I have to admit I am fairly new to the silver stacking comunity, I started back in March and have accumulated about 140 ozs of silver to date. When I was in the military back in 1995-1999 I had a chance to be in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and what was really cool about being out there is the though process of gold and silver out there compared to the United States. In the UAE, you will not find gold lower then 18K because they think anything less is really not considered quality. The US thought process is about how much it costs, when speaking to jewellers in the US, most jewellers only sell 10K or 14K with a few 18K sprinkled in. When I was over there, gold was about $200 a oz and silver was about $6 a oz. How does the old saying go, if I could go back in time and speak to myself, what would I say... Hey Dummy, go buy gold and silver! Hind sight is 20-20. So the question is when did you realize that you should jump in and start buying silver and gold? Were you one of the smart ones back then who saw the potential in buying bullion as investment/hedge for your future? Did you like most catch on after the recession happened after 2008? Or a fun thought, were you watching Pawn stars and saw the silver episode, and said I need to buy some bullion? Either way I figured this would be a good way to hear other people's experiences about getting involved with gold and silver. I personally realized that I wanted another way to save money, and that physical bullion would be a great way to invest/hedge for my wife and my future. I am adding a vote section to see what time frame you started to collect for others to see.
define popular. None of my friends, family or aasociates buy silver. only a small percentage of the population cares about silver
Popular is for this forum, I am speaking to the people on this forum. So thats the population I am talking about.
There are quite a few people here who won't be able to participate in your poll because they started more than 20 years ago.
Back in 2008 I wanted to wanted some exposure to gold but had no idea how to do it other than to pick up a few gold stocks, which I never really held on to. The idea soon petered out and over the following three years or so never gained any traction. I started stacking actual physical 14 months ago but have been interested in the metals for a little longer than that. The tipping point really was just seeing so many red flags appearing economically and realising that our current financial system is structurally flawed. I wanted some money 'off the grid' and felt like, as a responsible saver, I was being penalised through artificial interest rates that were propping up a phoney system and subsidising those irresponsible enough to be in too much debt (i.e. most people). I was getting out of the fake stuff and getting into something real. Initially I just didn't have the knowledge and no one I knew had ever talked about it. There was a period where buying the actual metals seemed like a new and daunting process and not wanting to make a mistake delayed my first purchase. Where to store them? Which ones to buy? Which dealers could I trust? All the new terminology and different types of bullion; the pros and cons of each. Now it's second nature and something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life until I'm a crusty old man. Over that time I have enjoyed watching the number of stackers slowly grow online and seeing the sentiment change along with the price, seeing the weak hands drop out as the price fell, instead of seeing it for the opportunity that it was as the strong hands stayed firm. At the same time I still like how it's a really niche pursuit, which most people have still never heard of. I didn't buy gold at $250/oz or silver at $4/oz but I still like to think I'm getting in close to the ground floor. My sister recently had her first child. On the day of his birth I bought him a 2oz Year of the Snake and on every birthday he'll get another Perth Mint 1oz coin. I like how he'll be able to tell people when he's older that he was a stacker from the day he was born.
I tell my wife all the time, when silver goes down, I am buying, and when silver goes up we still buy smartly (looking for deals). There is no real downside, your making money when silver goes up, and when silver goes down your adding to your stack for the next upswing.
I started in early 2011, was able to watch it go from the high 20's to the high 40's... Was buying all throughout, thinking it was going to keep going up. Have added some with the low price and when the price fell, I got more into numismatic coins. Stacking is alright, but to have century old coins, that's something way different!
Yeah, that would be me and i am not even 45 yet. I started in the late 80's with "real" money. I bought when i was younger but i didn't have much to spend. Btw, i doubt gold was $200 at the time man. I was in uae and kuwait and saudi before you, ,and its the same price around the world. It never got that low. No biggie, just misremembering a little. It got into the $200's, but never $200 since the 70's.
I bought and sold silver in the late 70's run-up then got into other things and got back in early '02 when spot was $4.40. didn't get a lot then but was buying steady right along. got into gold early '07 at about $660-75. bought whatever I could afford. and here we are.
