Poll: Is Silver a good investment

Ooops meant to add a poll.

 

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Where is the poll? Ok, my answer...
Depends on whether you believe the Zombie apocalypse will really be a vampyre apocalypse

 

Can you answer maybe?

 

IMO - This is not a simple yes/no question.

Virtually anything can be a good investment if you believe it will be worth more at some point in the future. Historically, at least here in the US, the best investment has been stocks, with the small business sector being the best of stocks.

However, as time goes by and I get older and more cynical, I am starting to lose confidence in the future of stocks, the dollar, and to a certain extent, our country. That being said, precious metals still only account for less than 5% of my investment portfolio. The reason being, precious metals don't do anything. They just sit there. When you invest in stocks, the companies you invest in are doing something to earn you money.

Of course there's risk in investing in stocks. There's a very real risk that if you don't stay informed, you could lose everything. (As my wife did with about $2,000 of MCI Worldcom stock) With silver, there's risk that the value will not appreciate, but you won't lose everything unless someone robs you.

One rule of thumb with investing is with risk comes reward. There's not too much risk in buying government bonds, but there's not much reward either. Same thing with silver, but right now, it's probably a little better than buying government bonds, especially in the event the economy collapses or whatever...

 

It was about 8:30 this morning or at least I convinced myself it was. TC

 

it depends on your objective.

Metals will go up and down in real terms (when denominated in paper currencies) due to a plethora of factors, but for the long term, I feel that it is an inflation hedge, and held to preserve purchasing power. Maybe you might "make money" off of it, but to me, that should not be it's primary purpose in your portfolio of investment assets.

About the only other assets that can withstand the test of time (say 100-200 years) are hard assets. And some of those can decline or lose value as well because of changes in technology, wars, etc. Gold & silver were valuable thousands of years ago, they're still valuable today.

As far as making money? you'd have made a lot more money buying apple stock 30 years ago and holding it versus buying gold. But hindsight is 20/20

 

IMO, silver is a good investment. Compare to gold, silver price has higher chance to go higher, but silver investment is only for long term investment.

 

Silver is a good speculation. It was an investment when the price was below the total cost of production, but once that level is passed, it becomes a speculation. That doesn't mean it won't go up. I think it will. But it no longer qualifies as an investment.

 

IMO whether silver is a good investment depends on why you are investing in it. If you are trying to make dollars then I consider it speculative, as in trying to play the price spreads, flipping, etc. You may as well just trade paper anything if that's your agenda. If you are trying to plan for the future and the inevitable changing of the guard that comes with all fiat currency systems then I consider it to be the best investment.

 

silver is a decent inflation hedge. you can "make money" but at least for me, that's a secondary purpose to holding it. It's better used as a method of trying to preserve purchasing power of the assets you do have. Gold and silver has been valued for thousands of years, and as long as people are still around it will be valued in the future. Just about the only other asset type that might fit that descrption is land.

There's stocks and other investment types if your objective is to make money.

 

Why would you want to preserve purchasing power, when you can increase it?

BTW, the folks who bought into the silver stackers recommendations when silver was at $45 did not do such a good job in preserving their purchasing power, did they?

Also can you expand on these things you call "stocks" if my objective is to make money. I might be interested in that.

 

Hmm.. let's compare stocks to 10 years ago. Dead even. How about land? Maybe up a notch or two. Nowhere close to the 600% gains gold and silver have had. This is a commodities bull market. Equities should be along for the ride, yet they are being grossly outperformed. Also, $45 silver was just over a year ago. There's no sense in basing your investment decisions on such a short timeframe. If you want to deter people from owning metals, and I can only speculate as to your motivation, you'll need to try harder.

 

That was the past my friend. You have a lot to learn starting with Past Performance does not equal future performance.

You need to be looking at value, not what things did in the past, the past has nothing to do with value. PM,s were a good value and I rode it up with SLV and GLD. I am also on record, on this board some as being short SLV. That position has been covered.

Right now I see value in US equities. The fact that equities have been flat for 10 years has nothing to do with value. Equities are out of favor now, trading at low multiples, have good balance sheets, and a lot of cash on the books. Sounds like value to me.

So, you keep stacking your silver, but don't say nobody warned you.

Mike

 

Besides a price flux in the early 80s and just in the last few years silver has stayed within a few dollars. So in my opinion just by looking at 30 year silver spot charts now is the time to sell unless the supply drops out or demand skyrockets.

Looks like 70% of the last 30 years silver has only averaged $5 an oz. I guess its only a good investment if u know when to sell

 

There's really only one thing that needs to be said here. Negative real interest rates. They are the reason for this bull market, and they are as negative today as ever. Considering that the price of silver is driven by paper contracts that are only 1% backed by physical metal we have absolutely no clue what the actual value is, but we can say with certainty that the reasons for prices going up are more valid each passing day.

And please don't call me your friend if you're going to insult my intelligence with baseless allegations. Talk is cheap. Do some walking.

 

If you have no clue what the actual value is, I STRONGLY recommend you do not invest in it.
Now for myself, I do have a clue about that value and can make a good decision based on that knowledge. The value is too high, you are speculating at best. At $28 an oz it is still too high to even call it a hedge against inflation.

Ok I won't call you friend, but what would you call somebody who is giving you good advice that could save you a butt load?

Also, I don't know what you are talking about, buy doing some walking. l like a said, I was long SLV and GLD for some time, I sold both considerably below the high water mark for both but still made a tidy profit. I am also on record of shorting SLV on this board when it was $45. That position is closed. I have also stated I am long US equities, and have been for over 3 years. I have done so much walking, my shoes have holes in them. Please bookmark this post and we can review next year.

Think about what I said, investing in ANYTHING that you do not have a clue about the true value is just plain bad practice and it will get you broke.

 

Nobody knows what the actual value is, that's my point. Nobody knows what the actual value of anything is because the market is driven by contracts that don't have the actual commodity, bonds which are supposed to measure risk are artificially low, and ratings agencies like Egan Jones get attacked by the SEC for doing the right thing. My investment strategy is based on silver being more rare than gold above ground, having more demand than mining supply can meet, and being the 2nd most useful commodity in existence. However, if I lose my shirt I won't care because I didn't get into it for profit in paper backed by nothing. I got into it for tangible value and to prepare for when the debt bubble collapses. I don't wish this to happen, but it is a mathematical inevitability so I am preparing accordingly.

I wasn't saying don't call me a friend. I was saying that if you are going to do so, act like it. I don't see any point in mincing words. That's what I meant about walking.

I appreciate your apparent concern, but just because it is impossible to determine the value of something in a rigged market doesn't mean that I don't have a clue about it. You are assuming quite a bit. I wouldn't touch GLD or SLV with a 10 foot pole, for one because they don't have the metal to back them up, for another because they take away from physical demand and help keep the price down by playing into the paper ponzi scheme. I have never bought anything except physical metal, and I wouldn't recommend anyone else do otherwise unless they are comfortable with the fact that they don't really own gold or silver.

I am also long equities in my mind, but I don't bother buying them. QE3 could very well kick off in the September FOMC and the ECB has promised at least 500 bn Euro for the ESM in that same timeframe. Everything is going to be going up in price after that, but the reason I don't mess with equities is because I don't trust the financial system. I also do not care about profits or money as long as I have a decent quality of life. I care about stability, self-sufficiency, being able to take care of people I care about, and enabling others to take care of themselves so that I don't have to. Metals are the one way I know of to do this without counter party risk, though there are certainly other risks as each scenario is unique. We have seen the risks in holding paper assets with MF Global, sovereign bond haircuts, flash crashes, money printing, etc. Each person's view may vary, but I have explained mine so I will leave it at that.

 

Ok,

No more smart remarks from me and I understand you are trying to do right by your family and I think it is a decent attitude to only be wanting a decent quality of life. I myself am not the greedy capitalist, I may come off as.

So just the facts here.
First, GLD and SLV IS backed 100% by physical metal. You can look it up yourself in the funds perspective. They hold no futures contracts, no cash, just metal. It is stored in vaults and audited by independent 3rd party firms. Now this is different than, lets say the copper ETF's. Currently there is no copper based ETF that is backed by physical metal. They hold futures contracts, etc. Interesting enough, they are lookingto start a physical metal copper ETF, but there is opposition, and the opposition thinks it may spike the price of copper to fill the demand for the ETF. So right there you see a physical metal ETF does contributute to real demand. There are also many advantages to the ETF. The ETF is more liquid, and costs less (premium over spot is much cheaper) You just can't run your fingers through it. You don't need to pay insurance and storage costs either.

Moving on, I have no love of cash either. You just cannot preserve or build weath holding cash. It just doesn't work. Now, when you purchase equities, you have much more than a piece of paper. You own some of the land, the buildings, the rights to their products and patents, and future earnings. Does it always turn out well? Of course not, but my point is, it is much more than a piece of paper.

And my last point for now. A lot of silver stackers, yourself included, think they are preparing for the inevitable total collapse of the greenback. Two things about that, there is only a very slim chance you will see that in your lifetime and even if you do, it will be nothing like you are thinking. If the USD has a total collapse, it will be far reaching and every currency and culture on the planet will be affected. The bottom line is you will not have anyplace to run with your silver. Silver can not be eaten, cannot be smoked, does not keep you dry, does not keep you warm. In the dooms day scenario it will have no value. You cannot possible think, that you will still be able to drive to your local WAWA and the shelves will be stocked, but only folks with silver will be able to purchase goods.

The way it will be is, you are working deals with neighbors and such trying to aquire neccesities. They will have something you want, and they will be looking for something in return. They will want cigarettes, booze, ammo, canned foods, nails, lumber,etc. When you tell them you have silver, they will tell you NO DEAL. Think about it, what good is silver anyway, it really is just another fiat currency once removed. It only has value because people say it has value ,especially after a total USD collapse and industrial demand falls to near 0. Also I am not buying it will always have value because it has always had value in the past. First of all, that is not true, if you go back far enough it had no value. Second, the past NEVER guarantees the future.

 

Silver is cooooool

My new profile pic

 

I say it is a good investment.