Any MSE-ers ramping gold at the moment?

IronWolf

Not a great time to buy gold now, because the GBP is getting hammered because of Scotland.

Masomnia

There were a few days last year where gold saw the biggest falls for 30 years or so; it's been pretty quiet since then as far as I can tell.

I certainly don't think I've read a 'you can't lose with gold' post since then.

puk999

I have bought some physical gold and silver over the last couple of years. Almost all coins. With the benefit of hindsight I probably wouldn't have bothered. I bought into the story of imminent financial collapse; that all fiat currencies go to zero, that precious metals are a protector of wealth, that quantitative easing was eroding real wealth and holding PMs would protect you from that. There is obviously a problem in USA and UK that government debt has spiralled out of control. I'm less convinced of a global collapse than I was.

The prices of precious metals dropped heavily last year. They provide no income. They're a pain in the :silenced: to squirrel away, protect and log their locations. It's not that easy to sell them in the UK. In the US there are local coin shops. Not so where I live. I doubt the price from such a place would be much more than spot anyway. Could sell them on eBay. Less attractive for the higher value coins now that the final value fee ceiling has been raised substantially. Also the issue of fraud and chargebacks on eBay. I also worry I'll die and my spouse will sell them to the nearest cash 4 gold for convenience rather than doing research on what they're worth.

I do like having the coins in my physical possession though. They're nice and shiny

At the moment I reckon up to 10% of my investments are in precious metals. I'm not looking to add any more to that. If the stock market fell a lot and pushed gold/silver prices up then I'd sell as much as possible and plough the proceeds into the stock market.

atush

joe_mcclaine wrote: »

Sounds like he did the opposite, unless I've miss-read it.

Correct, I bought gold to diversify when it was extremely unloved, and sold half when it got to abt 1400.

Although gold has dropped over the last several years, and there are no longer metal rampers here everyday, there is still too much interest in buying it for my liking (ie to buy more).

I would not put more than 5% into it.

theshortstack

theshortstack wrote: »

On this topic, can anyone tell me if there is any reason to be purchasing from one mint or another? I guess I'm just wondering if there's any difference between the likes of Umicore, Metalor and Baird & Co.

Anyone? Can't seem to get an answer to this anywhere ...

puk999

theshortstack wrote: »

Anyone? Can't seem to get an answer to this anywhere ...

You did get some response to the same question here.

I think all the mints you mentioned are good. I prefer buying bullion coins rather than bars; they're harder to counterfeit. For example: Canadian Maple Leafs from the Royal Canadian Mint, Austrian Philharmonics from the Austrian Mint, Kookaburras/Koalas/Kangaroos from the Perth Mint.

paddyrg

Many thanks to you all. Out of interest why am I the *last* person you'd advise?

sabretoothtigger

If 1% gold is ramping then yes always ramping, lower price isnt a reason to reduce or stop that counterweight being valid to whatever other cash you have.

If the Swiss pass that law to back their notes with 10% like it used to be then you could just switch there. Its unlikely though, we have everyone reaching in one direction which in simple terms is easily likely to rock the boat.
For example the stockmarket has not moved in this continual rise since 1966 apparently. Holding all stocks is then slight ignorant of risk seems to me but some have all spare cash in trackers

Masomnia wrote: »

There were a few days last year where gold saw the biggest falls for 30 years or so; it's been pretty quiet since then as far as I can tell.

I certainly don't think I've read a 'you can't lose with gold' post since then.

It didnt evaporate, I think that saying may be quite literal
The main thing is right now there are minimal gains to holding sterling.
But sterling has done well over the last year and is only falling right now but I know of the two which I expect to hold a baseline better

gadgetmind

atush wrote: »

Correct, I bought gold to diversify when it was extremely unloved.

Was that at the "Brown Bottom" as it's often called?

atush

I dont know what it was called, but it was under 700 lol.

My mom held a bit of physical, and when she died I had to sell it at rock bottom prices as executor. It was 2001 and it wasn't loved much then either.

I still have a few sovreigns she gave me as gifts.