Gold coins being sold?

That would be GD, who doesn't believe there is a profit or loss until he sells. You are correct, it is the difference between accounting and economic reality.

If you want to get technical about the language, there is never any "profit" on an investment transaction. The correct terminology is gain or loss. But if you want to introduce the term [perhaps incorrectly] and make a statement such as "there is no profit until you sell," then the statement is incorrect. Perhaps if you substitute the correct word and say "there is no gain until you sell" then it becomes clear how nonsensical it is to say something like that.

 

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You keep twisting back and forth between technical and common definitions to try to confuse the issue rather than admit you are wrong. In the real world, gains and losses refer to asset sales. Profits and losses, or more accurately, net income or loss, applies to the statement of operations of a business.

Do you want to define profit as gain as stated above? Very well. Then your statement using your definition that "you don't have a profit until you sell" has the same meaning as "you don't have a gain until you sell." This is clearly nonsense. You can lock in a gain [or loss] by selling, but the gain is there whether you sell or not.

Even your own definition makes a distinction between "returns, proceeds, or revenue" in the definition of profit -- proceeds being cash from a sale and returns being changes in value other than cash.

There are many forms of profit, gains or whatever term you will try to use next that are non-cash. If there wasn't, there would be no reason for GAAP or IFRS and everyone would keep their books on a cash basis.

 

Let's go back to “investing school.”

http://investing-school.com/definition/realized-and-unrealized-gains-and-losses/

I Don’t Lose Money Until I Sell It

It’s amazing how many people would say this during a market crash, but you will hear this many times while the market is going down:

You didn’t lose that money until you sell the stock!

Unfortunately, this is simply not true. The stock price always represent the last estimate of the price of each share. Even though the losses you incurred are unrealized, it doesn’t mean the losses aren’t real. If you bought 100 shares at $20 and it went down to $10 per share, you have $1,000 worth of stock. If you have to sell it, you will get roughly $1,000. If you have $1,000 to invest, you can double your investment by buying 100 more shares. This has nothing to do with whether the gains or losses were realized or not. Stop kidding yourself and deal with the situation by thinking about your best course of action for the future.

 

why e-bay accepted so many fake or copy gold and silver coins in their website?. why don't e-bay separate the fake and copy from the genuine coins. in this way, people won't make a mistake.

 

They say they look for fakes but I don't know who they have looking because I even see a lot go undetected.

 

It seems like the discussion took a 180 degree turn from the OP original post.

As far as when you have made money its just all how you want to look at it.

As far as the OP position that he thinks gold may be about to drop because there were more people selling at the last show than usual, I just have to say I dont see it.

There is no gold for sell on this boards open section, nothing on CU, maybe 2 things way over spot on the board that starts with a K. I do nt ever see anything less that $1150-$1200 an ounce. You will be lucky to find a 1/4 ounce piece for $300, or a 1/10 ounce piece for less than $125.

And the market is still red hot. Anytime I see someone put up a decent ( not great), just decent deal on any of these boards it is bought within minutes. If you havent pm'd the seller about it within 30 minutes, forget it its sold.

Seriously, put up a 1/4 ounce piece for $275, which is still 5% over spot and see if it doesnt sell within 10 minutes.

The way our gov't keeps spending and letting the debt skyrocket without any concern at all, gold still has a great deal of upward potential.

 

I 1000% agree.

 

Man, I can't believe you guys are still debating this. Wow! I guess my best course of action is to sell all my stocks just when their are at the highest possible level, that way I will make a killing. I will be so rich, I can't stand to even think about it.

 

Yes but how do you determine the highest possible level? That's the point.

 

I will look in the paper and when it says stocks are high, I will sell everything and retire in happiness. Buy low and sell high is the secret, then you won't have to worry about those unrealized losses.

P.S. I am being sarcastic. I know it doesn't come across so well in writing. Sorry..

 

Hah I know but remember the paper is days behind..

 

I can't believe it either, so I'm done with it. There is enough for people to read both sides and decide for themselves.

I don't know how to sell at the highest possible level. Buying well is easier than selling well because the signs are easier to recognize. Gold is still in a powerful uptrend with a lot of volitility along the way. I think it's going to end in an all-out buying frenzy and I'm playing it that way, but nothing about the future is more than an estimate of probable outcomes. All investing is just making judgments about the probability of gain vs the probability of loss and acting accordingly.

 

I'm going mostly on intuition here and very few data points. From what I can tell, Low Gold is moving fairly slow right now. I'm guessing some collectors think gold spot is overpriced and will drop, making Low Gold cheaper.

If someone else has more data to go on, I'm all ears.

I think you're probably right. Both the stock market and gold seem to be on the way up.

 

That's a good question, Elaine. And you're certainly correct that fewer doggie coins on e-bay would make for fewer mistakes by collectors.

Part of the problem is E-Bay is not a coin dealer. They have little expertise.

E-Bay is NOT an auction house. E-Bay is a technology company. They sell space on a server, akin to an internet ISP. Your e-bay listing is little more than a record in a database, so e-bay cares little whether you're selling an MS65 Saint or a used copy of Gone With The Wind.

 

I think of Ebay as the world's largest garage sale or flea market, and people should approach it with that mindset. Buyer beware.

 

Thank you for your input but I had a listed 1/4 ounce coin listed when you posted this. Of course I'm not selling it for $275 but I really doubt that anyone would jump on it in less than 10 minutes. The only time I had luck selling gold on this forum was when I posted a couple of dos pesos gold coins. I had all kinds of inquiries on that sale. Anyways, we will see what happens in the next couple of months. Luckily I'm not strapped and I don't have to sell any of my coins but I still think more ppl are selling now since gold passed the $1050 mark.

 

fretboard,

I just dont think this forum is that busy.

I can name 3 other forums that have a BST board, but I dont know if I am allowed to actually name them on here.

Anyways, I peruse those boards and when a $285 or lower 1/4 ounce coin comes up its gone in minutes.

People are generally asking $300-$305 for 1/4 Krugs, eagles, maples, etc on those boards and even those sell, anything in the $280-$285 range is gone immediately.

 

Net Worth

At some point you look at net worth. You have to draw a line in the sand and say today right now what are my assets worth in a real sale.
Some do this yearly and rebalance for profit or write off.
Stocks that have performed well are kept or sold depending or your philoshophy of profit.
My brother in law will hold a stock until it moves up 20% and sells no matter what it looks like for the future. He also uses a stop loss to retain his made profits . He is a believer in the greed and fear cycle.
I as a person re-evalute my holdings yearly. Property I look at every other year as leases expire.
Gold I keep and do not sell. I believe that constant selling puts pressure on you to time what can not be timed. Stocks I own I have put a lot of time in but sold in 2005 about 75% of my holdings.
I monitor the dollar on a regular basis. All currency is backed by good faith in all countries sans a couple. There is only about 800 billion of known gold in a form that can be traded. Not enough to back any major currency.
The dollar is fragil because of our debt. On the other hand we have natural resources that could boot strap America into a positive area if used.Oil discovered in the dakotas is a vast untapped bridge product. Green is nice but we do not make quantum leaps, evolution is the order of what happens.

My opinion only.

Pep

 

Fretboard,

I will take the onza. It wont let me post a reply and I dont know if you are getting my pm's.