Another invasive law has passed in the US which states that any payments to a vendor of more than USD$600 will have to be reported to the IRS. I am anticipating that more and more material about this law will start appearing on the internet and in the press. This law will affect virtually everyone in the US who has business to business dealings. It could well lay the groundwork for a VAT tax similar to that in the UK and Europe or GST in NZ. This law could reignite fears that the US government could confiscate gold. This would make the government aware of its citizens gold transactions and make it more prone to confiscation.
Traditionally, precious metals dealing have provided a last haven of non-reportable financial transactions. With this current legislation, the status of gold and silver as an anonymous purchase is breached.
What can you do about it if you are a US citizen and you still want to buy gold and silver?
1. Use dips in the gold price to top off your portfolio before the 2012 proposed implementation date of this law
2. Document your purchases so that, should you ever be dragged in to explain the source of funds you used to buy your gold in a subsequent sale, once the regulation is in place, you are ready with the answer
3. Consider opening a safety deposit box at a reputable Canadian bank, then make occasional gold buying/storage trips up north or if you have relatives or friends in other countries, consider having them buy and store your gold for you.
My advice is that no matter where you live, you need to be aware of new legislation that could affect the safety of your ownership of precious metals. As our monetary system worsens, governments will be looking for all kinds of sneaky ways in which they can rob us of our wealth.
If you would like a personal consultation about how to protect your wealth during these uncertain times, please don't hesitate to get in touch: www.financemoneybusiness.com
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Gold at new all time highs - where to from here?
In Dubai, a hotel has installed a vending machine for their clients to buy gold instantly. Prices are electronically displayed and change as the price of gold fluctuates during trading hours. Many European cities have made it more accessible for the average citizen to purchase gold. However, has gold become mainstream yet? Not really. Most people don’t know how to buy gold, what to buy, where to get it from, what the premiums are, who should store it…..instead they put their money into banks, stock markets, pension funds, mutual funds….indeed all “paper” assets. These paper assets eventually, in this environment of spiralling debt, may well become worthless. Gold has been a store of value for thousands of years. The Central Banks are buying up gold. For those of you who have not yet bought some gold, consider have a portion of your wealth in gold bullion just in case the whole system goes belly up.
Clients are asking me whether maybe its time to sell because gold has reached such a high level. My view is that with the uncertainties in Europe, from Greece, to Portugal, Spain and Ireland, the bankruptcy of at least 30 states in the US, the plummeting of the British currency and the ballooning of debts worldwide, we are far from complete with the current economic crisis. Some experts are predicting a huge drop in the price of gold – and indeed, I think we will see tremendous volatility in the months to come. However, for each fall, we will see even greater rises. Even at $1229 at the time of writing this blog, to some this seems very high. But it is likely we will look back on this figure and see it as a cheap entry into a metal that will continue to skyrocket.
If you don’t have to sell your gold, don’t. Stay the course. It will go to $1500 and beyond. This is just the beginning.
Clients are asking me whether maybe its time to sell because gold has reached such a high level. My view is that with the uncertainties in Europe, from Greece, to Portugal, Spain and Ireland, the bankruptcy of at least 30 states in the US, the plummeting of the British currency and the ballooning of debts worldwide, we are far from complete with the current economic crisis. Some experts are predicting a huge drop in the price of gold – and indeed, I think we will see tremendous volatility in the months to come. However, for each fall, we will see even greater rises. Even at $1229 at the time of writing this blog, to some this seems very high. But it is likely we will look back on this figure and see it as a cheap entry into a metal that will continue to skyrocket.
If you don’t have to sell your gold, don’t. Stay the course. It will go to $1500 and beyond. This is just the beginning.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Dow over 11000 – is this a bubble or will it crash??
This is the question on the minds of many of my clients and students. There is no doubt that few thought that stock markets around the world would make such strong rallies. And these rallies are far from over. Vast amounts of money have been pumped into the system and I would expect the rallies to continue for several more months. The question is, when do you get out? There will be those who are experienced speculators and they will know when to take their money out. However, those who have been lured back into the stock markets due to low interest rates on savings worldwide, may find they are in for a huge shock. At some point, the markets will go down considerably, and those who have put their faith into a financial advisor, unit trust, mutual fund….may find that they are caught short and that they lose most of their capital. This is my greatest concern in the months to come. Those with experience and those who watch the markets avidly and research their results carefully, will probably do very well out of the extreme volatility to come. Those who rely on others for their information, who give over responsibility for their hard-earned savings to institutions would do well to consider having at least a portion of their wealth in physical gold and silver.
There is no currency that I can identify in monetary history that has been able to put up with the abuse the USD has had without a major currency crisis happening, a major devaluation. I expect this to happen within the next couple of years.
Just over a year ago, my target for gold was USD$2000 per ounce, now it is over $3000 per ounce. Even now, people are not waking up to the possibility of high inflation eroding their savings and assets.
Silver is more rare than gold and is so cheap at the moment – just $17.67 at the time of writing. Bearing in mind that silver went up to $50 an ounce in the 1980’s, surely it will go well above that in these turbulent times.
So please, if you have not already done so, get a small amount of gold and silver to protect yourself for the future upheavals in our global financial systems.
There is no currency that I can identify in monetary history that has been able to put up with the abuse the USD has had without a major currency crisis happening, a major devaluation. I expect this to happen within the next couple of years.
Just over a year ago, my target for gold was USD$2000 per ounce, now it is over $3000 per ounce. Even now, people are not waking up to the possibility of high inflation eroding their savings and assets.
Silver is more rare than gold and is so cheap at the moment – just $17.67 at the time of writing. Bearing in mind that silver went up to $50 an ounce in the 1980’s, surely it will go well above that in these turbulent times.
So please, if you have not already done so, get a small amount of gold and silver to protect yourself for the future upheavals in our global financial systems.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The Greek Financial Crisis - What's Happening Around the World?
The Greek Financial Crisis – Which Country Is Next?
It seems to be only a matter of time before all the currencies of the world become worthless. As they say, history repeats itself, and paper currencies have never survived in the past, so what makes you think they will survive today?
In the midst of global upheaval, massive and growing indebtedness, low interest rates and more speculative bubbles on the way, the vulnerability of fiat money grows by the day. And the average person still seems to be unaware of the possible consequences of this.
As governments keep on bailing out the banks, as countries and states have to be bailed out, where will it all end? Whoever thought that governments would support the idea that banks are “too big to fail?” I can understand that in connection with the utilitarian purposes of banks which is to provide a service to people so that they can exchange goods and services more easily. It’s a bit like the utility companies so they say, where we need to have electricity and gas, so the government steps in and bails them out if they get into trouble.
However, what about the speculative ventures of these huge financial institutions? Should taxpayers really have to come in and bail out these so-called financial wizards who have continued to risk their investor’s money in huge speculative deals that have gone bad? This cannot be right, but again, the average person doesn’t have a deep understanding of what is going on and in some ways although we haven’t got a physical war in most western countries, there is a war going on against us which is about robbing us blind through inflation, which reduces our purchasing power, through luring us into more debt through low interest rates, through tempting people who rely on interest on their savings into more speculative investments…it goes on and on and whilst the sheeple are still asleep and listening to mainstream media to idiotic statements like “the jobless recovery” and believing that we are coming out of a recession, nothing much will change and millions of people will lose huge amounts of their wealth overnight.
It’s happening folks. I was a bit too young to see what went on in my own family. My father took out an insurance policy in the 1950’s which would pay out $2000 25 years later. This was enough money to buy a house outright. He paid in faithfully year after year, but he wasn’t savvy enough to see that there was high inflation on the horizon, and he continued to pay into his policy. When it came to maturity, that $2000 wouldn’t even give him a 10% down payment on a property. All his wealth had been eroded. He never really recovered.
And we have a similar situation today. We are on the verge of economic breakdown, the powers that be are frantically trying to hold everything together, but sooner or later, as we all know, there are consequences for our actions.
This is going to get much much worse. Try to prepare for it.
I have written a book “handbook for surviving the global financial crisis” – just a pocketbook sized publication to give you tips so you can not only survive but thrive in the coming changes.
Remember, get out of debt, don’t do anything speculative unless you really know what you are doing, get some physical gold and silver if you haven’t already done so, and store some supplies of food and water in case of an emergency.
It’s advisable to take action sooner rather than later – once a panic starts it will be much more difficult to get supplies. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
It seems to be only a matter of time before all the currencies of the world become worthless. As they say, history repeats itself, and paper currencies have never survived in the past, so what makes you think they will survive today?
In the midst of global upheaval, massive and growing indebtedness, low interest rates and more speculative bubbles on the way, the vulnerability of fiat money grows by the day. And the average person still seems to be unaware of the possible consequences of this.
As governments keep on bailing out the banks, as countries and states have to be bailed out, where will it all end? Whoever thought that governments would support the idea that banks are “too big to fail?” I can understand that in connection with the utilitarian purposes of banks which is to provide a service to people so that they can exchange goods and services more easily. It’s a bit like the utility companies so they say, where we need to have electricity and gas, so the government steps in and bails them out if they get into trouble.
However, what about the speculative ventures of these huge financial institutions? Should taxpayers really have to come in and bail out these so-called financial wizards who have continued to risk their investor’s money in huge speculative deals that have gone bad? This cannot be right, but again, the average person doesn’t have a deep understanding of what is going on and in some ways although we haven’t got a physical war in most western countries, there is a war going on against us which is about robbing us blind through inflation, which reduces our purchasing power, through luring us into more debt through low interest rates, through tempting people who rely on interest on their savings into more speculative investments…it goes on and on and whilst the sheeple are still asleep and listening to mainstream media to idiotic statements like “the jobless recovery” and believing that we are coming out of a recession, nothing much will change and millions of people will lose huge amounts of their wealth overnight.
It’s happening folks. I was a bit too young to see what went on in my own family. My father took out an insurance policy in the 1950’s which would pay out $2000 25 years later. This was enough money to buy a house outright. He paid in faithfully year after year, but he wasn’t savvy enough to see that there was high inflation on the horizon, and he continued to pay into his policy. When it came to maturity, that $2000 wouldn’t even give him a 10% down payment on a property. All his wealth had been eroded. He never really recovered.
And we have a similar situation today. We are on the verge of economic breakdown, the powers that be are frantically trying to hold everything together, but sooner or later, as we all know, there are consequences for our actions.
This is going to get much much worse. Try to prepare for it.
I have written a book “handbook for surviving the global financial crisis” – just a pocketbook sized publication to give you tips so you can not only survive but thrive in the coming changes.
Remember, get out of debt, don’t do anything speculative unless you really know what you are doing, get some physical gold and silver if you haven’t already done so, and store some supplies of food and water in case of an emergency.
It’s advisable to take action sooner rather than later – once a panic starts it will be much more difficult to get supplies. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Understanding your finances
So much is written about our money, our economy, markets, productivity, wages, salaries, bankers, bonuses, riches and poverty – how do we wade through this quagmire of data to find the nuggets of information that can transform and help us in our everyday lives?
Who is right? Is anyone right?
In the midst of online arguments between such “greats” as Robert Kiyosaki of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and Suze Orman, a financial coach and author – criticizing one another’s approaches to money and finance; in the midst of countries like Iceland, Ireland and Greece being bankrupt to whole states in the US such as California and Michigan being on the verge of bankruptcy – what can you as the average person do?
Here are some simple rules of thumb which can help guide you through:
1. Don’t believe all you see and hear in the media. Most everyone has an agenda and you must analyse carefully the information they are giving. For example, recently, George Soros publicly announced that gold was in a bubble and was likely to fall in price soon. The minute he did this, the price of gold did fall and he was reported to have purchased a huge amount of gold at the cheaper price.
2. With any books you read, remember that no one person has all the answers, and what they are writing about – whilst it may appeal to the majority – may not be applicable or relevant to your personal situation.
3. Most of us don’t like change, but in the current economic climate, we need to be ready to turn on a dime. Governments around the world are bringing in new laws every week, laws are changing on taxes, employment…you need to stay abreast of these changes in order to be one step ahead of possible disaster.
4. Be conservative. Make sure you have planned for the worst. Ensure you have at least six months living expenses in cash, six months food and water stored up and some physical gold and silver. Pay off all your debts and only if you have some money left over after all this preparation, should you consider investing in more risky ventures such as stock markets or property. I have so many clients who want to be full time traders on the stock market. They seem to see it as a quick way to get rich. I see too many people losing more than they can afford and they unnecessarily put their families and homes in jeopardy. Best to play it safe. Life moves in cycles – as long as you are in tune with the cycle, then you can benefit from the changes. If you go against that trend, then you may end up in severe financial difficulties.
Who is right? Is anyone right?
In the midst of online arguments between such “greats” as Robert Kiyosaki of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and Suze Orman, a financial coach and author – criticizing one another’s approaches to money and finance; in the midst of countries like Iceland, Ireland and Greece being bankrupt to whole states in the US such as California and Michigan being on the verge of bankruptcy – what can you as the average person do?
Here are some simple rules of thumb which can help guide you through:
1. Don’t believe all you see and hear in the media. Most everyone has an agenda and you must analyse carefully the information they are giving. For example, recently, George Soros publicly announced that gold was in a bubble and was likely to fall in price soon. The minute he did this, the price of gold did fall and he was reported to have purchased a huge amount of gold at the cheaper price.
2. With any books you read, remember that no one person has all the answers, and what they are writing about – whilst it may appeal to the majority – may not be applicable or relevant to your personal situation.
3. Most of us don’t like change, but in the current economic climate, we need to be ready to turn on a dime. Governments around the world are bringing in new laws every week, laws are changing on taxes, employment…you need to stay abreast of these changes in order to be one step ahead of possible disaster.
4. Be conservative. Make sure you have planned for the worst. Ensure you have at least six months living expenses in cash, six months food and water stored up and some physical gold and silver. Pay off all your debts and only if you have some money left over after all this preparation, should you consider investing in more risky ventures such as stock markets or property. I have so many clients who want to be full time traders on the stock market. They seem to see it as a quick way to get rich. I see too many people losing more than they can afford and they unnecessarily put their families and homes in jeopardy. Best to play it safe. Life moves in cycles – as long as you are in tune with the cycle, then you can benefit from the changes. If you go against that trend, then you may end up in severe financial difficulties.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Economic Recovery or Economic Collapse?
The media would have us believe that we are just about to come out of recession and very soon we will be on the road to recovery. Yet, I speak to more and more people who are feeling very uneasy about the situation in their respective countries. From the US, to Europe, to Hong Kong, to China, India and Japan, to Russia, Australia and New Zealand, people all over the world are feeling the pinch and cannot bring themselves to trust their politicians and their bankers.
So what is the situation? Of course, there are extremes of opinion on both sides. From Gerald Celente who spoke of the Panic of 2008, the Collapse of 2009 and the Total Breakdown of 2010 to governments around the world who are talking up the economy and the end of the housing collapse and the bright future ahead of us. While at the same time, these governments are cutting costs as never before, we have states like California, Michigan and others that are bankrupt and having to issue IOU’s to their employees; in the UK the cost-cutting measures to public services are the most drastic for decades. The US promised to kerb their deficits, yet within a few months the deficit has gone from 9 trillion dollars to over 13 trillion.
So isn’t the writing on the wall? Shouldn’t we be taking notice and starting to prepare for a possible total breakdown of world economy and trade?
In my opinion, there is much worse to come and it is best to be prepared physically, emotionally and mentally. Even if things turn out to be much better than I outline here, then your preparations will not have been in vain – you will just have a store of goods that you can use at your leisure and you will probably have bought them at greatly reduced prices.
Here are my top tips:
- get yourself out of paper currencies. That means if you have all your money in a bank, make sure that you put some of it into gold and silver. That doesn’t mean paper gold and silver as in stocks and shares – it means the actual coins and bars.
- start storing up paper goods, toiletries, canned foods, dehydrated foods, water
- make sure you have at least one other form of heating and lighting that doesn’t depend on electricity
- get a wind-up radio. With the increased threats of tsunamis, earthquakes and tornadoes it is wise to have a radio that you can take with you so that if you have to evacuate your home, you can keep up to date with current events
- connect with people in your community and start to grow your own food and become as self-sufficient as you possibly can
Hold onto your hats because the economy is likely to tumble severely towards the fall of 2010. We haven’t seen the half of it yet. I wish you and your loved ones the best of luck. Take care.
So what is the situation? Of course, there are extremes of opinion on both sides. From Gerald Celente who spoke of the Panic of 2008, the Collapse of 2009 and the Total Breakdown of 2010 to governments around the world who are talking up the economy and the end of the housing collapse and the bright future ahead of us. While at the same time, these governments are cutting costs as never before, we have states like California, Michigan and others that are bankrupt and having to issue IOU’s to their employees; in the UK the cost-cutting measures to public services are the most drastic for decades. The US promised to kerb their deficits, yet within a few months the deficit has gone from 9 trillion dollars to over 13 trillion.
So isn’t the writing on the wall? Shouldn’t we be taking notice and starting to prepare for a possible total breakdown of world economy and trade?
In my opinion, there is much worse to come and it is best to be prepared physically, emotionally and mentally. Even if things turn out to be much better than I outline here, then your preparations will not have been in vain – you will just have a store of goods that you can use at your leisure and you will probably have bought them at greatly reduced prices.
Here are my top tips:
- get yourself out of paper currencies. That means if you have all your money in a bank, make sure that you put some of it into gold and silver. That doesn’t mean paper gold and silver as in stocks and shares – it means the actual coins and bars.
- start storing up paper goods, toiletries, canned foods, dehydrated foods, water
- make sure you have at least one other form of heating and lighting that doesn’t depend on electricity
- get a wind-up radio. With the increased threats of tsunamis, earthquakes and tornadoes it is wise to have a radio that you can take with you so that if you have to evacuate your home, you can keep up to date with current events
- connect with people in your community and start to grow your own food and become as self-sufficient as you possibly can
Hold onto your hats because the economy is likely to tumble severely towards the fall of 2010. We haven’t seen the half of it yet. I wish you and your loved ones the best of luck. Take care.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Silver - how and when to buy it? Will it go up in value?
Look in your change purse, do you see any gold coins? Chances are, the answer is no. Now look in your change purse and see if there are any silver coins. Chances are, you have lots of them. And that may be the difference between why gold looks more valuable than silver. Of course there are deeper issues why gold is more valuable than silver, but just on the surface, how frequently do we run across gold coins as opposed to how frequently we run across silver coins, silver looks almost inconsequential. But are we giving silver enough credit for being a valuable element? In our everyday life do we think about the innumerable uses for silver? When we look at the electronics in our homes, do we ever stop to think that silver is used in our laptops, our pc’s our cellphones, our stereo equipment, our medical devices, our mirrors, our silverware, our cameras and photographic equipment, for solar energy, water purification… chances are we don’t give this a thought. For utilitarian purposes, silver should be far more valuable than gold. The reality, however, is just the opposite. Historically, silver has been one twelfth the value of gold. In China, during the Ming Dynasty, silver rose to a quarter of the value of gold, and during Egyptian times, gold and silver were of equal value. In January 1979, gold was at $210.00 an ounce, while silver was at $5.90 an ounce. This meant that gold was 35 times the value of silver i.e. it took 35 silver coins to buy one gold coin.
In January 1980 both gold and silver peaked. Gold went to $850.00 an ounce while silver rose to over $50.00 an ounce. So by the beginning of 1980, it only took 17 ounces of silver to buy one ounce of gold.
Today, however, in February 2010, gold is at $1089 an ounce while silver is just over $15.00 an ounce – so it takes over 70 silver coins to buy just one ounce of gold.
Most silver supplies do not come from silver mining operations. Silver is generally a by-product of mining for gold, lead, zinc and copper. Silver producers actually only produce about 25% of the total silver production, so if you could freeze the demand for silver where it is today, and the silver producers were able to double their production capacity, it would take at least fifteen or twenty years to get the silver stocks back to the levels they were at in 1990.
When you look in your change purse and you see a lot of silver coins, you say to yourself, there’s a tremendous amount of silver in the world. And that’s why silver is so cheap. However, the reverse is true. It’s almost like an optical illusion where we think silver is so plentiful, but the reality is that silver is very scarce. In the United States until 1964, quarters and dimes were made of 90% silver. Starting with 1964, those same silver coins are now being made of copper, zinc and tin.
As of this writing, silver is being very seriously undervalued and the small investor can get in very very cheaply between and $15 and $19 an ounce before commission. But don’t expect silver to stay at these low prices. Due to the scarcity of this metal, it will probably soar in value in the not too distant future. And the investor can use it either as a hedge against the failing economy or to get a remarkable return on his investment.
So in what quantities should you buy your silver? The small investor would do better buying the one ounce silver coins rather than the 10 ounce or 100 ounce silver bars. If paper money becomes worthless and banks fail, the small investor has more of a chance of purchasing household necessities with one ounce silver coins than with 10 ounce or 100 ounce bars of silver.
The thing to watch out for with many of the dealers is their shipping times. If someone has a very long shipping time, be very careful. Coin dealers have been known to go bankrupt as they take risks. If they are sending you the coins by mail, make sure you tell the coin dealer to insure them and have you sign for the package. If possible, take out cash from your bank, go to your coin dealer, pick up the coins and have them in your hot little hand. If not, try to find someone who is reputable, ask around. There are websites that you can buy silver from – but you can never be sure, because the only way to have it is in your possession.
However, if you are buying silver over the internet, don’t buy everything from one dealer if you can help it. In smaller countries there are only a few dealers so your choice may be limited, but somewhere like the US, there are many dealers so you will have a choice. There are no restrictions as to how much you can buy and as of this writing, there is no taxation in these coins and they never lose their intrinsic value. There are no restrictions as to how much you can buy and as of this writing, there is no taxation in these coins and they never lose their intrinsic value. From generation to generation, to century to century, from civilisation to civilisation, to all parts of the world, to every culture, to all of humankind, gold and silver have been and always will be a negotiable commodity and a store of value.
The issue with silver is storage because it is bulky and heavy. Security may be an issue so think in terms of where you could hide that amount of coins. On a humorous note, there was an ad for a wooden box marked coins. In hard times, just visualise someone coming into your house, seeing the box marked coins and just walking off with it. If you’re going to store gold and silver coins, try to be a whole lot less obvious.
Financial advisor, Michael Maloney, says in his book “Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver”
“For 5000 years, gold and silver have been the only assets that have never failed. Because they are tangible assets of inherent value their purchasing power will never fall to zero. They are financial assets that can be completely private and not part of the financial system. Although you have to declare any capital gains on your tax return in many countries, it is still a private investment. Real estate, on the other hand requires the financial system to transfer title. Gold and silver do not.”
Financial advisors seldom advise their clients to buy gold and silver because they don’t make any commission as they do with stocks, mutual funds, unit trusts and pensions. For the small investor, this is a blessing. He gets to eliminate the middleman. At this writing, there isn’t a long way that silver can fall and the logical assumption is that it can only go up. If ever there was a need to protect yourself against a failing economy, the time is now. And if ever there was an optimum time to buy silver, that time is now.
In January 1980 both gold and silver peaked. Gold went to $850.00 an ounce while silver rose to over $50.00 an ounce. So by the beginning of 1980, it only took 17 ounces of silver to buy one ounce of gold.
Today, however, in February 2010, gold is at $1089 an ounce while silver is just over $15.00 an ounce – so it takes over 70 silver coins to buy just one ounce of gold.
Most silver supplies do not come from silver mining operations. Silver is generally a by-product of mining for gold, lead, zinc and copper. Silver producers actually only produce about 25% of the total silver production, so if you could freeze the demand for silver where it is today, and the silver producers were able to double their production capacity, it would take at least fifteen or twenty years to get the silver stocks back to the levels they were at in 1990.
When you look in your change purse and you see a lot of silver coins, you say to yourself, there’s a tremendous amount of silver in the world. And that’s why silver is so cheap. However, the reverse is true. It’s almost like an optical illusion where we think silver is so plentiful, but the reality is that silver is very scarce. In the United States until 1964, quarters and dimes were made of 90% silver. Starting with 1964, those same silver coins are now being made of copper, zinc and tin.
As of this writing, silver is being very seriously undervalued and the small investor can get in very very cheaply between and $15 and $19 an ounce before commission. But don’t expect silver to stay at these low prices. Due to the scarcity of this metal, it will probably soar in value in the not too distant future. And the investor can use it either as a hedge against the failing economy or to get a remarkable return on his investment.
So in what quantities should you buy your silver? The small investor would do better buying the one ounce silver coins rather than the 10 ounce or 100 ounce silver bars. If paper money becomes worthless and banks fail, the small investor has more of a chance of purchasing household necessities with one ounce silver coins than with 10 ounce or 100 ounce bars of silver.
The thing to watch out for with many of the dealers is their shipping times. If someone has a very long shipping time, be very careful. Coin dealers have been known to go bankrupt as they take risks. If they are sending you the coins by mail, make sure you tell the coin dealer to insure them and have you sign for the package. If possible, take out cash from your bank, go to your coin dealer, pick up the coins and have them in your hot little hand. If not, try to find someone who is reputable, ask around. There are websites that you can buy silver from – but you can never be sure, because the only way to have it is in your possession.
However, if you are buying silver over the internet, don’t buy everything from one dealer if you can help it. In smaller countries there are only a few dealers so your choice may be limited, but somewhere like the US, there are many dealers so you will have a choice. There are no restrictions as to how much you can buy and as of this writing, there is no taxation in these coins and they never lose their intrinsic value. There are no restrictions as to how much you can buy and as of this writing, there is no taxation in these coins and they never lose their intrinsic value. From generation to generation, to century to century, from civilisation to civilisation, to all parts of the world, to every culture, to all of humankind, gold and silver have been and always will be a negotiable commodity and a store of value.
The issue with silver is storage because it is bulky and heavy. Security may be an issue so think in terms of where you could hide that amount of coins. On a humorous note, there was an ad for a wooden box marked coins. In hard times, just visualise someone coming into your house, seeing the box marked coins and just walking off with it. If you’re going to store gold and silver coins, try to be a whole lot less obvious.
Financial advisor, Michael Maloney, says in his book “Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver”
“For 5000 years, gold and silver have been the only assets that have never failed. Because they are tangible assets of inherent value their purchasing power will never fall to zero. They are financial assets that can be completely private and not part of the financial system. Although you have to declare any capital gains on your tax return in many countries, it is still a private investment. Real estate, on the other hand requires the financial system to transfer title. Gold and silver do not.”
Financial advisors seldom advise their clients to buy gold and silver because they don’t make any commission as they do with stocks, mutual funds, unit trusts and pensions. For the small investor, this is a blessing. He gets to eliminate the middleman. At this writing, there isn’t a long way that silver can fall and the logical assumption is that it can only go up. If ever there was a need to protect yourself against a failing economy, the time is now. And if ever there was an optimum time to buy silver, that time is now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
