What To Do With Your Coins In Economic Meltdown???

It's not a matter of "getting a grip". It's a matter of the fact that this situation could cause the credit market to seize up completely. If this happens then we might not be able to get our money out of any bank, even the 95% banks in your dazzling list of stats.

 

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I guess my answer would be what the OP's deffinition of "economic meltdown" is. I mean, we've been in one for 15 years now if you consider the basic view. Will money ever become worthless...no. Even in the world's most destroyed economies where superinflation has increased 5000% or more, money is still worth something...just not much. People just invest elswhere.

Personally, my employment thrives when times are tough so I've been investing and collecting even more. That is personally what I've done. As far as what others do, it depends. Do you need more coins, or food to feed your family? Do you need a safe deposit box to stash your gold, or a roof over your head. These aren't hard questions for anyone to answer. If it came right to it, I'd have no problem selling my coins to provide the necessities of life. But, you would have to sell at a time when there was someone willing and able to buy, because like mentioned before, you can't eat coins and when times are really bad, they're no more than chunks of shiny metal.
Guy~

 

Look I'm no "doomsdayer", but there are some fundamental issue I don't think are being addressed in Washington.

I think people are smart to be prepared for a worst case scenario.

Also the government frequently changes the methods of reporting figures like unemployment, and inflation. Why do they do this? I don't have all the answers, but I do think the fear they are currently creating is for a reason. Even if there was no "crisis", there is one now.

I think coins play a part in this.... Especially gold and silver American coins. Could we ever be faced with a scenario where 2 American currencies are circulating at the same time? Sound money and paper money. One has less face value, but is worth more than the other. Interesting prospect....

Like I said before, at the very least precious metals can help you preserve your wealth while others have it eroded away by the stock market, and inflation.

 

You are correct that nobody knows. Personally, I expect things to get bad enough to make coins extremely valuable, but not so bad that the coins become worthless [or even worth less]. So I'm keeping what I have and adding when the mood hits me. Does that make me an optimist?

 

I was raised by my Grandmother, who grew up during the Great Depression. She often shared accounts of having lived through that time, how her Grandmother lost her life savings in a bank failure in 1933, not a good prospect for a then 68 year old widowed woman. I surmise that much of my personal opin regarding finance, mistrusts of government and financial institutions comes from the person who was responsible for my upbringing. And suffice to my opin, I believe it not such a bad thing, but rather a benefit in times like the present.

There were many reasons not to trust the government during the 1930's, have any doubts? Do a google search on "Bonus Marchers" and get the point.

 

One of the things I always wondered about was one of the reasons that brought about the Depression, which was gold, and was the reason FDR recalled gold. There's an interesting history that many do not know about:

http://supreme.justia.com/us/294/330/

That is a case that went to the U.S. Supreme about Gold Bonds that were issued prior to FDR recalling gold. What I find interesting is the 3 "outs" involved with the bonds, which made them a no-lose bond but in the case of Perry, I'm wondering if he bought them from someone just before the recall? Because, if you think about it, gold had gone up in value which would have made the Gold Bonds worth more and if someone had inside information about the upcoming gold recall, they would have sold them at the inflated gold value and whoever bought them, would have been stuck with them for the cash value.

As far as I know, no one has ever investigated this situation, to see who sold their bonds just before the recall, to see if any "insider trading" was going on? I think it would make for an interesting story, to see who all sold and what ties did they have to the White House?

Ribbit

 

Wanna know what to do? Sell them to me.

 

Actually not quite, there were legal matters brought before the Court in the late 1970's and early 1980's which dealt with lease contracts drawn up during the WWI era that expressed that payments had to be paid in gold coin, and nothing other. Basically the Court ruled that gold had in fact ceased to be a form of legal tender, and that the recipients of the leases could only draw a realistic, ie what is generally now tendered as money, and not gold coin.

The cases were brought about because after the ban on gold ownership and holding was lifted in 1975, the lessors wanted to revisit the original terms of the contracts which expressed payment in gold coin and not FRN's or cheques. Of course the lessors wanted payment in gold coin as expressed in the contracts, since gold appreciated considerably in the late 1970's and greatly inflated potential income. That is a danger of long term leases.

 

This case has actually been brought back recently because of off-shore oil field leases that didn't have certain stipends established in them and when Congress realized they forgot to put them in, after-the-fact, they "demanded" the stipends and the oil companies refused and a suit followed. I don't know the outcome but I do remember hearing about it.

Ribbit

Ps: When I say stipend, what that is in reference to is on off-shore oil leases, Congress would place a per-barrel stipend amount on the lease, with the amount increasing if the price of oil went above a certain amount. On the leases in question, Congress didn't put that wording in the leases although they had always done it that way in the past. Makes you wonder if someone was taking care of a campaign contributor?

 

I don't think there will be a collapse of society. That would really come if there was a global nuclear war or event where infrastructure is destroyed and goods aren't able to move or be created. In an economic collapse, buildings will stand, people will still need to work so they will continue to product foods and vital services, life will still go on. We might get paid less, or maybe with ration points, but we will still function. We won't resort to eating each other or our pets or anything drastic like that. We'll just be poorer than we are now. Might have to hold off on buying that Lexus and drive a 15-year old dodge or with patched up tires and resort to fixing your shoes with bark and leather strips rather than heading down the street and buying some. And we'll come out of it...just like every other society has.

If you want to do a little reading, read up on the history of the weirmar republic. Their situation was very similar to the current US situation. They fought a war they thought would be easy and short (WWI) and ended up in the same economic situation we are in now. It was pretty bad for them...but they later became one of the most powerful nations the world has ever seen (although short lived) when they became Nazi Germany. Ok maybe that's a bad example as i don't think we want to become Nazi America, but i'm just trying to show you that other nations have spiraled down badly and risen up to be just as powerful if not more powerful.

It might be hard for a few years...but we aren't gonna die

 

I talked to my dad (1916-2006) at length about the economic ups and downs he had lived through... the depression, WWII rationing, the boom times of the 50's, etc.... and there was one common factor: he always remained optimistic in bad times and somewhat pessimistic in good times. He was always conservative, saved his money, was cheap... oops, I mean thrifty, always worked hard, enjoyed his life and his retirement to the fullest. He supported my coin collecting "habit" as a kid back in the 50's, so I think I chose a pretty good hobby. But since I've been out of collecting for so long, what has happened in the past to coin values during economic swings? Can I expect to go into my local coin shop and see prices slashed? Or will values remain basically the same or even increase? I'm not interested in selling, only in buying!

 

Don't be so gloomy, please it's scary. 33% unemployment would be a disaster. Even 10% would be terrible with a big T. Instead of coins our priorities would be food, water, and shelter. Many many people worked for food back then.
How come all the nice coins are still around? Who kept them? The haves?
"Stay the course", from the Patriot, things will work out no matter how long. We really need a FDR ---right now!

 

I only have one coin worthy of a safety deposit box. And trusting banks right now is out of the question.

Hold on tight! If you doubt that, just look at all the coins that have popped up for sale that were hoarded before, during, and since the great depression.

Safes? Maybe build an underground safe with a bomb shelter around it.

90% Silver is still 90% silver any way you look at it.

Keep your gold unless you are forced to use it. Don't let it go quietly into the night of someone else's hoard.

Downturns cannot happen unless there was a upturn.

Collecting habits change whether or not we have money to buy new things.

A few collectors have sold out everything they previously collected in order to start down a new branch of the hobby.
Unless I give up the hobby completely (yeh, right), I will not give up my best coins or collections unless it is downright and absolutely necessary. I might even go so far as burying my silver, and what tiny bit of gold I have.

Just my humble opinion...
jeankay

 

Good luck to all of you heading to the hills with your bags of coins and 12 guns.

The only people who will thrive after a total and absolute collapse are those that organize and collaborate with others. You mountain men, shooting at everything that moves, will be ostracized and left to chew on your Walking Liberties.

It is the groups of individuals and families that work together and pool what they have that will succeed and you'll just be known as the crazy guy who's gonna run out of bullets someday.

Who would I sell ANYTHING to you? If I have sacks of potatos to trade, I don't want coins or gold, I want other useful things. How do I eat a coin?

 

Melt the coins for bullets for the impending Zombie Outbreak.

 

1. Banks fail you keep 100k fdic insured. If you have more than 10-15k in your checking account your doing something wrong.
WHo saves thier life savings at a bank? that's why you have mutual funds, 401k, ira, stock & bonds, gold and silver, real estate and other.

2. Money doesnt drop to nothing overnight. It just takes more of it to buy things. A gallon of milk will in a collapse of the US $ will gradually go up tp $6, $8, $10. By this time most people have broken up into the very poor and the poor and those with some assets. It will give you time to exchange your fiat money into bartable items. Gold converted into dairy goods and diary cows per say...

3. I dont put my trust in Govt. I put my trust in GOD. Im sorry about your dad but I lost $66k just in a few months in the drop of value of my home.
Bubbles burst, corrections are made.

4. Foreign investors own some parts of our industry on paper. "Americans do not own the US anymore, foreign investors do."
So what you think once america falls foreigners are going to come over here and put up there flags?? Yeah right I want to see that happen in South Central, Los angeles or somewhere in Kentucky.

America will stand a thousand years GOD willing.

 

Wow, good stuff folks.

Ok, I don't think we're looking at total economic collapse back into a barter economy.

I am preparing for pretty much that to occur - I'd rather be ready than not.

I'll keep my coins and my gold and silver regardlesss.

The most likely event is that we head into a full blow economic depression and hit very high inflation. I don't know if it will go hyper, but it'll be well into double digits. They really don't have a choice due to the unfunded liabilities (the real budget deficit) of ~$50-60 Trillion freakin dollars. A number this large cannot be covered with reducing benefits or raising taxes - it's just too large. That means their only option is to monetize it by debasing the currency to pay if off with cheap dollars.

What can you do to prepare for hideous inflation?

Diversify your portfolio AND your wealth.
Portfolio:

TIPs and Inflation protected bond funds.
Short term treasuries
Int'l bonds
Blue chip stocks paying dividends
Precious metals and commodities
In'tl stocks

Your wealth? Baron R said 1/3 in securites, 1/3 in real estate and 1/3 in rare art. Well, most of us don't know a lot about rare art, but I'd bet there's some decent knowledge about rare coins in this crowd - ya think?

Extend your emergency cash stash to 6 months of expenses and keep a larger amount on hand.

Pay off your debt - yeah I know that folks will say that during inflation it's best to have a lot of debt you're paying off with cheaper dollars, and this is valid, but don't play games with your primary residence and don't have any debt you can't pay off immediately if needed. Folks, if things get really nasty, they can call the notes. So do NOT play games with your home.

Keep your job and continue to upgrade your job skills.

Start a garden and shop for locally grown food.

Insulate your home.

[hey, and I didn't mention guns anywhere]

namaste'

rono

 

I think we've already done that. From colinization and into the mid 1800's we used currency from all over the world, as well as local money to do business. The Spanish milled dollar was used more extinsively than our own money for most of that time. Until the Euro, most of Europe did the same thing. When I was in France the British Pound circulated as widely as the Franc because it bought more.

This scenario wouldn't be a bad thing. It would be people doing business in the most economical way possible, as it should be.
Guy~

 

Then why post a doomsdayer thread ?

I really can't say. I'm only 49 years old and am fortunate enough to live in America, so I have never seen a "severe economic downturn".

 

Wow ! This is a zinger of a point. I hear ya, SM.

What's so surprising is how many people carry on as if we are in the middle of something worse than the Siege of Leningrad. It would be interesting to see how their lives are different from 2 years ago.