Honest Advise Please :)

Well lets just say I would trust your opinions here more than I would some of my friends ( well considering they dont collect ...lol ) but seriously....I have a question and please say what you feel cause I could use all the advise i can get. Lets just say ill be coming into around 15,000 in the next few weeks, and I was curious how should I invest it. I was think silver since it is going down, and gold was a possibility too, then I thought platnium, but I really dont know enough to wanna just dump 15k. ANy thought or opinions????????? Thanks for the advice.

 

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The best advice that you will get and probably the most you will see in other member's answers: don't invest in coins. Probably the worst thing you can invest in. Sounds like you might be leaning more towards bullion, which is okay I guess to invest in. But, buy what you like IMHO, and if you make a profit, an added bonus. Now, if you really, really want to invest in coins themselves, I'd say try earlier date Lincolns in higher circulated grades if you can find them (teens and twenties). Best of luck to you, and you can wait on sending my check in the mail till you make a little money.

Phoenix

 

I should of added that...i was kicking that idea around too. Im not looking to make a hugh score but figured something out there might have a better return than a money market. Thanks

 

The best advice I can offer is balanced long-term no-load mutual funds. Look for ones with low expense ratios (don't want your gains gobbled up by money managers) and maybe something like an index fund that follows certain market benchmarks (S.&P 500, etc.) When investing long term DO NOT look at you account daily or fret over daily (even large) market swings. Over a 10-15 year period, no investment will give you a higher (and SAFER) rate of return than a well balanced and well diversified basket of US stocks. There are even mutual funds that invest in precious metals in addition to equities. I've had great luck with one that started buying gold about 8 years ago.

 

Without knowing your overall financial situation it is hard to give advice. Do you have a 3-6 month emergency fund? How long before you need to use the money? Any big purchases coming up? What debts do you have and at what rates? How much risk are you willing to take? What if you lost it all? What investment vehicles do you have available (IRA 401K SEP...)? What stage of life are you in?

These are just some of the first questions I would ask.

 

Great point. Those are definetly the right questions to ask first.

 

well lets see.....ummm i dont really need to touch the money for a year. The only really BIG expense I have coming up is a head gasket, or possilbly or ring job on my 1981 380sl coupe. My father just passed away so its just me and my mom renting a house. So minimal bills. The usual car, insurance, 2 credit cards, phone, etc. I have a deferred comp with the state , I get 720 a month from the VA, and im 29 so i got time.....Im a gambler too so i guess if i lost it , its probably a better decision than throwing down 2500 for one shoe of blackjack

 

He's right you know. Or you should be now being 29. Your not a kid anymore so it may well be time to think about tomorrow. You can take your time and buy coins, Silver, a new flashlight, take a girl or your Mom out for a lobster dinner. Mother's Day is coming you know.
I agree with GDJMSP mostly due to myself being really old I sure wish I'd have saved a few extra dollars when I was your age.

 

Lots of "investment" options MIGHT offer a better return than a money market. They also DEFINITELY carry considerably more RISK. If you're here asking for investment advice from strangers, my advice would be not to invest at this time. Park the money in a money market or CD, read, ask questions and patiently formulate a goal and a game plan.

 

First thing is pay off anything you owe on your credit cards. That will prove to be a much better investment than pretty much anything else...

 

RULE #1 : DIVERSIFY. Don't ever stick all of your money into one basket. That's investment rule number one. While you decide bank it (see rule #4) into a CD or Money Market until you decide.

RULE #2: not sure about how you came into this money, but you should make sure that there aren't any tax ramifications. If there are you should find how much and immediately set that money aside.

RULE #3: have to agree with Brit... pay off a good portion of your debt. Any interest or "profit" you will gain through your investment will never amount to more than the interest you are PAYING. If you are heavily in debt, use this as an opportunity to start a budget and start with a clean slate.

RULE #4: Set aside a SMALL PORTION of the $15K (lets say no more than $1,000) for you to use as you see fit. Just for you... coins, a trip, a nice dinner... just to satisfy your desire to blow more than that. The key here is to STICK to that amount!

 

The decision is really up to you and should be based on sound advice and thinking! Check with as many folks and especially professional Investors if possible but keep your options open and don't make a quick and possibly rash decision on the matter. If it were me, I would watch the prices of Silver to see if it continues to come down and if it does and stabilizes (remains near the same price for several weeks), then I would purchase as much Silver as possible. Although at this point in time, an investment in Silver will probably not make anywhere near the profit margin that you would have made, had you invested in Silver in November 2001 and sold it at it's high this month, it is possible that you could make a really nice profit and one in which most other ways cannot even come close. I have put some figures below, just to give you an idea of what someone could have made on Silver versus Gold during the period from 2001 to March 2008.

Note: The low and high prices of Gold and Silver may not be exact to the dollar since Kitco's Historical Charts usually only give the Closing Price each day but they are close enough for this example. A $250,000 investment is used in this example and I did not include any fees charged as with such a large purchase, the Dealer would probably forgo any extra fees.


Purchase 61,425.06 ounces of Silver in November 2001 at it's low of $4.07 an ounce. Purchase 976.56 ounces of Gold in February or April 2001 at it's low of $256.00 an ounce. Sell the Silver in March 2008 at it's high of $20.95 an ounce for $1,286,855.01 which is a gain of $1,036,855.01 over the initial investment. Sell the Gold in March 2008 at it's high of $1024.00 an ounce for $999,997.44 which is a gain of $749,997.44 over the initial investment. As you can see, a person investing in Silver instead of Gold, would have made approximately $286,857.57 more by investing in Silver.

I am not advising you to invest in Silver, I am merely giving you the facts and the potential earnings one could have made by investing in Silver in 2001 and selling it in March of 2008! You must weigh all of the factors after seeking sound advice and consultation from professionals. However, I know of no other investment that would have given you that kind of gain over a seven (7) year period!


Frank

 

True Story

Thursday I went to Wendy's for lunch. In my hand was the latest issue of Coin World. (I like to read while I eat. What better to read about than coins?) The guy behind me in line says, "So, are you one of those numismatic collectors?" I said, "I've been called worse. Yes, I collect coins."

He proceeded to tell me that he bought 24 St. Gaudens Double Eagles 28 years ago and they had never been worth what he paid for them until now. (In other words, he bought at the top in 1980.) He said that now, finally, after 28 years, he was selling those coins and getting his money back out of them. He said he listed the coins on eBay.

I told him he may have timed it just right as gold may have peaked. In fact, gold dropped $59 just yesterday (Wednesday). He turned a little pale and said he had not heard about that. He wanted to know what gold was trading at and I told him I don't follow it closely but the last I heard it was below $940. He turned even paler and said that he listed his coins on eBay last Saturday for a 7-day auction. He set the starting bid at $950 - and he didn't have any bids yet. (I thought before that he meant he had already sold his coins on eBay.)

It was obvious that this guy had been waiting for 28 years for gold to reach a price to bail him out and when it got there he got a little greedy. Instead of selling to a coin dealer he decided to sell the coins on eBay hoping to ride gold just a little higher. After all, it was steadily increasing every day. Now he appears to have gotten caught in a correction.

I hated to be the bearer of bad news for him. He sure looked disappointed.

So, General, my advice to you is . . . If you want to invest your money find something that you are comfortable with. If you want a safe investment (i.e., low risk) you cannot expect high returns.

If you want the potential for high returns you must accept the high risk that goes along with it. If you decide to speculate you should only use money that you can either afford to lose or can wait 28 years to recoup.

You may be captivated with the huge gains that gold and silver have made over the last several months. Repeat this mantra when you think about using your $15k to buy gold or silver - Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.

You should think twice - no, thrice - before jumping on the gold or silver bandwagon. You don't want to get in at the peak and then ride it down, down, down and have to wait 28 years to break even. (Note: I am not saying gold and silver have peaked. For all I know they could go to double their current spot prices.)

Like others have said, precious metals are very volitile right now. I would not feel comfortable speculating on gold or silver at the moment.

Brit had the best advice of all. If you have any debt - especially credit card debt - pay that off first. Then you can think about investing. Or speculating.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

 

General,
Like others have said---coins aren't what I would go for....and you need to get out of debt first with everthing else before you think about investing. Listen....you are 29....if you worked at it you could make this money work FOR you for years to come. Your best bet is to do what Doug said, and then contact a local guy in your town that can help. If you want some links and suggestions please PM me and I'll be glad to help.

That is another thing you need to take care of---it should be alot easier to quit at 29 than if you wait longer....you never win at that game.

Speedy

 

you want advice

that the 15K and trade it in for euros
let the difference grow some more and trade it back for dollars after the converting costs are covered
I made almost $30 bucks doing that in Poland when I was there for vacation for 2 weeks (with my parents money of course)

 

I say.....go to Vegas and try to triple your money. Then.....go take a nap and then go back to the casino to triple your money AGAIN! Works EVERY time!

swick

 

Thanks for all the replies....Its really helped. Ill keep you guys advised as to what I do in the months to come. Thanks again :hail:

 

Davis mtual funds (NYVBX). Good mutual fund. Has beat the S&P 500 for the last 10 years.

 

If your credit cards are for more than 8%, the money should go there first. Where else can you get a guaranteed 8%+ return guaranteed?