I get that PMs are a store of money or a hedge, not totally an investment. I have been buying a few ounces here and there over the last 4 years mostly because I think it's cool and will be a good way to give my kid(s) some money later. I can't stomach the cost of ounces of gold, even though they are low right now. but I went into the local store today to get a 10 ounce bar, and ended up with 2 5s for the same price that looked more interesting, which keeps the wife on board. I saw an impressive looking 25 ouncer! I want it, but not sure it's worth it to me at the $440 they were asking. I see PMs as maybe a good way to trade/buy in an emergency, certainly a hedge against inflation as they should rise with it, and due to transaction costs it keeps me from spending it. Weird how I can "waste" $200 cash on stuff I kinda need but don't (more AR parts, seriously?) but I don't spend the silver.

Pros:
since silver is low now, it brings the dollar cost down on some that I own already
it's easy to move and looks cool (my kids will hopefully enjoy it)
pay slightly less premium per ounce the bigger the block is
I have spent more money on things that just sit in my safe not being used

Cons:
Ties up some cash that could be in hundreds or the market
hard to spend in an emergency since you can't divide it easily
still paying a premium over spot, so has to go up that high to break even
Pulls money that I could spend on gold if I was willing to save up more

what are the thoughts on this? Assume I'm not a crazy person, have a real job with health insurance, minimal debt, full emergency fund, and otherwise investing in the stock market, 529s, etc. This would come out of the gun budget, not household budget

I regret selling my 2002 roll of silver eagles (20).

I've always liked silver stuff.

Coins are easier to move.

Buy it because you enjoy possessing it, not because you want to turn it into a new boat for next season.

Chris

Platinum might be a better choice? I have not watched it lately but it is rarely less tha gold..or not for very long ?
I have noticed several times over thelast year that platinum was less than gold by quite a bit... ?

I would watch all 3 and look at previous trends before choosing one. Especially if the goal is buy right and wait.
In the end... you can almost never go wrong with gold unless you buy way high..
Someone will always buy gold. The others..?

BTW..all the silver hype over the last 3 years turned into a nothing sandwich.
If you have a crystal ball then you don’t need advice !

I like silver but mainly went with junk as it would be recognizable currency and a lot of times you could find it cheaper than spot.
But saying that I wish I'd put it all into gold and am now transferring a bunch as it all gets very heavy.
You can't carry much wealth in your bug-out bag if it's silver.

that's what I'm thinking. It's harder for me to buy gold though, you need to have a much higher amount of cash handy. I can do in with $40, I haven't seen anything in gold less than 1/4oz before you don't just eat it on the premium.

No.  10 oz bars are probably a better size for resale, and $440 isn't a bargain.  That's $17.60 per oz, you can get 10 oz bars from JM Bullion right now for $16.51 per oz, free shipping over $99.

I've always looked at silver as a great alternative currency or, in the case of failed paper currency, as a medium of exchange that is relatively easily to use in small portions. Coins are best here. I like the Canadian Maple Leafs because they have a more pure silver content and they have a $5 face value vs. $1 for Silver Eagles. Either way, coins are easy to use as "currency" in small transactions when paper currency fails.

Gold, on the other hand, is a method for the compact storage of wealth. It's easy to have tens of thousands of dollars worth of gold coins just in a pants pocket or sewn into a jacket liner. So, if you believe SHTF will eventually happen by whatever means, it only makes sense to convert a portion (5-10%) of your dollar-denominated assets to compact wealth storage. If your 401k turns to dust due to hyperinflation, you need to have at least some "residual" wealth you can count on. Say you're the typical ARFCOM multi-millionaire with a supermodel wife who owns lots of stawks and bonds and have a sizable savings in cash. If the dollar goes kaput, now all that is confetti. And, you may not have enough time when the balloon goes up to convert all those dollars into gold, silver, guns, ammo, land, food, water, and other SHTF supplies. So, you should have a contingency plan to have some portion of your "wealth" be immediately accessible and not subject to overnight destruction.

Currency collapse has happened many times to various countries. Some happened quickly, some took time. Problem is, you don't know which it will be until it starts happening and by then it's generally too late to re-position your assets.

Ok, in a SHTF, how hard would it be to find someone who recognizes the value of a 25 Oz bar of silver? How easy would it be to buy what you need and get change from your 25 Oz bar of silver?

I think it’s a terrible idea if you don’t already have a lot of gold and silver coin  in your stash. That, and the bigger the bar, the more likely it is to be counterfeited and mistrusted.

I'll be buying soon hopefully in the $13-$14 range

Silver and gold are for after shtf, not during.

...

Why not buy silver, if you are inclined to, in a far more divisible and recognizable form, like pre-64 junk silver coins or American Eagles???

So that your store of wealth is more easily LIQUIDATED in the event it needs to be....

This is old fashioned 'common sense'.

I'd go for 10oz bars or smaller...with a good number of 1oz pieces.  Silver is good for selling/trading small amounts.  Think of 1oz pieces as wallet money.  Gold is better for storing/moving large amounts of wealth.  This is your hedge savings.

If you need to carry thousands of dollars in PMs with you, as you leave, go gold.  If you need to sell off some PMs to pay for this week's groceries, use silver.  As such large bricks of silver don't make as much sense (less portability than gold, but also less divisibility than small pieces of silver).

So, in true ARF fashion, get both.

What are you going to trade/buy with a 25 oz bar in an emergency? Do you expect change? On the other hand, 25 1 oz coins, or pre-64, that is much easier to barter with.

You seem awfully affect by "cool factor" and "looks".

25 oz bar is harder to move than 25 one ounce bars.  Only buy it if you have a bunch of eagles or rounds already.

For some of the reasons mentioned above, I try to always having a few tubes of American eagles around along with some good old fashioned cash.  It's just a little extra insurance if needed, and it doesn't take up a lot of room in the safe or bag if we need to go. I keep the cash in a zipper bag type with important documents and its always ready to go.

How many serious gold, or even silver, brokers do you think you are going to find if the .gov makes ownership illegal again?

Because if that day comes, it will immediately precede SHTF, and you won’t find any brokers afterward either.

Even if the government wanted to outlaw precious metals, how many Americans would comply and surrender it?  First very few own the stuff and second,  we’re more leery of Big Bro than our ancestors of 1933.  Both left and right don’t trust big bro.   Besides, the black market will always be there and unless it’s a reset by God, things will eventually recover.

So this.

You buy gold and silver for restoring your wealth after a SHTF.

That could mean months to years after.

You need ALL THE THINGS to get you through the SHTF loooong before you need gold and silver.

The ONLY time I might use gold or silver during a SHTF would be to buy my way to safe passage out of the country if needed (bribes etc.) because cash may have collapsed in value.

Better to buy silver in 1oz US Mint coins.

The US Mint component eases uncertainty about the .999 fine silver content when trading, and the 1oz size will be far easier to barter after the unbacked paper debt-notes collapse.

BTW: you can't eat, drink or shoot precious metals.

Better to have your food, water, and ammo squared away long before you think about currency reserves.

It seems that many people have "SHTF" prioritization of needs grossly incorrect.

DEFENSE, SHELTER, WATER, FOOD
Instant, 3 minutes, 3 days, 3 weeks

That's the time it takes those issues to kill a person.

If we were really concerned about surviving "it" we wouldn't be on the internet.  We'd be chopping firewood, planting more fruit trees, securing our INCREDIBLY REMOTE home, canning food, reloading ammo, studying field medicine, learning to: preserve seeds; distill vinegar; produce yeast; grow produce; improve animal husbandry; learn squad level light infantry tactics; improve marksmanship; etc.

HOWEVER, we mostly like to talk about these things and stop by Wal-Mart on our way home to buy an extra few cans of beans for our "larder".

I'm not accusing anyone ... I'm speaking from experience.

When a person asks about precious metals they're either well advanced in their "preparations" or they are misinformed.  People shouldn't care about having 10,000 ounces of gold if they live in a sub-division with 300 hungry souls that will end up over-running their stick-framed contemopary house.

However, if you have a retreat (better yet ... LIVE YEAR ROUND AT A RETREAT), have 3-7 years of food, 100-250k rounds of ammunition, six ways of storing and purifying water (along with a minimum of 15,000 gallons of potable water storage), a minimum of seven properly maintained pasture (0.33 acres of vegetable garden, 0.67 acres of orchard, 0.5 acres of bramble production, 0.5 acres of rough forage, five acres of rotational animal paddocked pasturing land), minimum of five properly forested woodland acres, a complete assemblage of homestead animals (chickens, pigs, milking and meat cattle and perhaps goats) as well as tools, guns, farm equipment, silage storage, barn storage, animal shelters, etc ........ then ......... you should definitely start thinking about 10 years after the collapse when you want to barter.

ETA: Yes, we use to live on an organic homestead 35 minutes from the nearest town.  It was a PITA.  We sold the homestead, and gave away all of the survival crap.  Then we moved back to town like normal people.