar is close to worthless, then gold will be prohibitively high priced. If all you have to pay with are 1 oz. coins, how are you going to get change? And, yes, Baltimore, silver in dime and quarter values is a realistic base level currency along with common caliber ammunition. Diaper wipes and toilet paper, baby.
As a semi-serious coin collector, I have maintained a small collection of gold coins starting when I was a teenager. I like having them, and hope to pass them on to my daughter someday, but her reaction might well be WTF should I do with these things? They, and even bulk gold, are difficult assets to liquidate even by savvy investors, and would be even more so in an economic Armageddon for which many people want to buy and hoard precious metals. Pretty stuff, though.
An elderly friend at work said in Hungary after WWII, when currency collapsed (hyperinflation), that his mother clipped off an inch or two of a gold chain, such as woman's jewelry necklace that held a locket. She would give it to grocery store owner and he let her run a tab for food for her family for a couple weeks.
He advised small amounts of gold were more useful. Possibly small to medium amounts of silver (poor man's gold).
Water is the most valuable resource. Without it we die.
And a desperately thirsty person would give up a few gold bars for a 17-ounce bottle!
My only serious disagreement with this article is the assertion that gold "doesn’t perform as well as other assets like real estate or bonds." True, but it's irrelevant, because it's a false comparison. Real estate and bonds are investments, not merely assets: they are expected to produce a return. Your car is an asset, too, but no one would consider it an investment. No one should consider gold an investment, either: it doesn't pay interest or dividends or rent, and even if you sell it for a nominal "profit" in dollars, that will generally represent little more than the price inflation that occurred since you bought it. Gold is a store of value--the best and most proven store of value in human history. Silver is a close second. To echo "Sumdood's" point: In 1962, you could buy a gallon of gasoline for a quarter. That quarter contained .20 ounce of silver. After 1964, the U.S. stopped minting silver quarters and dimes. That 1962 quarter today still buys a gallon of gas--and you'd get about a dollar in change, to boot. That's a store of value.
Let's not go overboard. Gold and silver have been a useful medium of exchange since before the Greeks and Romans rose to power so it never hurts to have some stocked away pending whatever unforeseen disaster awaits. A few silver dollars and some small gold coins might just help you survive an Electro-Magnetic Pulse until civilization is restored but there is no way you will be able to get into a safe deposit box come the apocalypse. Gold and silver are heavy. You better also buy a shotgun and a mule if you are thinking quantity. Your HOA won't be pleased!
Nobody will buy gold in a catastrophic event. Why would they? Stock up on lots of what you would need to survive in the unlikely event of a true catastrophe. If stuff hits the fan, you can be sure people will trade anything for food and water, guns and bullets, and booze and tobacco. Not necessarily in that order.
In a true apocalyptic scenario- people absolutely would trade Gold. It’s precisely useful in that scenario. But also, it looks and feels great and it’s cool to own.
Gold is just another commodity and these people are buying at the top of the market. Strategic metals such as copper are probably better investments. That said the long term trend for gold has always been up
Saying is you can always buy a good suit and a quality revolver with an ounce of gold and that is still true today
I feel bad for the poor saps who are taking advice from "a financial adviser in the L.A. area who tells his clients to carve out 3 percent of their portfolios for gold"
What was the cost to escape Communist Vietnam in the 70s? —a gold leaf or gold tael, around 1.2 Troy ounces.
It’s not a great for an investment. Gold is a great hedge in uncertain times.
Well, because of the MAGA Christo-fascist Cult, most of them want to usher in the "Rapture" and ensuing "Tribulation" time, mostly for the evil Liberals, but, see, if any of them don't make it in the Rapture, or can't grab onto a 'Christian's' leg as they rise into the sky, I think the book of Revelation instructs them that only Gold will be a bargaining chip for food, water, shelter...oh and your life.
I heard it all growing up Southern Baptist in the 70's and 80s, culminating with an actual book we studied in our Sunday School class...get ready: "Christ Returns by 1983" Lots of talk, oddly, about investing in Gold so if the rapture came after the tribulation period, we 'Christians' would be okay as we'd have gold to bargain with.
I'm still pissed over that. I want my money back and I'll never get back those Joan Jett tickets I bought in 1983, after our pastor told us "would you want to be seen at a rock concert when Christ comes back? It is 1983." bwahahaha
Yeah, my life was an actual episode of "Freaks and Geeks" as I surely didn't care about the soul of the high school friend I sold my tickets to, lol... but how tragically hilarious was my "walk of shame" the following Monday at school
Christo-fascist BS since before 1983 and beyond!
Now are the vending machines at every Costco? (asking for a friend)
Christ returns in 1983 sounds a bit like Al Gores inconvient truth. Was it Miami underwater by 2010. Religions can’t live with them can’t live without them
I grew up Southern Baptist in the same time frame, three different churches, and I never heard of the 1983 thing. Maybe I was asleep or hung over during those lessons.
Lucky you! lol
It's 2008-2009 all over again. I could have been reading (and indeed, I did) the near exact same article in 2010. I guess gold & silver stacking, prepping, and homesteading are making a come back.... and Armageddon is always right around the corner.
I remember hearing the story of a refugee family where the husband who was a tailor sewed a small bag of diamonds behind his wife's ear.
If shit *truly* hits the fan, what good will your gold bars do you? Can you eat them?
Those gold bars won't do you a damn bit of good until some rebuilding happens. Until a barter society decides it's time to use coinage again. And at that point you'll have to figure out a way to melt your bars down into small enough pieces to make purchases.
In the run-up to Y2K, I was pondering this problem, and I came to the conclusion that the best investment (if I were going to make one) would be cartons and cartons of cigarettes. A cigarette would give me a lot more useful bartering value in a world of desperate nicotine addicts than a gold bar would.
Cigarettes! Yes. I have a friend who's mom was a child in 1939 when the Soviets took the eastern half of Poland. The town leaders were all executed including his grandfather. His grandmother and mother were packing up after surrendering their house to a Soviet army general officer, who felt badly for them. He wrote a "letter of protection" informing all soldiers they had better keep their hands off of the grandmother's huge duffle of toilet paper. In the work camp the toilet paper was traded to guards who rolled cigarettes with it. In return the little girl was fed well enough to survive until their release.
Cigarettes were the currency of choice in 1980s Romania. For some reason, Kent was the brand everybody used.
I thought about investing in precious metals many times over the years. But I could never figure out how I would sell it when the need arises. I mean where I will take it and how. If it is kept in a bank safe deposit box, it is possible banks will collapse at the time of crises. Also, it is heavy. Does not seem practical, but maybe I am missing something.
Buy coins.
Considering how few people smoke these days, I'd go with whiskey and other alcoholic beverages over cigs. Also, about those bars - people who prep for a collapse buy small units, such as gold grams or silver rounds. The bigger units are good insurance in the case where fiat currencies are collapsing but wouldn't do a lot of good in a true shit-hits-the-fan scenario as you rightly assessed.
I guess it depends on where you live. Here in the Midwest, smoking is still a very popular habit that kids tend to pick up early, so as to look "grown-up" or "cool" to their friends, without the slightest consideration of what the consequences of getting addicted to nicotine will be.
Celia, may I refer you to R.A. Radford's paper on how cigarettes were used as currency in a WWII POW camp: https://fermatslibrary.com/s/the-economic-organization-of-a-pow-camp
Fascinating piece that illustrates a variety of monetary/economic concepts, written in plain English. Really, this should be on the syllabus of every Econ 101 class.
(I've also heard that beer has been used as a means of trade during natural disasters like hurricanes, but I wonder how you're supposed to keep it cold. Hard liquor is probably a far more useful item due to ease of storage.)
Whatever one holds for prepping / worst case purposes, the reality is that SHTF probably within 3 days of the incipient event (no food in stores or gas etc). From there, figure 2-3 months max for civil order to be restored or else it’s lights out. The idea one can live on rice, beans and bottled water longer than that seems unrealistic. Maybe several thousand souls who have the skills, land to support agriculture, shelter / heat, and luck. We all need civil order.
And then there are those of us with all of the above. Fortuitous in my case as I simply cannot abide living in cities or large towns, and I’ve raised livestock and grown food for decades because I like to do so.
Say, uh, can you send your GPS coordinates? I have some gold to barter with. (Joking) 😅
I figure between food and the ability to make warm clothes out of almost anything with only my hands and feet, I’ll have all the gold before too long!
Oh and my uncle has a small distillery and the supplies and equipment to reload shells. I think we’ve got the fundamentals. 😊
Exactly this.
My takeaway on this article is people are nervous. Lots of people. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, lots of degrees or a high school drop out - there is a sense that something is not right and folks are hedging their bets and investing in gold, silver, art etc. Passports are hot now because that nervousness goes beyond economic uncertainty. It’s a sign many want to be able to get out.
This is not a party thing. This is a human survival thing. V.