Im thinking of putting some of my money into silver coins (or bullion) maybe 3000$ worth (maybe more). Anyone think this is a good idea?

 

No. I've been watching the market for a while now as I'm into bullions aswell. I'm willing to bet that it's about to fall flat on it's face. Within the next couple years. Buy a shittone when it does. Right now, prices are the highest they've ever been.

 

So you saying with the government printing 800 billion dollars will not cause precious metals to rise?

 

If you are investing in it as a hedge for your normal portfolio, then it is fine, but not for an outright investment. It should never take more than 10% of total allocation of investments. That goes for all precious metals.

 

I bought some silver bullion about 2 years ago on a fire sale. Invested around $2000 into the bars and sold for $3000. I got a deal though. Was planning to just put them away for a rainy day.

If you have the cash, go for it.

 

I bought $5000 in silver back in 1985 (I think it was $8.65 oz). How much is it now?

 

27.85

 

Damn, I had no idea it was that high. I never look at the precious metals market.

Hmmm, that is about a three fold increase in 25 years. Rule of 72 @ 8% INT would give me $17 in 1994, $34 in 2003, $68 in 2012. OK, maybe that wasn't as good as I thought it was...

 

That's what the precious metal peddlers never tell you. All they can do is sell fear and talk about how many DOLLARS it's gone up. Is it up? Sure. If you got in in the last year or two you look brilliant (or lucky). Look at the longer trend (like your 25 years) and it isn't as rosy.

And before any metals guys get their panties in a bunch, take the same example of $5000 invested 25 years ago in the market. For instance, anyone want to hazard a guess how much $5000 in Microsoft in 85 (OK, at the March 13, 1986 IPO) would be worth today?

Well, $5000 bought you 238 shares (at $21.00 IPO) Each share is split adjusted 288 times now so you have 68,571 shares. It closed at $26.81 today so your $5000 investment is worth a paltry $1,838,400.00

Damn hindsight. Gets you every time.

 

I was talked out of buying $7,000 in Compaq back in the late 80's by my wife and a stock broker (he didn't like the idea of penny stocks). I probably would have sold it before it got that far but it had gone up 128X in about 3 years. I bought Seagate instead and sold it a few months later for a $700 profit.

 

https://www.miataturbo.net/stuff-sale-trade-70/90%25-silver-coins-53359/

 

working for a living is doing it wrong.

 

That is what drives me nuts about Goldline and all those other companies. They keep people fearful that their money is going to be worth nothing in the future and the only way to protect yourself is to invest in gold/precious metals. Then again, people just seem to be attracted to being fearful of something if not everything these days.

Yup. Invest early and smart and you will be set. LED TV's, New Cars, Big Houses, and expensive vactions twice a year have gotten in the way of that.

 

Anyone care to educate me on how to buy stocks? I'd like to get started with something like a $500 investment but I can't seem to find a "Buy it now" option, lol..

Sorry, don't mean to threadjack.

 

I'll give you the easy answer.

Don't.

Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't invest in a good mutual fund with a decent track record. That is the way to go.

But, picking individual stocks? Look at it this way. There are people that do this day in and day out for a living and even then they can and do get it wrong. For you or anyone else coming in stone cold to expect to "pick a winner", it's more like gambling than investing. Select a mutual fund and let the varied stocks in the fund balance out the risk.

The nice thing is that you should be able to set something up with a $500 minimum investment and then set it up to contribute as low as $100 a month drafted from your checking account.

The next thing is to NOT check on it every day. It makes you silly. If you want to check every quarter or so, that's fine but don't let daily swings make you panic. Let the averages work in your favor.

 

I use ETrade (probably cheaper places by $1-$2 out there) to set up a Roth account. Just log on to etrade, create an acct, sign the paperwork you print out and send it to them. You can call them and they are more than happy to show you how. I buy 2X funds from Rydex. An example is RYTNX which is suppose to give you 2x the performance of the S&P500. They charge large fees for this but if you believe the market is going to be up by the time you need the $$$ you might as well get double.

RYTNX vs S&P for 2 years. Notice how it tracks the S&P but swings more:



This is not a stock you want to own if you think the market is going down (because it will go down twice as fast). If you are a long term investor (say 30 years) this would be a good one to get into (IMHO). If you are going to buy individual stocks with your "investment" you probably have better odds going to Vegas. Don't do what 99.9% of us do when we first start out and blow all your money on BS stocks that a friend told you about or because you saw Jim Cramer say it was a good idea. Invest in SPYders or something simple like that with low fees. I can't remember who said it but the quote goes something like "the market is a good vehicle to take money from the impatient and give it to the patient". Don't be a dumb *** and learn this 20 years from now when you have pissed away $100,000.

 

Invest in fear, it's bound to increase forever.

 

Look for a low initial investment ETF (exchange traded fund) like a spyder. IShares has a bunch that are low fee, but unsure of the initial investment requirement.

 

I bet silver hits $30 by Feb, any takers? lol

 

Almost hit 30 this morning dropped back to 27.75 from 29.25.