Anybody else hoarding silver?

byergo

If everyone interested in investing in silver bought bullion and took physical possession it seems that would really raise the price. I say don't buy silver mining stocks, commodities paper, futures contracts, etc... just buy the real metal and hoard it!

Even a relatively small safe deposit box at the bank can hold thousands of dollars worth of silver bars. This is plenty of storage space for most people.

Your thoughts?

Cladiator

topstuf

Physical silver is REALLY unwieldy and heavy. However, I buy it as it is intrinsically FREE at this point. Also have silver and gold stocks and gold coins.
I like the privacy of physical.

SportsModerator

dlimb2

I am not hording it ,just trying to buy as much as I can on limited funds.

byergo

Plus, these days you can't trust CEO's, Mutual Fund Managers, etc... and the dollar is devaluing like a Peso (as Yogi Berra once said--a nickel ain't worth a dime anymore!). Why not silver/gold?

bulloncoins

Guilty.

dollardude

Let me share with you my experience with silver. Two years ago, I bought up a bunch of 10-ounce bars. I bought them at a decent price, but had to pay shipping, handling, and insurance (one cost). I then had to securely store them (another cost). After holding them several months, the price shot up. I then decided to sell them on eBay. I was very successful at selling them at a premium, and at collecting shipping and handling fees, but still had to pay eBay commissions (additional costs), PayPal commissions (additional costs), packaging costs (additional costs), postage (additional costs), and insurance (additional costs). By the time I added up all of these costs (even though I collected the market rate of shipping, handling, and insurance fees from the buyers), I ended up breaking even on the deal, even though I had invested many hours of my time. So, I think silver is a horrible place to invest money. I have also spoken with other people who tried the same thing, and they were not as lucky as I was. They actually LOST money, where I broke even.

Edited to Add: All of the other folks I've spoken with have lost money investing in silver, and the only benefit they've gotten is that they've been able to write off a capital loss on their income tax.

Edited to Add: The reason I bought silver two years ago was due to the [then] rumor that the U.S. Mint would be purchasing silver buillion from the open market, and this would drive the price of silver up. This was just not true.

CalGold

I'm not but do you know who is? About a billion people who live in India. When a woman is married all of the jewelry she wears is her separate property, that her husband can't touch if they divorce. So they wear gold and silver jewlery, including a lot of old coin necklaces and bracelets. When the price of silver went way up in 1980, vast amounts of silver came to the market out of India. And it will happen again if the price is right.

CG

dollardude

I have known for years that people in India value silver. In fact, they also value gold and diamonds. When I was a child, I had friends who were Indian, so I learned early on about this. However, that doesn't affect the fact that precious metals are a horrible investment.

CalGold

Dollardude,

You missed my point. The hundreds of millions of ounces of silver in India puts a "cap" on the market. Anyone who buys in when the price gets high stands the risk of getting clobbered when millions of ounces come off the wrists of Indian ladies and into the bullion markets.

CG

dollardude

CG,

I really DON"T get your point, but I agree that silver is a HORRIBLE investment. What happens in India is really irrelevant, and is relatively constant anyway. From personally knowing Indian people, what happens to the price of gold, silver, and diamonds really is irrelevant, and they will keep what they have. Trying to explain the price of silver via some whacko Indian theory is ridiculous at best.

Dan

LincolnCentMan

Weights too much... mark up's too little... when I buy it, I throw it in a bucket in my closet. If silver hits $10 an oz, I might go see how much I've got.

David

ElectricEye

Lead is a better investment

collect the three G's

JoyofCollecting

When I was about 12 years old, I put my life's savings into junk 90% silver coins at about 3.5 times face. Life savings at that time was about $2,000.

Two years later, the Hunt's tried to corner the market. I sold it all at about 25 times face. Then at the age of 14, I put the $14,000 from the silver into long-term CD's that were earning about 11% at the time.

Thus, my $2,000 investment in silver more than paid for my college.

Lucky....absolutely. Can it happen again.....not likely. Do I own some junk silver today.....you betcha!

ARCO

I started collecting coins as a kid in the late 70's right before and as silver was shooting up. I loved silver and bought it whenever I could. As a young man I put all my money into silver believing that it would go up again and I would pay for my schooling. Of course I never understood why it had gone up in the first place, nor did I understand the nature of investing at all so my logic was ignorant and flawed.

As for an investment over the long haul, silver and gold seem like losers, but as a hedge against inflation or as a hedge against the collapse of Fiat money (if it ever occurs), having some silver and gold makes sense. I think buying silver as a hedge against the latter (collapse of Fiat money), is accomplished by purchasing silver coinage pre 65' in small denominations from dimes to halves. As a hedge against inflation silver seems less convenient than gold for the increased physical presence of so much silver and the storage costs. For a hedge, gold seems to have more bang for the buck (if one has increased funds).

Tyler

nucklehead

<< <i>I am not hording it ,just trying to buy as much as I can on limited funds. >>

Same here.

g097103

I buy silver but my time frame for it isn't 2 or 5 or 10 years, I'm looking forward 20-30 years. If I'm gone by then it will be my kids problem to deal with. Same with gold, it is a long term holding. Undocumented assets are a beautiful thing.