Investments II
Last week I looked at some basic investing, food, ammo, etc. This week we are going to look at a couple of mor valuable investments. Silver, gold and land are the three things I will talk about here.
My first suggestion is to invest in silver. Why silver and not gold? There are several reasons that silver is a better investment than gold for the average survivalist. First of all, if you stick to pre 1964 coins, they are very familiar to people. They do not look much different than today's coins. However, you can easially spot the difference and there is a known amount of silver in each coin. Secondally, they are affordable. I personally feel that these are the coins that will be needed to do business if our present illegal Federal Reserve Notes become worthless. Pre 1964, non-numismatic coins can be had for just over the value of the silver in them. This makes it very easy to figure out what they are worth. If silver is selling for $5 per ounce, the most you should be paying for four quarters is $6. That is a twenty percent markup and should be about the most a reputable dealer will ask. Actually, the range is from ten to twenty percent and by shopping around you may be able to get an even better deal. I would concentrate on dimes and quarters. My own coins consist of mostly dimes and quarters with just a few half dollars. Halves are not as popular as dimes and quarters. As to how many you should purchase, that is a personal decision. As I write this the price of silver is over $12 per ounce. This means all I purchased at $5 per ounce has more than doubled. I will probably purchase more as I have cash available. My personal feeling is that silver will top $50 per ounce and that still makes it cheap today. Once you have purchased what you feel is enough silver coins, you may want to purchase one ounce rounds or bars. These are easier to store than a lot of coins. Many are also easily recognized and have stampings on them that show their assay. Once again, purchase the common rounds and bars that have little or no collectors value. A good quanity of silver will probably get you through many survival situations.
Gold. While gold is an excellent investment, I do not believe it is best for average survivalists that are going to need day to day money to survive. Gold is at about $620 per ounce as I write this, so you can see that even the smallest coins or bars are going to be hard to use in a survival situation. One-tenth of an ounce of gold, which is the smallest increment they come in, is right now worth about $60 or more. Should the price of gold go to $1500 per ounce that one-tenth ounce coin would be worth $150. Thus, many people may have trouble selling you something that only cost a few bucks. They might not have enough for change. You could wind up paying much more for things because of that. Having said that, if you have all the silver you feel you will need, or if you are short of storage space, buy gold. Purchase various sizes of coins from the one-tenth of an ounce to the one ounce size. Again, only you can decide how much you need.
One more thing about both silver and gold, never, NEVER allow anyone to hold your gold or silver. Always take delivery of what you buy and store it in your home. Do not even store it in a safety deposit at the bank. Many companies that sell gold and silver offer to just send you a certificate and to deep the actual metal. They say this is to allow you to own more as you need not pay shipping and they say it is safer. I would personally rather use a cookie jar for gold storage than to let the selling company keep it for me. There is no guarantee that you could get it in an emergency. Get yourself a small safe or at least a locking, fireproof strongbox and keep your silver and gold there. Also, do not let some of these dealers to sell you collectors items unless you are already a collector and you know what you want.
My third suggestion is kind of contraversial in that many people do not consider it a survival investment. The investment is land and it is to be looked at a little different than other investments. For instance: I have five acres of land which I live on and which also consider my investment in land. Twenty years ago, when I was living in a suburb of Chicago, I had land in a remote area of Wisconsin as my investment land. When I felt I no longer needed it, I sold it, took the profit and bought silver. I still have one-fourth ownership in an acre of land 140 miles from where I live which I could use in an emergency. If you live in a city and need a place to get away or if you have all the silver and gold you feel you will need, invest in land. Where, how much, vacant or with buildings, all of these options are personal. Unless I talk to people one on one, there is no way I will suggest what you should do. Some of you that live in cities or other unsafe areas may want a piece of land where you can bury a stash of guns, ammo, food and other necessities for survival. I will be covering that in a later entry.
Well, there you have my idea of survival investing. Food, Ammo, Household items, Silver, Gold and Land. You do not really need to follow any paticular order. If you really feel you need a piece of land away from where you live, you might want to make that your first investment. Each survivalist has different circumstances and is looking to various scenarios. Your investing strategy should depend on your own situation. As I stated earlier, I have yet to have anyone lose money on my advice. A couple of them broke even but were happy to do so.
Coming next week, Making your survival plan.
My first suggestion is to invest in silver. Why silver and not gold? There are several reasons that silver is a better investment than gold for the average survivalist. First of all, if you stick to pre 1964 coins, they are very familiar to people. They do not look much different than today's coins. However, you can easially spot the difference and there is a known amount of silver in each coin. Secondally, they are affordable. I personally feel that these are the coins that will be needed to do business if our present illegal Federal Reserve Notes become worthless. Pre 1964, non-numismatic coins can be had for just over the value of the silver in them. This makes it very easy to figure out what they are worth. If silver is selling for $5 per ounce, the most you should be paying for four quarters is $6. That is a twenty percent markup and should be about the most a reputable dealer will ask. Actually, the range is from ten to twenty percent and by shopping around you may be able to get an even better deal. I would concentrate on dimes and quarters. My own coins consist of mostly dimes and quarters with just a few half dollars. Halves are not as popular as dimes and quarters. As to how many you should purchase, that is a personal decision. As I write this the price of silver is over $12 per ounce. This means all I purchased at $5 per ounce has more than doubled. I will probably purchase more as I have cash available. My personal feeling is that silver will top $50 per ounce and that still makes it cheap today. Once you have purchased what you feel is enough silver coins, you may want to purchase one ounce rounds or bars. These are easier to store than a lot of coins. Many are also easily recognized and have stampings on them that show their assay. Once again, purchase the common rounds and bars that have little or no collectors value. A good quanity of silver will probably get you through many survival situations.
Gold. While gold is an excellent investment, I do not believe it is best for average survivalists that are going to need day to day money to survive. Gold is at about $620 per ounce as I write this, so you can see that even the smallest coins or bars are going to be hard to use in a survival situation. One-tenth of an ounce of gold, which is the smallest increment they come in, is right now worth about $60 or more. Should the price of gold go to $1500 per ounce that one-tenth ounce coin would be worth $150. Thus, many people may have trouble selling you something that only cost a few bucks. They might not have enough for change. You could wind up paying much more for things because of that. Having said that, if you have all the silver you feel you will need, or if you are short of storage space, buy gold. Purchase various sizes of coins from the one-tenth of an ounce to the one ounce size. Again, only you can decide how much you need.
One more thing about both silver and gold, never, NEVER allow anyone to hold your gold or silver. Always take delivery of what you buy and store it in your home. Do not even store it in a safety deposit at the bank. Many companies that sell gold and silver offer to just send you a certificate and to deep the actual metal. They say this is to allow you to own more as you need not pay shipping and they say it is safer. I would personally rather use a cookie jar for gold storage than to let the selling company keep it for me. There is no guarantee that you could get it in an emergency. Get yourself a small safe or at least a locking, fireproof strongbox and keep your silver and gold there. Also, do not let some of these dealers to sell you collectors items unless you are already a collector and you know what you want.
My third suggestion is kind of contraversial in that many people do not consider it a survival investment. The investment is land and it is to be looked at a little different than other investments. For instance: I have five acres of land which I live on and which also consider my investment in land. Twenty years ago, when I was living in a suburb of Chicago, I had land in a remote area of Wisconsin as my investment land. When I felt I no longer needed it, I sold it, took the profit and bought silver. I still have one-fourth ownership in an acre of land 140 miles from where I live which I could use in an emergency. If you live in a city and need a place to get away or if you have all the silver and gold you feel you will need, invest in land. Where, how much, vacant or with buildings, all of these options are personal. Unless I talk to people one on one, there is no way I will suggest what you should do. Some of you that live in cities or other unsafe areas may want a piece of land where you can bury a stash of guns, ammo, food and other necessities for survival. I will be covering that in a later entry.
Well, there you have my idea of survival investing. Food, Ammo, Household items, Silver, Gold and Land. You do not really need to follow any paticular order. If you really feel you need a piece of land away from where you live, you might want to make that your first investment. Each survivalist has different circumstances and is looking to various scenarios. Your investing strategy should depend on your own situation. As I stated earlier, I have yet to have anyone lose money on my advice. A couple of them broke even but were happy to do so.
Coming next week, Making your survival plan.
posted by Knifeman | 7:58 PM
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