First time investor

[brandon]

Any reasonably populated area has a few cash4gold stores by now, or some other such similar business. I can convert my precious metals into liquid cash just as easily as I can empty out my bank account. (And I can sell all my stocks and wire the cash to my bank account with the click of a mouse)

You can't be serious. These places usually pay less than half of the spot price. I've heard of them paying as little as 18%

 

[xd9fan]

do you value your life?......Is it worth protecting???

Buy a good gun.....then silver.

 

[Jordan]

People on this site seem to understand macro economic trends fairly well, but have terrible financial intelligence. When you're 18 years old, and you have some extra cash to invest, you buy ultra risky assets for the greatest possible return. When you're 62 years old, you buy ultra safe assets with virtually no return.

Its a very, very simple principle based on the fact that a middle class 18 year old is going to make $1000 thousands of times (and with high inflation maybe hundreds of thousands or millions of times) over their working life.

You don't need to worry about saving for retirement. That's utterly ridiculous.

Read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Start doing some research on some ETFs and stocks you may want to buy. I recommend looking at precious metal mining companies, agricultural companies, and oil companies. If you accept the macro economics preached on this forum, then these are all great buys.

And, again, even if you lost 100% of that investment--which you won't investing in those sectors--that's $1000 of financial education that will probably serve you better than your $100,000 college education.

Thanks for schooling me on the same things I've said in literally hundreds of threads on this site.

I was merely commenting that silver, in the short term of one year, is not a solid saving apparatus. Likewise, stocks make a very similar bad savings scheme. Neither are for the short term, and he may very well need this money in the short term.

I agree absolutely that you start taking risks at a young age, which is why I'm so peeved when you have 18 year olds on this site trying to "protect their wealth against inflation." It doesn't make sense to "protect your wealth" at 18 years old, unless you intend on maintaining the same standard of living.

Besides, inflation trackers don't grow wealth. If you sock away even 25% of your income, after 40 years of working you'd have exactly 10 times your annual income (actually less due to the fact you'd earn more inflation-adjusted income due to experience). Try to retire on 10 times your annual income when the adage is a 4% taxfree return with no drawdown. That works out from going from a $50,000 a year income to a $20,000 a year income in retirement, assuming you save 25% per year for 40 years.

Saying that only silver and gold are savings is pure reckless in the short term, knowing full well that we live in a dollar-denominated world. If gold and silver were readily used as currency, that much may be very true, but the dollar is the currency of the hour, and buying gold or silver does not, in any way, mean that the OP will have the same purchasing power today as he does a year from now.

Also, Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a shitty book. The book relies on growing your net-worth via one or many housing units and makes dangerous assumptions about the utility of equity that you build in your first home. While it is a very interesting read, it's no investing bible.

 

[ILUVRP]

I have a small chunk of change in a savings account, and I'm sick of it losing value due to inflation. I'm looking to invest some of it (~$1000). Any help on investing it somewhere? Given the small amount, should I bother a broker like Europac, or just do my own thing? Maybe gold, commodities, ETFs, foreign stocks?
Thanks for the advice!

First , a investment is defined as a return on your money and a return of your money, everything else is a spectulation.

At your age buying silver would be like watching grass grow , with the bid/ask spread , to make 20-30% on the silver may take a long time.

If i were you i would look for a very good cheap silver stock , good silver stocks will have a beta of about 3:1 , meaning if the price of silve goes up 1% the stock will go up 3%, this also happens when silver goes down. A very cheap ( high spec ) stock would have a beta of about 10:1.

Google up "INVESTORSHUB" and read all you can on" USSIF" on the message board , remember there will be pumpers on the board. I do own this stock. Price now is .57 ( 57 cents ) a share. with commisions you could have a 1000 shares to watch and learn things for about $580 . Save the rest of your money.

I am not a stock pumper but the only very cheap stock ( a silver producer ) is a company named US SILVER CORP ( USSIF ) , i believe this stock can double very easy if silver goes to about $28/oz.

 

[Eroberer]

I am too about to start investing some cash and got my account funded today. However everything I wanted to buy yesterday has exploded today. I was mainly interested in small miners including USSIF and AXU.

I hope a correction comes soon to push them back down.

 

[ILUVRP]

I am too about to start investing some cash and got my account funded today. However everything I wanted to buy yesterday has exploded today. I was mainly interested in small miners including USSIF and AXU.

I hope a correction comes soon to push them back down.

I think stocks are like silver/gold , if you really love them you buy them, then hope they go down so you can buy more.

 

[Eroberer]

That is true, but it is always difficult for me to find a time to buy.

 

[ILUVRP]

That is true, but it is always difficult for me to find a time to buy.

For sure you must do what you want , leg in with 1/2 of what you want , if it goes down buy the other half. Make sure you buy a stock that trades more than 500,000 shares a day so it will be east to buy or sell.

At your age learn all you can by reading about any buys of anything.

 

[Dforkus]

I am too about to start investing some cash and got my account funded today. However everything I wanted to buy yesterday has exploded today. I was mainly interested in small miners including USSIF and AXU.

I hope a correction comes soon to push them back down.

Trying to time the market day over day is a sucker's gambit, you can't do it, and neither can the people who say they can...

 

[libertybrewcity]

I would seek advice from other places as well other than an anarchocapitalist/Ron Paul forum, lol.

I think a more realistic idea would be to buy the dividend aristocrat stocks like WMT, XOM, CTL, KO, etc. These companies are massive and strong. They will weather the storm through whatever comes. They also pay decent dividends. Always look for something that will pay, even if it is a little bit.

Silver is approaching 24 $ an ounce. I am guessing that it is going to correct in the near future so I would probably stay away from that. Getting a broker might not be a bad idea because they can give you some good suggestions, but they will charge you a lot for each trade.

 

[ILUVRP]

I would seek advice from other places as well other than an anarchocapitalist/Ron Paul forum, lol.

I think a more realistic idea would be to buy the dividend aristocrat stocks like WMT, XOM, CTL, KO, etc. These companies are massive and strong. They will weather the storm through whatever comes. They also pay decent dividends. Always look for something that will pay, even if it is a little bit.

Silver is approaching 24 $ an ounce. I am guessing that it is going to correct in the near future so I would probably stay away from that. Getting a broker might not be a bad idea because they can give you some good suggestions, but they will charge you a lot for each trade.

I don't know if you read all the posts i put up. I was only talking about < $600 , i agree with you and DFORKUS , but my thinking is not to depend on a broker for anything , people would be much better off by learning things on their own , not a broker that is just trying to make a comm. They will not even talk to you with 600$.

If silver keeps the 60:1 ratio to gold , i would think it would run to about 28/oz.

Also the stock mkt and gold/silver could just as easy fall if the dollar ever rallies and the FED stops pumping the mkt and buying the US treasuries at the auctions to keep interest rates low.

My personal belief is that the short term top in the gold/silver will be made right the Nov elections in the belief the Repub's will take the house or senate.

 

[Arklatex]

Silver Wheaten was up 2.7% today while Silver gained 2.85%

There is nothing like physical in your hand precious metals. Yes over the long term the equities should outperform, until the system shuts down or they are taxed at a 90% rate, and they will probably have to comply. I have 100+ in equities, but take 10s of thousands out at a time and load up on physical precious metals - they are the only safe asset.

Gold and Silver have strange properties eh? I advise everyone to get some. That is how we transition my friends. It's what our forefathers advised and boy should we have listened.

I don't know if you believe in what is referred to as the Serpent, but if there is one, he wants you to hold his Federal Reserve Notes and invest in the Stock Market. I incarnated here because I was called by the sad planet. Nothing can defeat the light, we desperately need more lightworkers on this planet - join with us. Sends thoughts of love to the entire planet, they can not take that. If everyone were to do this right now the transition would occur instantaneously. Thoughts are energy. This is not mysticism, this is higher science.

Good Day

 

[pmbug]

These are not normal times. IMO, you would be better off buying some junk (90%) silver at your local coin shop than just about anything else right now. PMs have out performed the equity markets for a while now and that isn't going to change in the short term.

$.02

 

[sluggo]

With stocks, dollar-cost averaging will be your best friend. Just make sure you're dealing with a decent discount brokerage so fees don't eat up your gains.

 

[BDR]

Good to see I sparked such a conversation! Now I'm not sure if I intend to get an IRA or just try my luck with stocks/commodities and pray for a nice return. Either way, I don't plan on spending this money any time soon. I have separate spending money for that.

 

[sluggo]

Roth IRA, all the way. Worth opening at your age.

 

[BDR]

Roth IRA, all the way. Worth opening at your age.

Ok, now I'm wondering if I should add commodities/stocks/bonds to the IRA.

 

[libertybrewcity]

I don't know if you read all the posts i put up. I was only talking about < $600 , i agree with you and DFORKUS , but my thinking is not to depend on a broker for anything , people would be much better off by learning things on their own , not a broker that is just trying to make a comm. They will not even talk to you with 600$.

If silver keeps the 60:1 ratio to gold , i would think it would run to about 28/oz.

Also the stock mkt and gold/silver could just as easy fall if the dollar ever rallies and the FED stops pumping the mkt and buying the US treasuries at the auctions to keep interest rates low.

My personal belief is that the short term top in the gold/silver will be made right the Nov elections in the belief the Repub's will take the house or senate.

Brokers make money by giving good suggestions and keeping a customer base. It is not to their advantage or anyones advantage to give bad suggestions.

You are right that brokers won't pay much attention to you with 600 dollars. However, many brokerage firms have younger employees that don't have much experience that would be happy to deal with you.

Learning for yourself sounds great, but there is nothing wrong with seeking help from someone who absolutely knows more about the market. For example, when I first started buying I bought UNG, BIEL.PK, and SRS. All major fails. Even though I only put in about 700 dollars for all three, I am down a lot of money. If I would have listened to the way more seasoned investors around me i probably would have made more than 700 dollars by now. In fact, I would probably be up way over a thousand, not including dividend payments.

I learned from those stupid mistakes. I am just putting out a general warning for new investors to be careful and not to make rash decisions.

 

[sluggo]

Ok, now I'm wondering if I should add commodities/stocks/bonds to the IRA.

IMO, all of the above and then some.

Stay away from mutual funds. Administrative fees will eat into gains. Stick to ETF's if you want to deal with bundles of stock in one fell swoop.

Otherwise, I'd suggest dividend-paying utility/energy stocks, Blue Chip US companies, and commodities. Think about what will still be thriving in ten years. Don't follow the herd, be patient, and be flexible. Investing is fun and profitable if you learn the ABC's and pay attention to mass psychology.

Just my opinion. Listen to everyone in this thread and find what makes sense for you.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Costs of an investment are important. Low cost ways to buy stocks would include DRIPs (dividend reinvestment plans- I have one in a dividend paying utility- instead of paying you the (usually) quarterly dividend, they use it to buy more shares for you at little to no cost. Another would be index funds like those from Vanguard are low cost. Index funds don't trade stocks within the fund very often. The more you (or your fund) trades stocks, the higher the costs which lowers the returns.

Since you are going to be in school soon, I would still be very cautious with the money. You will be needing it and really can't afford the risk of losing part or all of it. My school (I graduated a while ago) has anounced a 9% increase in tuition for each of the next four years.