[yorkiemom]

Now this argument over silver and gold -should you buy it or not. First of all, you should have funds equivalent to 6 months expenses minimum before you consider setting up an investment portfolio.

An investment portfolio should be balanced. Stocks, Real Estate, Treasuries, and precious metals for example. I’d say put about 10% to 20% precious metals is a good idea for any portfolio.

BTW, nice summary of our economic history of late.

My silver round aren't an investment - they are insurance. So it never bothered me when spot went up to 45 or now, down to 19. I'm keeping them until I die or until I desperately need them to survive.

As for what to invest other money into - I wish I knew. A balanced portfolio is a good start, but that all assumes I have faith in our economy (stock market, bond market, etc). I know now it is all heavily manipulated and we are teetering on a collapse at some point, with $17T in debt. Even the old Blue Chip stocks or dividend producing stocks make me wary. Wish I had that crystal ball!

[greeneyes]

LOL. I know the feeling. I too am not really trying to make money off the silver eagles, and other coins. Just a stash to keep.

I figure that if inflation hits, my house payment will be the same, but the property tax could become unaffordable, so I have several years worth equivalent to taxes stashed that should rise with the inflation.

When I was a kid, by maternal grandpa used to give me a big nickel(silver dollar) whenever I visited. Mom always kept them for me until I would decide what to spend it on. Then she would pay for it with a bill.

I asked one time why they all wanted to keep those coins, and they told me it was because they were afraid that our money might not be worth any thing some day. Supposedly they had a bunch of them hidden under the floorboards of the house.

I believe that Real Estate acquired during this recent downturn will absolutely be a good investment, but it’s not liquid, still with a good location, I wouldn’t hesitate.

I would not invest in bonds at this time, because interest rates are too low, and more likely than not to go up. I keep enough in Treasuries to pay off the Home Equity loan plus a little extra. Even Treasuries make me nervous these days.

Remember the first few days of 2008 market crash? Money was being drained from Treasuries, and the accounts were showing a negative return, as the world thought it was just a USA problem; that was scary. Then when it became clear that the rest of the world had similar problems, the money all came back to the USA.

Since our currency is not backed by gold anymore, reputation is what keeps that money here for now. Usually, it is considered less risky to just invest in a mutual fund, but these days, I would buy stock in an individual company, before I’d put anymore in mutual funds.

I’d look for a company with a long history and see that they did well during prior periods of uncertainty, but even more important, they should also have zero short term debt and long term debt should be as close to zero as possible.

Then I’d want to see a big stash of liquied assets, and great cash flow. Good luck finding that! Last time, I found one it was 6 years ago and it was the only one I found that fit that criteria. The stock doubled within 6 months, and I sold a little more than half of it to get back my original investment plus and let the rest ride.

One thing I didn’t mention, paying extra on any debt that has a high interest rate is a sure thing. If your interest rate is 12%, that is a for sure 12% rate of return kinda on your money for example.

Our issue is that we are retired, and living on pensions and social security. Hubby works part time and I babysit. Our hobby is gardeing and becoming more self sufficient - going back to our roots and homesteading a little. We’ll be ok as long as pensions checks keep coming, or at least if we can make the house payment and real estate taxes I think.