Gyroscopic Investing

Hi,

what do you think of buying coins in silver and gold to keep at home, if the SHTF.

The most important expenses for around 1-2 years in coins.

http://www.coininvestdirect.com/en/gold ... 0-5gr.html

http://www.coininvestdirect.com/en/silv ... -2013.html

these coins above would be your choice?

I like silver a bunch, whether or not SHTF.  And remember, Harry "voted" for silver, before he "voted" against it

But I like silver coins that were actually money.  Like the common "junk" silver of the US, Canada, Mexico, etc.  Most of these coins have little or no numismatic value.  And you can actually learn stuff.  For example, why did Great Britain reduce the silver content of its coins from 92.5% silver to 50% silver to 0% silver?

The American Silver Eagle is a beautiful coin, but it was made to be sold, not used.

Precious metals are there to preserve your wealth from the start of economic instability to when it it is over.

During the actual economic instability or SHTF scenario you would be better served with essential goods, trade skills/tools, and the means for defense.

I keep silver also, but would rather have my KB2 knife and long gun in the middle of SHTF.

I think it's a very good idea ! Now, gold or silver ?

As I said in other posts, physical precious metals are useful in a quite-SHTF like Argentina as they can be changed at a local dealer against a local currency of some sort (say, pesos or dollars) ; then you would use that currency. So, gold or silver... I'd rather go with gold.

For a situation where you don't even have some kind of local currency available... Well, you're probably better bartering useful goods and skills, as Bean suggests. Gold or silver would be useful for very special situations when you don't have the skills or goods to give for what you need (say, medication, going through a frontier, etc.), or should be kept until a new, stable situation arises. So, having silver rather than gold wouldn't be an advantage there, rather a disadvantage as it is harder to hide or move.

During WWII in France, gold ownership was forbidden by the nazis. If you were found with more than a few grams of gold with you, you were good for, well, we can imagine what. At the same time, silver ownership was not forbidden, afaik. Well, gold has never been that expensive in silver price (I think you needed 100 ounces of silver to buy 1 ounce of gold) ; gold seems to have been far more desirable despite the risks.

I can hardly imagine a situation where you would use physical precious metals on a daily basis, and if you did that would put you into great danger. I guess many people would like to know where that man who seems to have so much silver & gold lives.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it can be wise to have some silver, and you better have some silver than no precious metal at all.

Gold  and silver both do double duty in there own way, for a pp gold is the right metal to have, its being volatile, and a monetary metal, and how it responds to its economic conditions make it fundamental to a PP, it is also potentially useful as a medium of exchange in tragic times. Mixing in a small percentage of silver seems harmless, but personally i count the silver i had (until the boating accident) as being in my VP,  i preferred the Canadian maple because it says what it is "99.9" right on the coin and in a SHTF you wouldn't have to wait for the market to develop money changers that know all the ins and outs of silver value on differently dated junk coins or for that to become common knowledge, i suspect in a SHTF where silver was being used as a medium of exchange such exchanges and common knowledge would happen fairly quickly, but to cover all your bases like having to pay somebody on day 2 to save family or get out of dodge, it might come in handy (the maples are also pretty).  Silver is also a speculative play i don't know the ins and outs of when or why silver might jump up in value but it does happen now and then, this is not my reason for having (had  ) silver but i am sure an argument can be made for it,

a third reason for silver, one that may be "a way out in way out land possibility" is that silver has been a monetary metal in the past, and if it does get used as a medium for exchange during troubled times that monetary usage may regain favor and catch on, in which case that silver would be a part of your cash portion and with the help of gold possibly smooth out the transition from fiat to a metal based money system...