How many stackers (gold and silver) Worldwide?

reddwing

So there is a little more than 7.2 Billion people on the planet as of today. Anybody care to guess how many individual gold and silver stackers are out there? Just .01% would be 72 million or almost the population of Turkey!

derryb

Only one of them matters to me.

RedTiger

I'm not sure why it matters, but here's a back of the envelope estimate. Start with India with a population of 1.2 billion. Five people per family gives about 250 million families. Say about the richest 10% can afford to stack in a meaningful way and that's 25 million. China might have about a similar number of families stacking, because they aren't quite as enthusiastic about gold as India, but have a larger population. So that's 25 million for India, plus 25 million for China. Maybe add another 12 million world wide for all other countries. India and China represent about 80% of world wide demand for physical gold. This gives an estimate of 62 million stackers world wide. Of course, it will vary depending on how big a stack qualifies to be counted. Is it a percentage of average national annual income? Or a set dollar amount? Or something else.

In the U.S. I would guess about 250,000 to 500,000 that might be worth counting. Again, it will vary a lot depending on how big a stack qualifies to be counted. Women don't stack, so that's 50% off the top. Another 50% don't save any money, much less in metal form, so that's down to 25% with any chance. Eliminate kids and that's another 25%. The possible number gets smaller real quick. Americans have relatively little affinity for gold, as least as compared with people in India or China. The only Americans that have seen paper money go to zero are immigrants with a long memory, or those that might remember stories from the Civil War era or the Revolutionary War. In other words, virtually no one.

Most other countries either can't afford to stack (33% of the world population lives on $10 a day or less, median household income worldwide is about $10,000 USD), or don't care much about metals.

ricko

I would not even hazard a guess (though I am impressed with RedTiger's estimates), however, I am sure the number - when talking worldwide - is minuscule.
Cheers, RickO

DeepCoin

I would think the number of stackers is quite small. It is most certainly true that gold is prized in India and many families, particularly the women wear their wealth. However, when you get to people of means in this country, it becomes a different story. The main issue is storage and safety, not to mention what percentage of your assets you choose to have in gold / silver.

If we remove numismatic gold and silver from the equation, I am not certain I know anyone on a personal basis who is a stacker. I have an eclectic set of friends, including those of most political persuasions. I am not saying there are not any, clearly this board is filled with stackers, I am just saying that my personal experience does not include any and that includes a wide net of people.

Now I may have a more narrowly defined stacker view, but using the US only, it is not a common wealth strategy.

Stork

"Women don't stack". Well poop, turns out I'm a guy a didn't know it. My husband and gynecologist are going to be surprised when I let them in on that.

RedTiger

<< <i>"Women don't stack". Well poop, turns out I'm a guy a didn't know it. My husband and gynecologist are going to be surprised when I let them in on that. >>



My apologies. In the U.S., I am guessing about 97 to 3 male to female, and 3 might be pushing it. You are one of the few exceptions. There was a thread a couple of years ago, and not a single woman responded on this forum as a stacker. Only one or two responded at all, and they were numismatic coin collectors that occasionally check in here.

derryb

Historically, investment decisions are handled by the husband of a marriage team, but I am seeing more and more female gold collector coin buyers. About time women had their say in the matter.