Coins, a sound way to invest for retirement.

You could lose on any investment. The key is to diversify, as probably not all investments will lose at the same time, unless we deregulate everything and allow the thieves on Wall Street to run wild.

 

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you mean they are not doing that already?

 

I don't know why I opened the thread, read it, or am now replying. I think we're all really on the same page that collectibles are a terrible place to invest. It's true you can make a killing in coins but you're more likely to get killed.

This being said, I do believe that most investors should speculate with a small part of their investment dollars and this can be done buying IBM on leverage, selling sugar short, or buying coins in the short term. This is highly risky but in the modern economic climate it seems things that used to be considered safe havens are now risky as well. Diversification has always been key but "investment" in collectibles is not necessarily a component of even diversification.

I'm frequently reminded of an old joke on the Honeymooners; Ralph tells someone "may a rich uncle die and leave you a million dollars... ...in bus tokens.". Even if you are successfull in profiting in coins there can be numerous unexpected pitfalls. It might not happen in a timely fashion and then disposing of it might be extremely difficult.

Oddly enough bus tokens are one of my collections.

 

In Coin Investment is BUYING GRADED MS 70 or Proof 70 is a NIGHTMARES!.......Coin is NOT INVESTMENT ....HOBBY OF A KING! I love to collect because I enjoy it! When I am done collecting Pass it on to my Friend a very Wealthy Man to collect real MONEY! Investment? what evaaahhh..

 

That belongs in the "Most irritating words/phrases" thread.

 

OH NO you d'unt........

 

If the OP wants to invest in coins for retirement I'd recommend starting with this specific coin. It's price performance history is quite good. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1894-S-Barb...21?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item51aca84745

 

You're welcome. Please remember that preparation for the 50th anniversary of disco is only 12 years away. You'll be ready with albums, pants, and everything

 

Humans need beauty- be sure to make eye appeal a central feature of your investment

 

Indeed. Assuming it was acquired at face value in 1894, it has earned an annualized 15.4% return. OTOH, a common As from ~1970 years ago is going for about $5. Back then, 170 asses would buy 1 pound of pork, currently worth 92 cents. So, in 1,970 years, an as has increased in value 900-fold, for an annualized 0.346% return, in terms of pork ONLY.

 

Buy low and sell high.

Detecto if want a good investment pay off credit cards.
You save 18% a year and it only cost you 1%, if that much,
in savings interest. And what you save is not taxable,
as a person. Debt kills. Get out of it.

 

nice barb maybe dl should raffle that. now that would be a major numismatic event

 

Investment is nothing more than gambling.
Some will win more will lose.
I never think any coin i own will ever become worth much more than its face value and i do not collect coins for investmenti collect them because i enjoy the hobby and its always fun to see what you will find next.
I try to stay away from sites that sell coins as i am like anyone else i see coins i want and id buy them more than likely.
I stay with pocket change finds or metal detecting as all these finds are 100% free and the profit if any will be the same.
Coins should always be a hobby and never a get rich quick thing.

 

Wow! And to think that this dead horse gets beaten again and again every year. You'd think that red flags would slap you in the face every time this topic comes up. If Detecto was being flippant and starting another tongue-in-cheek thread, then more power to him, but I think that he was being serious. There are enough people around, I guess, that believe any of the "propaganda" that constantly makes the rounds. There are a couple solid thoughts to keep in mind when this topic comes up: 1) Never start spelling the word 'hobby' with the letters i-n-v-e-s-t. 2) You can't sell your coin to the annual price guide, regardless what it says.... you need an actual person with an open wallet. 3) There's a fool born every minute and some of them inhabit this site.

 

Well, some coins make great investments. Most of the coins that I bought 10 or 20 years ago have greatly appreciated in value, and I am quite happy with that. If I had saved that 2 peso Mexican gold coin I bought in 1969 for $3.95, I could sell it for around $70 today. The gold sovereign I bought for $22 back in 1971 could be sold for $340 today.

Other coins are dogs, however, and always will be dogs. For example, most of the coins that circulated in the world from the late '60s onward have little value over face value, and in some cases have almost no value at all because they were demonetized. The 1964 Philippines 5 centavos coin that i got with a cereal box offer back in the late '60s, for example, isn't worth any more now than it was then. The same goes for the 1955 Austrian 2 groschen and the 1960 German 2 pfennig coins that I got with the same offer.

Sometimes coins actually go down. A lot of coins from the former "Iron Curtain" countries are worth less now than they were back during the Cold War, because they were harder to get back then. My 1936 Lithuanian 10 Litu is a good example. The 1964 edition of R.S. Yeoman's Catalog of Modern World Coins lists it at $25 in VF. I would be happy to get $25 for it today.

Some US coins become overhyped and lose value over time as well. The 1950-D nickel is a shining example. For the amount of money you would have needed to buy a BU example back in the early '60s, you could probably have bought 2 sovereigns. Today, the '50-D is worth around $10, much less than it was in its heyday, while the two sovereigns would be worth at least $680.

Other US coins that were hyped as "keys" or "semi-keys" back in the '60s and early '70s included just about any coin made in 1955, as well as the 1958-P Washington quarter. Today, the value of nearly all the 1955 silver issues is a function of "melt". And a couple of years ago, I picked a beautiful 1958 quarter out of a junk silver box. Dealers don't want to pay a premium for them.

 

I agree with this, but what about the thieves on Capitol Hill who are "regulating" the thieves on Wall Street?

 

:bangg:

 

Eh, 6 pages. Have to admit Tim creates threads that gets responses......

 

I think it's because his stuff is so widely off the mark. That combined with the justification he gives, which is just deep enough to show he thought about it but is so poor that you can't help to want to pick it apart and stomp on it. Plus he manages to get across the attitude of "I am smart - listen to me see it is common sense and it is impossible to disagree with my stuff because I have laid it out for you and so to disagree would require you to be an idiot. Thus, whatever I have just talked about is clearly correct."

 

Huh - how can you know this? You must read the whole post. I can't make it two or three lines before I know the stomping has already started so I can just watch.