General question on silver and gold holding.

reversethong

I know this is very a general question and very relative to a persons wealth and other, but based strictly on emergency needs. What is a good amount on silver and gold to hold for emergency only and what size breakdown are best? I'm not talking about speculating, hoarding,fiat currency or any other factor to PM's just holding it for a bad day. I have some junk silver dimes, halfs and dollars and some ASE. Looking to get a little gold for this reason as well, but I'm more interested in coins as a collector. Thanks

tincup

You would have to define what you mean by 'emergency'.

If you mean the furnace suddenly goes out and you need $cash to make the repairs or buy a new one.... then you should not have the money tied up in gold or silver. If you are forced to sell in a situation like this, you will very seldom come out ahead IMO.

If you mean an emergency like 'bank holiday' and you cannot get any money out of a bank.... not sure gold or silver will do you any good either.

If you are hoarding for the future 'inflation', shouldn't matter very much what type you hold, as long as you have physical possession of it.

Bottom line... anything being considered for emergency use.... might be better to keep as cash.

DoubleEagle59

Based strictly on emergency needs, I would hold a combination of Gold and Silver.

But most important, I would hold SMALL ounce bars of each.

A 1000 oz silver 'brick' (weighs approx. 65 pounds!) will do you little good if you're bartering a small amount. How do you divide a thing like that?

Personally, I buy the 1000 oz bars, mainly for investment (I don't want to pay the high bar charges that are applicable with smaller bars).

But for your case, paying a slightly higher bar charge is less important than having a good 'small' sample at the ready.

Cladiator

My goal is 5% of my entire savings portfolio is to be in precious metals. I have silver in varying sizes ranging from 1oz to 100oz items. The majority of my silver is in the smaller sized items with a good amount in mid sized and but a few large sized.