Are you a newbie getting into Bullion Investing? I was searching for my stamp collection (yeah, I have one of those) and came across some receipts of some of my purchases from the other Century. Yup, the other CENTURY ... makes one ... feel ... kinda ... old ... but anyways. Back in December 1998 I bought some Gold Eagles when gold was $294.70 an ounce. The coins were $314.74 each which is a $20.04 premium over spot. Platinum Eagles were spot $357.00 and $387.35 each for a $30.35 premium per coin. And Silver was $5.03, $8.70 / coin for a premium of $3.67 per coin. TODAY, Spot is GOLD $1,654.66 SILVER $19.11 PLATINUM $877.73 So Gold is up 5.6x Platinum 2.45x Silver 3.8x Buying an AGE is about $1,821.87 right now a $167.21 premium over spot. APE is $1,093.51 a $215.78 premium ASE is $32.95 a $13.84 premium. correlating past spots v premiums it looks like only Platinum is way out of whack for it's current premium. and if you bought a Nasdaq index fund. from 10/2003 (can't get the number before that) at $26.24 today at 137.82 is 5.25x Thus $10k in 2003 is worth $52,522.86 if you did not reinvest the dividends/capital gains. But $10,000 of Gold in 1998 is worth $56,147.27 $10k 1998 Platinum is $24,586.27 $10k 1998 Silver is $37,992.05 vs $10k 2003 FNCMX is $52,522 or $78,700+ ish with DRIP ?? This excludes inflation, etc .. just pure cash value. Also keep in mind this excludes cost of safe storage for any metals. If you buy index funds it's best to buy house funds as they normally have no fees (at least mine don't), thus no overhead costs over time. It's early in the morning, I don't drink coffee, so someone needs to check my numbers as my brain still seems non-functioning. FYI, I tried to figure out DRIP for each year but gave up and guessed .. too early. Of course, this excludes taxes (or not) depending how you sell and track your PMs. I guess I should have bought more gold as it's just "funner."
Well put..... Yes it is much more "funner".... All I am is invested in my business.... All except the gold & silver I been accumulating over the years. And I remember buying gold back in the 90's and spending that $300.00 an ounce felt much like spending $1700.00 today (no, I won't do the math!).... I think the lesson here is to be thinking long term if you have a taste for precious metals.
I paused with gold at $440/oz, $800, and $1,200/oz-ish. I was hoping it would fall back down to the previous pause points. But it never does. Consumer demand has become more globalized, banks & countries storing more, used in manufacturing, edible gold foil being used in foods , etc over the decades.
Long term is the key. Too many new investors jump in when its "hot", then bail when its boring again. Getting to retire fairly well is not rocket science for most people. Work hard, better yourself when you have the chance, marry a good person, (not just who you think at the time is the "hottest"), spend less money than you make, buy good assets that appreciate and get buy with ones that depreciate, and slowly accumulate assets. PM for a coin collector is simply more fun to accumulate, but its only a small part of my assets. The opposite of my advice would be marry the hottest thing you can find, divorce a few times, put in the bare minimum at work in terms of effort and hours, and spend everything plus more on looking fancy for others. Sure, you might have some fun times, but then spend 40 years whining how "life is unfair, I was not born into the right family so I never had a chance in life". I know many people I can name right now just like that, many my own relatives. I was born into the "wrong" family, simply did not let it stop me.
Yeah, I was similar to you. I last added any significant gold or platinum around $1200 AU and $850 PT. Platinum is back down there but nothing to buy and sky high premiums. In a few years $1400ish might be another entry point for me, idk. Silver I have enough of really, too bulky for SDB and half my dang safe is full of it. I only buy semi-numismatic items any more of it, unless I am bored at a coin show.
I kind of did this accidently. As a teen in the mid-90s I built an extensive collection of common 20th cent US silver coins, then decided to sell them in 2011-2012 at the last silver peak. Hindsight being what it is, it would have been nice to buy a giant pile of Roosevelt dimes in the mid-90s. I distinctly remember one coin show in about 1994 and seeing the huge bin of common circulated Roosies with a sign '3 for a $1'.
If the subject of this thread was more directly connected to your reply, I'd give a Best Answer for formulating such a well-crafted and relatable post. Kudos . . .
Long term annual return on gold is 10.6% (statista.com), and for S&P 500 is 11.9% (investopedia.com). That annual difference of 1.3% might not seem like much, but over the long term, it adds up. For every $1,000 invested, the S&P 500 will return an extra $363 in 25 years. Yeah, I have a little bullion, but most of my investment is in equities. Cal
Sorry if a little off topic. In my head I was thinking about long term, how too many new pm investors buy high and sell low, etc, and how this tendency leads to poor choices overall in life and lack of any wealth, when I crafted it. I will readily admit the older I get the more I think I might slightly be on the autism spectrum, going down rabbit trails with thoughts so much few can follow my logic, so to them my responses seem unrelated to each other.
My post was about Long Term. PMs vs PMs vs Equities. Of course, when you cash in equities you'll pay taxes. When you cash in PMs ... well, that $10k per transaction limit may make your thinking a bit fuzzy on how you handle your "profit" and if you sell in smaller chunks. The numbers above don't show the entire picture. It's that "hot" vs "cold" thing @medoraman mentions. I recall when I bought my high school class ring that Gold was above $800 / ounce. That was in 1980ish (18 years prior, and $500 HIGHER to the start of this thread) Then in college my ring when Gold was above $400 around the time the US MINT started making ASE/AGEs. Compared to 1998 when my AGE was $295/oz. Of course, in between those two instances Gold was under $300 and afterwards. It took gold another 18+ years to make those purchases break even. Talk about feeling one is getting ripped off. At least those class rings were more than just an investment.
For me, I am ultra long term, so I really dont care what the price is now as things are constantly changing of course you want to pay the lowest premium of course but how long do you wait..LOL. no one knows what the future holds.
Key word, not reinvesting dividends. If you reinvested dividends, which a lot of people do, you made more in the stock market. Stock market low cost index funds in tax advantaged accounts like Roth IRA, SEP IRA, etc, should always be your #1 investment. Gold should always be a smaller amount compared to your equities investment, maybe 80% equities, 20% gold. Something like that. If you can add real estate or investing in opening and turning a business of your own profitable , that should also come before gold.
Everything is way down, PM.s , Stocks and inflation is at record highs, you never know what your going to get but this is what we have now, if the fed would stop raising rates at chunks of 3/4 percent, thats just insanity ! what do they think people made of money, obviously ! give people a chance to get use to the hikes 1/4 percent way more realistic !
