Presently am considering coins as an inflation hedge. There is no numismatic intent or consideration in my thinking - buying as a store of value only and looking for something that's self-evidently genuine.
Does anyone see a reason to prefer the platinum coins over the gold, or vice versa?
Gold is preferred over Platinum for your purposes because:
1) Gold is more widely known for monetary purposes and in order for it to work as money, people have to know what it is.
2) Platinum (and also Silver) are considered industrial metals and their value is not only affected by inflation but also the strength of various industries using those metals (like scientific research). So if inflation goes up but the industrial uses decline then it might not do what you want it to do when inflation occurs.
3) Gold has been used as a monetary currency for a lot longer than platinum and is therefore more likely to continue doing so in the future.
Dearth
Member
posted: Feb. 10, 2009 @ 9:04p
I don't know why people would use gold to hedge inflation.... might as well use pork bellies or stocks. Gold can be volatile and has its own ups and downs. Timing the gold market can be just as futile as the stock market.
magika
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Feb. 10, 2009 @ 9:07p
Buy a gold ETF. If your the kind of tin foil hat wearer that thinks you have to buy the actual coins because the end is nigh, remember in the kind of world the tin foil haters and doom and gloom prophets fantasize over, er...predict your gold will have no value since we'll all be dead and./or society is turned back into the stone age.
magika said: remember in the kind of world the tin foil haters and doom and gloom prophets fantasize over, er...predict your gold will have no value since we'll all be dead and./or society is turned back into the stone age.But the gold is bright and shiny, so the cavemen will share the ox they clubbed to death if you give them some.
On second thought, the bright shiny gold may be incentive for them to club YOU over the head.
Buy Gold Now! Do your part to participate in another bubble so more wealth will be destroyed so ultimately there won't be as much money floating around even after the additional trillions the world Governments will print up.
Gold has traditionnaly been as friendly to Long Term Investors as the LAPD was to Rodney King
inda
Ancient Member
posted: Feb. 10, 2009 @ 9:58p
Buy Obamacoins
Hmm, wonder if I could paint some quarters with TripleB's photo on it, how much it would sell for?
SUCKISSTAPLES said: Technologist said: Gold will hit 1300 on or before September 15th.... go ahead, mark your calendars and come back to call me an idiot.... LOL!
but everything else (non-durable) ill also go up 40+ percent... so no gains to be made.gonna hold you to that...
5 dollar gentlemen's bet?
and for theman2.... you really need to rent "The Jerk" (Steve Martin movie, starring tripleB!!!).
tripleB said: Gold is preferred over Platinum for your purposes because:
1) Gold is more widely known for monetary purposes and in order for it to work as money, people have to know what it is.
2) Platinum (and also Silver) are considered industrial metals and their value is not only affected by inflation but also the strength of various industries using those metals (like scientific research). So if inflation goes up but the industrial uses decline then it might not do what you want it to do when inflation occurs.
3) Gold has been used as a monetary currency for a lot longer than platinum and is therefore more likely to continue doing so in the future.
Thank you for your serious reply. I appreciate your effort in sharing your opinion, and I respect what you wrote. It was helpful.
Your post aside, though, signal to noise ratio here is quite poor. Pity.
ColbyS said: guardian44, lot of gold-haters here but those folks long gold have been smiling a lot lately...especially today!
Agreed. Almost $26/oz in one day. Still, the price will fluctuate in future . . . . I hope.
I've been working very hard on this. No emotion - just the facts. IMHO gold could fall before the big push. Things are very slow, and slowing. Crude will also fall IMHO as we progressively put February in the rear view mirror and March draws near.
But I have no emotional content in my view of gold, no love no hate. All I care about is preservation of my nestegg. Was out of the (stock) market last year, thank God, for the same reason. This year brings new challenges, but the objective remains.
Anyway, thanks for your input. It all goes into the database.
guardian44 said: I've been working very hard on this. No emotion - just the facts. IMHO gold could fall before the big push. Things are very slow, and slowing. Crude will also fall IMHO now that we are through Feb..
But I have no emotional content in my view of gold, no love no hate. All I care about is preservation of my nestegg. Was out of the (stock) market last year, thank God, for the same reason. This year brings new challenges, but the objective remains.
Anyway, thanks for your input. It all goes into the database.You may find this interesting. There are some surprising results.
TripleB is right (man it feels weird saying that) in that platinum is indeed an industrial metal and subject to industrial demand. Most notably platinum is an uber catalyst for a variety of applications. One very potentially relevant applications is it is by far the best catalyst for hydrogen splitting in fuel cells. I personally spent 5 years of grad school trying to come up with something better and never came even close. If we end up moving to hydrogen energy the cost of platinum is going to shoot through the roof. I am not saying you should invest in platinum (the hydrogen economy is a LONG way off), but just throwing some information out there.
mtl325
Senior Member
posted: Feb. 12, 2009 @ 9:48p
guardian44 said: Presently am considering coins as an inflation hedge. There is no numismatic intent or consideration in my thinking - buying as a store of value only and looking for something that's self-evidently genuine.
If you think gold is a good investment, the etf GLD is the way to go. If you need the security of the hard asset; ask yourself:
Are prepared for this path?
What are you going to do with your gold coins? Put them in your desk drawer, no security - that's dumb. Put them in a bank safety deposit box? No you can't do that. If the collapse comes you won't have access to your safety deposit box, you need to buy a safe. A real safe, none of this fire-proof stuff. But if the collapse comes roving bandits/the government may go house to house raiding valuables. No you need weapons and I'm not talking about a wussy 9mm handgun, you need a hello kitty AK-47 and a few 50 cal rifles. Now you've got sovergnty over your home, but you can't leave. Now you need at least 6 months of food in your pantry - order the Freedom box from efoods.com and begin rotating your stock of canned goods.
So let's tally the 'cost' of your investment: 1. Minters fees (4-15% depending on your broker and the amount you're purchasing) 2. Real safe 3. Hello kitty assualt rifle 4. efoods/canned goods
Unless we're talking about 50k+, you've got a guaranteed losing investment even if gold spikes to 3k an ounce.
coolwhs
Member
posted: Feb. 12, 2009 @ 10:07p
I buy and sell gold/silver bullion, and most of the time the smallest spreads are in the ETF's and futures markets, not the physical bullion market.
davef139
Senior Member - 3K
posted: Feb. 12, 2009 @ 10:19p
Technologist said: SUCKISSTAPLES said: Technologist said: Gold will hit 1300 on or before September 15th.... go ahead, mark your calendars and come back to call me an idiot.... LOL!
but everything else (non-durable) ill also go up 40+ percent... so no gains to be made.gonna hold you to that...
5 dollar gentlemen's bet?
and for theman2.... you really need to rent "The Jerk" (Steve Martin movie, starring tripleB!!!).
I would totally take that bet lol
as for OP theres a thread on buying Gold/Silver Bullion I know I bought a few grand worth and was well worth it due to money i made. In a raesonably short period of time. Depending on your time frame you may consider doing futures contracts.
good luck finding platinum coins for anything reasonable. I do not think you can, but on the off chance I am wrong please let us all know where you found them.
You don't have to buy a safe to store gold coins. In fact that's just inviting home invasion. Instead bury it in the ground somewhere. Just don't forget where.
ETF is paper gold - not exactly the same as physical gold. When times are really tough (we're far from those times) you want the real thing, not paper crap.
ETF - Lack of inventory due to inability to audit (outright fraud), counter-party risk on futures delivery, government confiscation
Bullion - Loss, theft, confiscation
I keep a couple of ammo cases stashed here and there with 200 7.62x39mm bullets and about 100 1 oz. silver rounds. I also am deep in gold since I liquidated my entire IRA and bought GLD at under 75 on 12/5/08. But neither of those items are as significant to me as my caches of storable food and fuel. Oh, and I forgot the 20 SKS rifles I bought for $89 each in the 80's
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