Hey everyone, I am debating if I should sell my stocks or not. I am only 12 years old and I only have about 2.5k in stocks. Should I sell them and buy PMs? Also, please don't give me a different answer you would give someone else just because im 12. I know there is still time and I need to diversify and stuff like that. Thanks, Adam
I think you have to get a different answer because you're 12 -- because you've got a really long time horizon to realize gains on those stocks. Out of the last hundred-odd years, you can pick two or three brief intervals where PMs outperformed stocks. If you bought and sold stocks over any other interval, they outperformed PMs. Keep the stocks! And buy more when you can.
No. Look at the history of precious metals. Not a very good long term investment at all. Yes, stocks are high right and will probably correct soon, but they are still a better long term investment. As long as they are well diversified. Now, if you want to pull $100 out and put it in bitcoin, I wouldn't complain. Just don't put all your eggs in that basket.
Welcome Adam, I see 2 questions there, one ...should I sell my stock? and second, should I buy PM. I see nothing wrong with selling 1/20- 1/10 of the stock and doing so if you wish to buy PM or any other speculative thing. But I wouldn't hold all as now or sell all and buy all PM either. If we knew what was going to happen, we could make such a decision, but we don't.
Should you sell your stock? Hard to say. The DOW has been going up so fast in recent years that a correction is inevitable. But no one can predict how severe it will be or when it will occur. So it really depends on what stocks you hold, how well you understand the market, and how flexible you are to cash them in. I would definitely have stop losses on all I hold. Now the separate question: should you buy PMs. The two questions are only mildly correlated. I would say that WHEN you decide it is time to pull out of the stock market then PMs probably are a good idea. But this is predicted on the fact that you have already decided the market is about to fall severely and that you hold stock which cannot withstand the fall. PMs in the long run will match inflation: the stock market will exceed it. There are simply too many variables: no one can claim to be right. So at your age I would say that the best bet is to study the stock market long term and not worry about the short term. You have lots of years ahead of you. But don't be too slow to react when we get a severe bear market.
Adam, maybe you can keep your current investments and simply use the next bit of money you earn to buy small amounts of silver from your local coin shop. Or, save up those small amounts of money you earn and then buy a bit of gold. However, only a small sliver of your total savings or investments should be in precious metals.
Geez-o-flip, Adam! You're only 12 years old. How many big jumps in precious metals have there been in those 12 years? One! That's right! Just one! Forget the PM's and keep the stock! At the least, you will receive dividends on that stock. Better yet, why don't you have the dividends reinvested, automatically, and let us know what happens when you turn 24. Chris
I think this is a bit extreme. Most analysts there days seem to think 10-15% of your portfolio in PMs is a good idea. Personally, I think a little more but here is not the time to talk about that. But, given that the original poster has 50 years before retirement I really don't that what he does over the next 10 years is going to be of any consequence at all long term.
Are you kidding? The earlier you invest, the better. If he leaves this money alone for 50 years, and never adds a dime to it, and it ONLY grows 7% on average, he will have $73,642. Start 10 years later, and its only $37,436.
if it's dividend stocks you've invested in. Many say to not do so, but I'm of the feeling that 'dividend' stocks will sustain, pay, and still carry value. Old man outlook, heavily invested in UPS.
50% of my portfolio is invested in stocks which produce at least a 10% dividend. But then I am 65 years old and may have a different outlook from most. Certainly as one ages the dividend takes on a greater significance.
I bought into the stock market when I was also 12. I bought $1,500 worth of Johnson and Johnson stock. Ironically, I also bought I think like $50 of silver. If I still had the JNJ stock today it would have a 7,000% return. The silver, I think was about $6 an ounce back then. Now it's what?? $16 dollars. I'll let you figure out the % return on the silver and figure out the comparison. I sold the JNJ stock to buy a Selmer Paris saxophone back then, which ironically is worth at least 2x as much today as I paid for it back then.