where are the gold threads?

[RonBoyd]

i am an experienced message board vet - so i hit the ground running without the formalities.

And this extensive familiarity with the genre led you to that course of action? Hmmmmm.

i think this community has it nailed down. the only thing i saw that was lacking was the discussion of the best performing asset of the last decade - precious metals.

Your knowledge of how this environment is structured is impressive. How we could have missed this marvelous facet of ER, I cannot imagine. Thank you for "straightening us out."

it's an important issue to me personally.

I noticed.

i feel like i've done my job.

There are others, of course, who share that opinion... most of them have already spoken.

now i can move on to learning about 72t, discussing income generating assets, rental real estate, etc.

Please do.

 

[REWahoo]

you might add a fourth category - as i dont fit the others. i am an experienced message board vet - so i hit the ground running without the formalities.

Adolph? Is that you?

YouTube - Hitler plans to troll forums

 

[Purron]

Adolph? Is that you?

Eddie agrees. He's rarely wrong.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Adolph? Is that you?

YouTube - Hitler plans to troll forums

Hurry, watch the video before they disable comments.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

Some folks sign up on the forum and introduce themselves here following the suggestions found here.

Others do the online version of walking into a crowded room and start shouting...

Gold? I usually just point at some other person and say that dude farted.

Nords, I'm disappointed that you forgot to mention paying off a mortgage vs. investing.

 

[Nords]

Nords, I'm disappointed that you forgot to mention paying off a mortgage vs. investing.

I thought about it, but I'd rather pay off a mortgage than care for a bunch of gold bullion...

 

[Westernskies]

So, should I pay off the mortgage or invest in Kruggerands?

 

[FinanceDude]

on my home board we had this debate raging for a looong time. the deflationists have buckled. if the greatest crash since the great depression couldnt overcome the money printers (and cause deflation)....what can?

with that being said, it's never smart to go all in for either -

but almost everyone has dollars as their savings -- only betting on deflation. this is a highly aggressive bet on deflation - when history has shown that rising prices dominate.

a precious metals savings account balances out your cash savings account - you are betting on both sides then.

If you are so wise, where were you telling us to buy gold at $400? Now that's its setting new highs everyday, you look like a spammer or a scammer, or both.........

 

[NW-Bound]

So, should I pay off the mortgage or invest in Kruggerands?

Having done both, I am now struggling with the question of where to bury it. And people keep pushing me to post photos of myself and my house.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Gold thread here !

 

[Texas Proud]

you - As someone pointed out... money is a store of value...

are you saying that the federal reserve note is a store of value?

the supreme court is a puppet of corporate interests.

Yes... a federal reserve note is a store of value

Gold is a store of value

the Euro is a store of value

Heck, lumber is a store of value...

The value is in that other people will recognize the value and use it for a medium of exchange for goods and services...

If you only went with gold as a medium of exchange.... you would have to have all coins... and since an ounce is pretty high right now, you will haev to 'mix' the gold with something else... OPPPS... now you are not on a gold standard anymore... you are on a hybrid gold standard...

Now... if you are just saying that gold is the best investment to buy right now because there is nothing else out there that you think will perform better... that is another story...

Your view of the supreme court....

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

What I see is an almost continuous 200 year decline in the relative value of gold.

A wise friend once reminded me that a dollar is a claim on U.S. goods and services. 200 years ago, an once of gold would have purchased goods produced by manual labor, think tailor-made clothes or handmade shoes. Today, after the industrial and electronic revolutions, an ounce of gold purchases goods made by vastly more efficient, automated means. The U.S. economy is much more productive, and it seams sensible that a share in it is "worth" more.

 

[REWahoo]

In retrospect, it was obvious that the tech stock bubble was over and prices were about to plunge when my babysitter and the kid who mows the lawn started asking me about how they could participate in any new Tech IPOs I might know about.

Right now, I can buy and sell gold through the mail, at numerous storefronts and even at "tupperware" style gold parties at my neighbors house. There are infomercials on TV and radio. Now we have brand new posters starting their introductions by hawking gold. Is this the equivalent moment for gold? Time to sell and sit on the sidelines?

Add Kmart and Sears to the list...

Sears Holdings Corp , which expanded its layaway program to help cash-strapped consumers pay for purchases during the recession, is now helping its customers exchange their jewelry for cash as gold prices soar.

The new service, available at the jewelry departments of Sears and Kmart stores, allows customers to send their gold and silver items to Pro Gold Network, a company that buys precious metals from consumers.

Sears and Kmart to Offer Cash-for-Gold Service

 

[brewer12345]

More evidence that gold has completely jumped the shark:

Abu Dhabi Opens Gold Bar Vending Machine in Emirates Palace - BusinessWeek

May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace hotel opened a vending machine that dispenses gold bars, making the United Arab Emirates the first country outside Germany to install the machine.
In addition to 1 gram, 5 gram and 10 gram bar of gold the machine also dispenses gold coins, MPW Finance said in an e- mailed statement. The machine was developed by TG Gold-Super- Markt, a brand of Ex Oriente Lux AG.

 

[Hamlet]

"holding dollars is a sure way to lose purchasing power over time. for dollars to do well the US needs to have deflation. that's been a 70+ year losing streak."

The gold bugs always seem to forget that people generally earn interest on their dollars. Currently, there is very little inflation, so short term interest rates are very low. If inflation rises, interest rates rise and people get compensated for the dollar's loss of purchasing power.

Yes, I'd lose purchasing power if I kept my dollars under a mattress, but I tend to keep them in banks that pay me a competitive rate of interest. If inflation goes up, I will be compensated for it.

Gold has had a very massive run-up in anticipation of a very large amount of inflation. If people have overestimated the amount of inflation coming, people buying gold now will lose a very significant amount of buying power. Given that gold has quadrupled in about 10 years, but I'm still buying McDonald's double cheeseburgers for around a dollar, I'll avoid gold until its priced more rationally.

 

[kumquat]

[sarcasm font]Sure wish I'd bought in 1980 [end sarcasm font]

 

[Gone4Good]

Gold has had a very massive run-up in anticipation of a very large amount of inflation. If people have overestimated the amount of inflation coming, people buying gold now will lose a very significant amount of buying power. Given that gold has quadrupled in about 10 years, but I'm still buying McDonald's double cheeseburgers for around a dollar, I'll avoid gold until its priced more rationally.

Tisk, tisk, tisk. None of this is important to "economists" such as endthefed. You only need to know one thing. The Fed's balance sheet has increased in size. (Never mind that demand for money has been absolutely crushed by a deleveraging cycle that continues to put downward pressure on prices). But with the simple knowledge that the Fed's balance sheet has increased we can extrapolate with absolute certainty the hyperinflation that is right around the corner (and always will be).

Meanwhile, gold can never be "over priced". Not because there is no objective way to value it, of course. But rather because the price of gold is by definition rational. It is, after all, "gold" . . . the thing from which "hard money" is made.

 

[Gone4Good]

Producer costs unexpectedly declined in April

Better stamp out that inflation threat (and never mind the cost of doing so).

Cost pressures are diminishing as goods make their way up production lines to consumers, showing companies have enough idle capacity to prevent bottlenecks even as sales rebound. The European debt crisis will probably also help restrain prices, one reason why economists are pushing back forecasts for when Federal Reserve policy makers will raise interest rates.

 

[NW-Bound]

I just sold my small position in GLD, a gold ETF. It was less than 1% of my portfolio, and bought as a lark in early 2008. A gain of 32% in a bit more than 2 years, so I am not complaining . Will see if I regret not holding onto it.

 

[haha]

Since we are so absolutely certain that gold is horrible idea, so much so that we seem to have chased off the OP, it will likely turn out to be a very good investment.

I don't do momentum, but there are some pretty heavy hitters in this trade- like John Paulson.

Of course, what does he know compared to ER.org? Is he ER'd?

Speaks for itself.

Ha

 

[Gone4Good]

Since we are so absolutely certain that gold is horrible idea, so much so that we seem to have chased off the OP, it will likely turn out to be a very good investment.

Not necessarily a horrible idea. But it was advocated with horrible arguments . . . which is why the OP is gone.

 

[REWahoo]

Like Gone4, my problem wasn't the message, it was the delivery.

 

[FIREd]

Who said owning gold was a horrible idea? I think many of us (me including) own precious metals. I just cannot agree with anyone who says that gold is the only investment that makes sense and that people who invest in stocks, bonds and cash are "idiots"...

 

[calmloki]

I keep having a voice in my head; "Yo - dawg - where my gold at"? when I read the thread title.

Think physical gold is down a couple bucks to $1219/philharmonic and our USAA gold stock is down 1.72% today. Time to sell it all and run for the hills with the seed corn and firearms?

 

[73ss454]

My DW seems to think that gold is just wonderful. (heh)