Gold and Silver

[Star43]

I don't know I know you guys don't agree but most of my money in the stock market and it's doing great

Yeah for now......and right now. How did your 401K do last year ? And most of the year before that? It's up and down, mostly down. Most 401K's last couple of years not so good. What sucks is when a guy is retiring and his 401K went to crap. That sucks for that guy.......That's the sad part of relying on the market. One cannot have all his eggs in one basket. Be balanced. And make sure a lot of those eggs are in hands that you can see, touch, and hold !!! I am done here. Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there. I'm going to go see my Grandkids now !!!

 

[Joe Chartreuse]

In the recent past the Hunt brothers manipulated silver. Where do you get your information from, totally backasswards. Except for crypto.

That was around 50 years ago, and changes in regulations SORT of put a stop to that particular maneuver performed that way. That aside, no one is saying that commodities can't be manipulated. Gold is being artificially held back, oil is manipulated by investors, companies, suppliers, etc. Everything can be manipulated. What I said is that with commodities you can find out the reasoning behind it and work with it to your advantage. In most cases that isn't so with stocks. In that market only a very diversified portfolio might work, and even then you may never know why.

Crypto is basically a name on a virtual nothing that some internet influencer convinces some people it has value. It is literally air, something like many of the 90's non-existent dot.coms. The difference is that the dot.coms could be bought into real world existence, and some were.

 

[Star43]

That was around 50 years ago, and changes in regulations SORT of put a stop to that particular maneuver performed that way. That aside, no one is saying that commodities can't be manipulated. Gold is being artificially held back, oil is manipulated by investors, companies, suppliers, etc. Everything can be manipulated. What I said is that with commodities you can find out the reasoning behind it and work with it to your advantage. In most cases that isn't so with stocks. In that market only a very diversified portfolio might work, and even then you may never know why.

Crypto is basically a name on a virtual nothing that some internet influencer convinces some people it has value. It is literally air, something like many of the 90's non-existent dot.coms. The difference is that the dot.coms could be bought into real world existence, and some were.

And also, why does no one really want to take "credit" for inventing Bitcoin. Bitcoin has evolved to different crypto currency "companies". Think about this for a moment. No one really wants to take the credit for it because when it goes upside down. With Bitcoin and the like, it is like "magic dust" on a cloud. Talk about Risk ?? I want nothing to do with Bitcoin....How many people do you know that uses Bitcoin to buy groceries, or go to the movies, or to buy a car or a gun, etc, etc, etc. it is mainly magic dust to me that could vanish at any time. And when it vanishes, who are you going to call or complain to ?? Good luck with that.

 

[JackBull]

"If" being the key word. Before you invest you want to know what the worst case scenario is.
I have heard the "if" argument many times...."if" you had bought Dell stock...."If" you had bought Bitcoin. "If" you had put a quarter in the slot machine just before the great payout. But they don't qualify as investments in which you could have been confident of worst case scenario.

Buying individual stocks IS gambling and NOT investing. Invest the whole market.

 

[JackBull]

Yeah for now......and right now. How did your 401K do last year ? And most of the year before that? It's up and down, mostly down. Most 401K's last couple of years not so good. What sucks is when a guy is retiring and his 401K went to crap. That sucks for that guy.......That's the sad part of relying on the market. One cannot have all his eggs in one basket. Be balanced. And make sure a lot of those eggs are in hands that you can see, touch, and hold !!! I am done here. Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there. I'm going to go see my Grandkids now !!!

My 401K did great last year! Who said anything about putting all your eggs in one basket? X% in stock funds, Y% in bonds. The bonds are to carry you over when the market is down.

 

[JackBull]

That was around 50 years ago, and changes in regulations SORT of put a stop to that particular maneuver performed that way. That aside, no one is saying that commodities can't be manipulated. Gold is being artificially held back, oil is manipulated by investors, companies, suppliers, etc. Everything can be manipulated. What I said is that with commodities you can find out the reasoning behind it and work with it to your advantage. In most cases that isn't so with stocks. In that market only a very diversified portfolio might work, and even then you may never know why.

Crypto is basically a name on a virtual nothing that some internet influencer convinces some people it has value. It is literally air, something like many of the 90's non-existent dot.coms. The difference is that the dot.coms could be bought into real world existence, and some were.

Why are gold and oil being held back? How does one make money keeping the price down?

 

[mirglip]

Why are gold and oil being held back? How does one make money keeping the price down?

The folks who run Wall Street behind closed doors play the derivatives market, do puts and calls to make the most of their foreknowledge. They don't care if a stock goes up or down, all they care about is knowing in advance.

 

[dchmule]

1.Invest in good companies or better yet, ETFs or Index funds. 2. Don't panic and sell out when the market takes a dip. Unless you want to gamble, avoid penny stocks and "fads" like the electric vehicle fad that's passing away now. The most important thing is educate yourself if you do your own investing.
During the "crash" in 2008 a lot of people lost money because they panicked and sold out when the market had already bottomed out.
We have some gold and silver put back for a rainy day, but stocks and bond funds have made a lot more money for us in the last 20 years.

 

[DerekR]

Buying cold and silver is no different than buying corn futures. Or pork belly futures. I can't imagine wading in that pond.

 

[mirglip]

Buying cold and silver is no different than buying corn futures. Or pork belly futures. I can't imagine wading in that pond.

Buying PAPER gold or PAPER silver is no different than buying PAPER pork or PAPER corn.

 

[Star43]

I will be retiring soon, and I hope the 401K keeps going good or I should say better than it was. My 401K is probably like most others. Your company or where you work has a third party consultant investment company that "knows it all". In 2022 they knew absolute crap. I was thinking of retiring then but things were down, but they Keep taking their large "management fees" for every stinking month for sure. Most of you all pretty much have Mutual Funds, and probably some conservative bonds like Freddie Mac or Genny Mayi like I do. These investment companies offer a pretty broad spectrum of stocks "you can choose" for your 401K. Personally I think 90% of people just have their little 5 minute consultant time with the financial advisor, and say, "just put the funds where you think they should go", as generally people have no idea, and want to trust somebody. Heck everyone wants to trust somebody. Especially if it's a guy the company you work for got !! There is nothing wrong with that. ....For Me I have a mixture of conservative investments and bonds. When someone is older, you don't want aggressive hi yield type stuff as there is more of a chance of failure. So even with the conservative stuff and bonds, are things better now, yes. But for how long is the question. I knew a guy who retired in "22 right when his 401K tanked. That was bad for him and his family ...For the heck of it, look at all your investments and look up who owns them. It will be mostly Black Rock and Vanguard. For those of you who want Silver, buy it yourself and personally own it. I would strongly suggest you stay away from third party financial transfers where you invest in Silver and all you have is a piece of paper stating ownership. I don't want paper silver because if there was a major financial breakdown, that paper in my opinion would be absolutely worthless. Good luck to all.

 

[Joe Chartreuse]

Why are gold and oil being held back? How does one make money keeping the price down?

Two reasons. Buying below value will make one a lot of money later. That's the main win. Also, as far as the government is concerned, a huge jump would look like a terrifying economic indicator.

Gold USED to be an inflation hedge. The dollar went down and gold went up- a way to hold your dollar's value. Now gold is WAY behind inflation. It should be closer to $3,000 if it kept up to previous standards. Silver is in the same boat, as the gold to silver ratio is way out of whack. Silver has a lot of catching up to do as well.

Oil is being held back via the use of reserves- not for investment purposes but to avoid producer price gauging. Same with natural gas. Keep in mind that when NECESSARY commodities jump up, so does inflation.

 

[JackBull]

1.Invest in good companies or better yet, ETFs or Index funds. 2. Don't panic and sell out when the market takes a dip. Unless you want to gamble, avoid penny stocks and "fads" like the electric vehicle fad that's passing away now. The most important thing is educate yourself if you do your own investing.
During the "crash" in 2008 a lot of people lost money because they panicked and sold out when the market had already bottomed out.
We have some gold and silver put back for a rainy day, but stocks and bond funds have made a lot more money for us in the last 20 years.

THIS ^^^^^^

 

[JackBull]

I will be retiring soon, and I hope the 401K keeps going good or I should say better than it was. My 401K is probably like most others. Your company or where you work has a third party consultant investment company that "knows it all". In 2022 they knew absolute crap. I was thinking of retiring then but things were down, but they Keep taking their large "management fees" for every stinking month for sure. Most of you all pretty much have Mutual Funds, and probably some conservative bonds like Freddie Mac or Genny Mayi like I do. These investment companies offer a pretty broad spectrum of stocks "you can choose" for your 401K. Personally I think 90% of people just have their little 5 minute consultant time with the financial advisor, and say, "just put the funds where you think they should go", as generally people have no idea, and want to trust somebody. Heck everyone wants to trust somebody. Especially if it's a guy the company you work for got !! There is nothing wrong with that. ....For Me I have a mixture of conservative investments and bonds. When someone is older, you don't want aggressive hi yield type stuff as there is more of a chance of failure. So even with the conservative stuff and bonds, are things better now, yes. But for how long is the question. I knew a guy who retired in "22 right when his 401K tanked. That was bad for him and his family ...For the heck of it, look at all your investments and look up who owns them. It will be mostly Black Rock and Vanguard. For those of you who want Silver, buy it yourself and personally own it. I would strongly suggest you stay away from third party financial transfers where you invest in Silver and all you have is a piece of paper stating ownership. I don't want paper silver because if there was a major financial breakdown, that paper in my opinion would be absolutely worthless. Good luck to all.

This is similar to the general suggestions from Bogleheads.org. The site is FREE and the information is incredibly valuable. Buy 3 funds in the percentages that makes YOU comfortable and forget it. Drops in the market do not bother me, they are buying opportunities.

 

[Star43]

This is similar to the general suggestions from Bogleheads.org. The site is FREE and the information is incredibly valuable. Buy 3 funds in the percentages that makes YOU comfortable and forget it. Drops in the market do not bother me, they are buying opportunities.

Yes, that is good that the suggestions are very similar, and I haven't looked at that website, as some experience from what I do professionally for many many years has led me to do what I do......If it is there for others to see, that is good. For me, just try to use common sense. For one, nobody knows everything. YOU are correct to not let things bother you when the Market shows it's ups and downs. That is very good. Stay with what makes you happy and comfortable. I get a kick out of when I point out something to a Financial advisor who's getting paid through my 401K, and after a few minutes he, in a Not so direct way, asks my opinion on things. After all he is the "advisor". Especially a couple of years ago when a lot of folks had no idea of really knowing what to do. To me, bottom line is to stay diversified a bit, have your eggs spread a little, Genny May bonds to go with your Mutual Funds and have your silver in the cheapest way you can buy it, as a complete back up in case things go south. I am very Leary of Crypto, and I don't do it. I see too many problems that could happen with that. BUT, we all have to stay as optimistic as possible to make life worth living. One can't worry about this crap all day as it will make you go crazy, and as we all know, You can have all the money in the world, but if you don't have your health, you really have nothing. To me, IMO, the best we can do for ourselves & our family is to be as best prepared as possible. We really don't know what is going to happen in real life. All we can do is live it as best as we can and be good people. We will be ok.

 

[Kevin]

I've actually kept up with this thread, I can't say I agree with everyone, but to each their own. If each person has their own style of saving for the future and it works for them then that's good.

I haven't seen anyone mention real estate. My wife and I have done "okay" with real estate as an investment. I suppose overall we've come out ahead so it's all good.

I do like the stock market, but land is so much more inspirational. All the possibilities of what could be done with it. And if it's a scenic property, it just opens the door to future ideas. Anyway, the Stock Market is a bit of a gamble. But with research of individual companies, you can make money. It isn't all a conspiracy behind closed doors.

As @Star43 seems to like to say "Good luck to all."

 

[Star43]

And I really do mean that: Good luck to us All !!

 

[johral]

I just know that buying gold or silver and just having a letter as proof that you do own it, but it's in a vault a thousand miles away, is pretty stupid.

Would you mind shooting me a quick DM. I have a question about short barreled Bisleys.

 

[dickydalton]

Would you mind shooting me a quick DM. I have a question about short barreled Bisleys.

The site wouldn't let me message you?

 

[Armybrat]

This is similar to the general suggestions from Bogleheads.org. The site is FREE and the information is incredibly valuable. Buy 3 funds in the percentages that makes YOU comfortable and forget it. Drops in the market do not bother me, they are buying opportunities.

Yep, JP Morgan made millions in the Crash of 1929.