Gold,silver

itsallagame_2

bubblesmoney wrote: »

i wouldnt touch silver with a barge pole. but silver art work and serving utensils do look good.

regarding ETFs they might be good just for speculation for the short term but not good if holding for the long term. have a look at how many went bust on the links on this link

am looking into this option myself but dont know much about it. would be grateful if others who know more about this can enlighten me. see digital gold currency

Beware of e-gold, scammers galore!
Some very clever viruses out there that will steal your e-gold before your eyes.
Used to dabble a bit but too risky.
Not sure of the outcome but the owners were being investigated by US authorities a few years back

Cleaver

Mr_angry wrote: »

is this a good idea (apart from keeping it at home) and where do you buy the real stuff from ?

Not Ratners. I've heard it descrbed as 'cr*p'.

bubblesmoney

itsallagame wrote: »

Beware of e-gold, scammers galore!
Some very cleaver viruses out there that will steal your e-gold before your eyes.
Used to dabble a bit but too risky.
Not sure of the outcome but the owners were being investigated by US authorities a few years back

yes i know that unlike credit card transactions, the egold transactions are not reversible, hence scammers attack the individuals rather than the company and empty their accounts as individual computers are much more likely to be insecure. but some companies seem to have gone round this problem. see the link that i gave and see the security issues discussed there. i have never bought ETFs or egold etc and always bought the physical stuff. am just reading up on these things to keep myself updated on these issues :beer:

in physical gold i would always buy only the 24k variety or at worst the 22k variety because of cultural conditioning from where i come i think as even a beggar wont buy anything lesser than 22k if he had a choice as will have worthless resale value there.

tuggy12

itsallagame wrote: »

Beware of e-gold, scammers galore!
Some very cleaver viruses out there that will steal your e-gold before your eyes.
Used to dabble a bit but too risky.
Not sure of the outcome but the owners were being investigated by US authorities a few years back

I don't think cleaver will take this lying down:rolleyes:

itsallagame_2

bubblesmoney wrote: »

yes i know that unlike credit card transactions, the egold transactions are not reversible, hence scammers attack the individuals rather than the company and empty their accounts as individual computers are much more likely to be insecure. but some companies seem to have gone round this problem. see the link that i gave and see the security issues discussed there. i have never bought ETFs or egold etc and always bought the physical stuff. am just reading up on these things to keep myself updated on these issues :beer:

in physical gold i would always buy only the 24k variety or at worst the 22k variety because of cultural conditioning from where i come i think as even a beggar wont buy anything lesser than 22k if he had a choice as will have worthless resale value there.

Ah, it looks like they have cleaned up their act; it was used by a lot of online Ponzi schemes, where scammers scammed scammers! :eek:
I used to use London Gold Exchange to get my e-gold, who I had no problems with. Not sure if they are still trading.
Good luck but do your due diligence

rl290

There are dozens of posts about gold (and the best way to buy it) in the Saving & Investment forum.. I suggest you search there for some comprehensive answers about acquiring gold (I use https://www.BullionVault.com)

However, you'll see that in a post today I suggested that now is NOT a good time to buy into gold.. you will see my reasons in that thread.

R

Mr_angry_5

Coins have always been popular among collectors but as purse strings are tightening and people worry about their financial future, investing in the right kind of coin could make all the difference.
In a bustling exhibition hall on a cold February morning Andrea and Mark Leigh, from Reading, are hoping to find something that will improve their financial standing.
Poring over the thousands of coins on display, ranging from hundreds of years BC to to the most recent Royal Mint editions, Andrea explains what she is looking for.
"We are collecting gold and silver coins at the moment, for investment purposes because of the current economic problems," she says.
It may not be a foolish search. One collector at the fair describes how an investment he made has paid off.
"Just over four years ago I put £30,000 into gold sovereigns, it is now worth £250,000."

Dithering_Dad

Mr_angry wrote: »

"Just over four years ago I put £30,000 into gold sovereigns, it is now worth £250,000."

That last line should be enough to tell you that you've missed the boat.

I remember people going on about how much they made on their house equity. They don't mention it now....

Saying that, I don't necessarily think it's a bad idea to add Gold coins to an investment portfolio, just make sure you're not putting all your eggs in one basket. I remember hearing about a bloke who bought 1 gold sov every month of his working life, when he retired he cashed them in one at a time whenever he needed the money. No cap gains and no means testing for his pension credit

bubblesmoney

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

That last line should be enough to tell you that you've missed the boat.

I remember people going on about how much they made on their house equity. They don't mention it now....

Saying that, I don't necessarily think it's a bad idea to add Gold coins to an investment portfolio, just make sure you're not putting all your eggs in one basket. I remember hearing about a bloke who bought 1 gold sov every month of his working life, when he retired he cashed them in one at a time whenever he needed the money. No cap gains and no means testing for his pension credit

thats an interesting story.

does anyone know whether bringing gold into the uk from the EU is exempt from taxes? is it only for sovereigns and equivalents or is it for 24k bullion bars of different sizes and other types of coins as well.

also can one get it from usa? does this incur VAT or customs duties etc. is it possible to get delivery of the physical gold to be purchased off the usa commodities exchange??? was just wondering whether it would be a practical method of legally getting gold into the uk when visiting usa. because from quite a few internet resources, gold always seems to crash 90% of the time on the COMEX when the dollar should face pressure based on fundamentals. this happens contrary to movements on asian markets and have seen snapshots of market movements downwards happening on COMEX at between 0900-1000. markets in india vary seasonally based on increased consumer demand during certain festivals where people traditionally buy gold, thats very predictable. but the COMEX movements seem to go against fundamentals and the GATA reports seem to have some substance in them for investors about the FED and FED surrogates getting TARP help but shorting the gold market and in court saying they cant release independant audits of their gold holdings because of sovereign immunity!!!!! so basically they are saying we hold XXXX tons of gold, but leasing into to institutions (GS etc) who short the market and now with gold going up they face losses, little wonder they need TARP funds for rescuing them but both them and FED dont want to release data where and how the funds were used. i envy the people in usa being able to buy subsidised gold because of this FED supported shorting, surely this ponzi scheme to support the dollar will go tits up when they cant lease gold anymore unless they fraudulently lease gold they dont have or lease the same thing many times over. enough of crazy conspiracy stories for one post i guess:rotfl: . but the GATA reports make a good case with evidence backing their stance. see the full page advert they took out in the WSJ, copy available on the GATA website.

buying gold can mean different things to different people. for people buying 'gold' and not having physical pocession, please make sure you are investing wisely or you might end up holding a worthless piece of paper.

paper gold is traded many times that of the physical gold. but what happens when the !!!! hits the fan and people want physical pocession of the gold. your guess is as good as mine.

commodities markets are more subject to manipiulation because no authority in the world can actually physically verify the true asset position (same applies to gold or for better visual representation on COMEX trading graphs see cloud dogs earlier posts and see it on the links provided by him). companies might be trading gold but actually they might be having collateral as derivatives. but if their bet on derivatives goes wrong and the company goes bust then what happens, i dont know.

having gold ETFs or derivatives etc carry similar risks to those in shares. one buys gold as a hedge against downturns in the share market, so buying gold derivatives / ETFs doesnt make sense to me as they will be affected by ETF defaults just like any other ETF default.

Mr_angry_5

During a hyperinflation, the majority of the population who counted on the scrip they were forced to deal with and save can only feel angry desperation as all their savings turn to ashes practically overnight. The reward for personal thrift coupled with trust in the largest institution around—the state—is loss and future uncertainty. Under such conditions, societies tend to come apart fairly rapidly. Crime rises as savings and incomes disappear.

For the past decade in the U.S. easy credit — pretend money — led people to put their houses up as collateral on debts that could only be paid back if real estate prices kept getting propped up by more easy credit. Then they used this debt to finance vacations and trips to big retails chains to buy things that would not be used to produce or store wealth. And this was just an expansion of credit!

When the actual money supply expands in order to ease debt repayments…well, all sorts of screwy things happen. That’s what generally spurs the vulgar expansion of the money supply: the political desire to ease massive debt repayment, both public and private…that and war. When you see a nation living beyond its means, watch out; its currency will be thrown under the bus when the bill comes due.


HYPERINFLATION, thats what i was trying to say.(am i too late?)