Gold or Silver

Which is better to invest in, considering certain circumstances?

  • Gold

    Votes: 10 18.5%
  • Silver

    Votes: 39 72.2%
  • Platinum

    Votes: 3 5.6%
  • Palladium

    Votes: 2 3.7%

  • Total voters
    54

Paulitey

Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2009
Messages
53
Which is better to invest in? Gold, Silver, Platinum, or Palladium?

Please consider IRAs, current prices, and middle class to poverty decision.
 
Silver and Platinum would have brought the best returns in the last 18 months. Who knows what the future holds, though.

Diversify in gold and silver if you are looking to purchase metals, generally no more than 10-20% of what you have to invest (using the term invest loosely as many don't see pm's as investment, especially gold).
 
Pork Bellies, Let's issue Pork Belly backed money susbstitues. I wonder would happen if you used futures or options contract as legal tender... random thought
 
The general consensus right now is that gold is better for protection of wealth but silver is the better investment. I am a fan of silver because of its versatility, but it's kind of like comparing a mansion with a bigger mansion, they're both great.

A word on palladium and platinum, though, I would suggest against those because they aren't as well known and thus, aren't going to be going for nearly as much on the street. Especially if you are preparing for a SHTF scenario, gold and silver are better. However, if you're only in it for the short term (next year or two), then you're fine.
 
The "goal" is accumulation of gold. More gold will be had in the long run by speculation in silver (probably).

I'm mostly silver, with enough gold to get my family to a new home across the Pacific if things get really bad--so bad that I can't take my silver with me.
 
The "goal" is accumulation of gold. More gold will be had in the long run by speculation in silver (probably).

I'm mostly silver, with enough gold to get my family to a new home across the Pacific if things get really bad--so bad that I can't take my silver with me.

I'm guessing you're still gonna have a few of your 40%/90% coins with you, though just for the small stuff. Running with only gold in a shtf=not good.
 
I'm guessing you're still gonna have a few of your 40%/90% coins with you, though just for the small stuff. Running with only gold in a shtf=not good.

Gold is for buying plane tickets or getting passage by ship, and for bribing border guards. Also for buying a house in your new home. You can trade gold for local currency or silver.

This is an absolute worst case scenario, one where it is quite apparent that death awaits those who remain in America. Under such circumstances, it's a mad rush for the border, and silver ain't gonna cut it for most things. Yes, I would have some, but it is expendable. Gold is what buys the major stuff (passage, transportation, real estate). Silver is for day-to-day transactions. If such transactions are happening, I probably won't be fleeing the country.
 
Gold is for buying plane tickets or getting passage by ship, and for bribing border guards. Also for buying a house in your new home. You can trade gold for local currency or silver.

This is an absolute worst case scenario, one where it is quite apparent that death awaits those who remain in America. Under such circumstances, it's a mad rush for the border, and silver ain't gonna cut it for most things. Yes, I would have some, but it is expendable. Gold is what buys the major stuff (passage, transportation, real estate). Silver is for day-to-day transactions. If such transactions are happening, I probably won't be fleeing the country.

If you're going for out the country strategy, as you are, then yes, gold is much better, but consider there is a limit to how much you can bring in to another country. A trick is to buy the money stamped with a dollar amount and then the guards will believe it is worth that much. For instance, some gold coins are stamped with $5 or $10 dollar stamps on them, and those only count for $5 or $10, even if they're an ounce of gold.

As for me, I'll be staying here along with the majority on this board I expect, making silver the much better choice to buy everyday items.

Apparent death won't await everyone. 300 million people can't just die, some will survive and eventually a black market will be setup. I can't picture a scenario where everyone dies, there might be deaths over 100 million, but not everyone.
 
60% gold, 30% silver, 5% platnium, 5% palladium

a more aggressive approach is to buy more silver... but the above allocation is think is reasonable for most investors
 
If you're going for out the country strategy, as you are, then yes, gold is much better, but consider there is a limit to how much you can bring in to another country. A trick is to buy the money stamped with a dollar amount and then the guards will believe it is worth that much. For instance, some gold coins are stamped with $5 or $10 dollar stamps on them, and those only count for $5 or $10, even if they're an ounce of gold.

As for me, I'll be staying here along with the majority on this board I expect, making silver the much better choice to buy everyday items.

Apparent death won't await everyone. 300 million people can't just die, some will survive and eventually a black market will be setup. I can't picture a scenario where everyone dies, there might be deaths over 100 million, but not everyone.

This system is more fragile than you think. It would not be out of the realm of possibility for the food supply to simply "run out" one day, as there is an uncomfortable amount of price manipulation going on in commodities futures markets (for example, America ran out of soybeans last September, and no-one saw it coming). Combine that with a simultaneous currency crisis, which would hinder our ability to make up the difference on international exchanges, and you've suddenly got a lot of starving people. Don't be surprised when you start hearing of bread made mostly from sawdust. It happened in the Soviet Union.

There is also the situation where the government comes to crack down on "domestic terrorists", which will eventually include anyone who speaks ill of the ruling party. If you are burned out of your house, you "grab your gold and run" (an old Arab saying).

Gold is also small enough to hide on your person. A person can hide between 3 and 5 oz in a small bag tied behind the scrotum, which will be very difficult for anyone to find, even if you are strip searched (this is how the Polo family brought saffron to Asia, despite being robbed several times along the way). If you have an overly obese person in the family, you can hide an almost unlimited amount in the folds of their fat (considering a prisoner sneaked a gun into prison this way, it seems quite viable). Gross, I know, but these are last resort survival strategies.
 
I voted silver. But not just for investments use. It is just more practical for transactions if needed. If the SHTF are you going to trade an 1 oz of gold or platinum for a banana?

If you got tons of $$ then gold may be in line for some storage of wealth, as it is more compact per value unit than silver.

But this all revolves around our world not crumbling too much, as gold can be near worthless too.

Let me tell you people in need don't want gold they want water, food and shelter and warm, dry clothes.

Try cig lighters, seeds, 22 ammo, matches, sewing needles, soap, etc., for barter. Also sewing needles, fishhooks and 22 LR are items that can't be made easily at home.

22 LR may be the small change currency of our future...not bars of gold and silver.

What you going to buy anyway when TEOTWAKI arrives all the gas and crude has dried up?

We go through tons of seeds in a year and they would make good barter items and we get em for free in our food. Especially the high seeds yielding squashes and melons seeds.

.."In a shipwreck, one of the passengers fastened a belt about him with one hundred pounds of gold in it, with which he was afterwards found at the bottom. Now, as he was sinking--had he the gold? Or had the gold him?" ~ Ruskin
 
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I'm guessing you're still gonna have a few of your 40%/90% coins with you, though just for the small stuff. Running with only gold in a shtf=not good.

yes, pre 64 silver coins are good for the small stuff
 
This system is more fragile than you think. It would not be out of the realm of possibility for the food supply to simply "run out" one day, as there is an uncomfortable amount of price manipulation going on in commodities futures markets (for example, America ran out of soybeans last September, and no-one saw it coming). Combine that with a simultaneous currency crisis, which would hinder our ability to make up the difference on international exchanges, and you've suddenly got a lot of starving people. Don't be surprised when you start hearing of bread made mostly from sawdust. It happened in the Soviet Union.

There is also the situation where the government comes to crack down on "domestic terrorists", which will eventually include anyone who speaks ill of the ruling party. If you are burned out of your house, you "grab your gold and run" (an old Arab saying).

Gold is also small enough to hide on your person. A person can hide between 3 and 5 oz in a small bag tied behind the scrotum, which will be very difficult for anyone to find, even if you are strip searched (this is how the Polo family brought saffron to Asia, despite being robbed several times along the way). If you have an overly obese person in the family, you can hide an almost unlimited amount in the folds of their fat (considering a prisoner sneaked a gun into prison this way, it seems quite viable). Gross, I know, but these are last resort survival strategies.

I think we both agree on the fragility of the system, but disagree on how many people could perish from such a scenario. In the Soviet Union, many died, but there were many more who made it out alive.

Let's say the currency completely collapses, not a huge drop in value, but an overnight hyperinflationary scenario (which is how they always happen, but I digress). All American FRN's are useless. People will drop the dollar exchange and move to a local system based on something else (international currency, gold/silver, etc), or it could just be plainly on the barter system. The minute the dollar collapses, everyone doesn't just die. Currencies collapse once every 5-10 years it seems, and many people from the country make it out alright. A question for you, how many people do you think in the worst case scenario will die? I am betting no more than 150 million in the most catastrophic of scenarios.

Farmers will still farm and eat their own food, so they should survive. A smart farmer will grow even more food and trade this food away for items worth something in the new economy. People will start gardens outside their houses and eat from those. Canned foods will be huge.

The government will be bankrupt. It will slowly but surely completely collapse. When soldiers realize they are getting paid in hyperinflated currency, they'll just leave and rejoin their families. When police officers, firemen, etc realize the government can't pay them, they'll just walk away from their jobs.

You're absolutely right, and you're just hitting the tip of the iceberg. There are tons of ways people can survive, but most are not exactly preferable. But, you have to do what you have to do.

KIL: Agreed. I will laugh at anyone carrying around a brick of gold trying to buy food.
 
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