rgio wrote:

exactly. They imagine a world where everything has broken down, but people are still able to have basic agreements on value and exchange. A place where there is no order and you need force to defend anything, but people will still happily make change for your gold coin.  

If things get as bad as they think, I believe the only solution is to stay away from people and have a defensible store of food that would allow you to outlast any onslaught. But I also don't believe in Zombies and think if we get that far, we are pretty well fucked. I'm in a community where people with nothing will stop and help you change a tire or call some distant cousin who will drop everything and pull one of the two last rusty bolts holding his tractor together and bring it to you to put a wheel back on. I don't believe these people are ready to turn on their neighbors. This is where I want to be when everything else breaks down.  If things get that far, I'm not sure where a safe space would be in America - the larger cities simply have too many people, but I think they would be more willing to organize. The small communities that sort of look like where I'm at, are the ones mostly hording guns to fend off everyone else.

Back to the topic - you should have as diverse a portfolio as possible. Concentration in any one thing brings risk. I'm back on the take SS early bandwagon as the concentrated early collection looks better than waiting it out for larger returns vs. the risk of systemic changes brought by intentional mismanagement.  I'm also in the demographic with the least political pull, so I'm shoring up other things.

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:

The nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:

I've been retired for 4 yrs now—————-  

 maryte wrote: I'm with you on that.
But I'll be here till I die.
It's not all that bad... unless the air conditioning fails in the summertime.

 Bill_J wrote: Your dad did a good job.
And it looks like your doing the same.

 kurtster wrote:

I lost it in illegal cock fights.  

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:
Exactly.

It's amazing how people that plan for the collapse of society use current standards of value to feel "prepared". 

WTF are you going to do with a $5 coin when the strongest will take what they want and necessities are the only thing of true value.   Those freeze-dried meals in your subterranean bunker are great for a year.... or two.... or whatever.  Then what?  That 1/10th oz of gold will be more herbal medicine than currency... if you can afford the one potato price tag.

 islander wrote:
So a 1/10th oz coin is worth $250, how do you buy a loaf of bread? You'd wind up trading a BIC lighter or paying $250 for a loaf of bread. Making the value of a 1/10 oz coin plummet to about $5. 

 kurtster wrote:
You're making my point. ETFs are an investment vehicle. People treat gold like a store of value or a hedge of some kind, but it's really just another commodity. People act like we are heading into the walking dead scenario and they think having a pocket of gold will still have some value - unlikely. It has it's place in a portfolio, but if you are more than a couple percent in gold then you should re-allocate. And if you are buying it because you think end times are here, you are buying the wrong thing.

 kurtster wrote:
This at least makes sense - as long as you believe the total breakdown of society is imminent, and you have confidence that you'll survive the proximate cause.
 
 kurtster wrote:
Coins have a better chance, but you still need agreement between buyer and seller. If you have nuggets or bars or some other bullion, good luck. And if you have an organized system where we all agree on value, I'd say you probably don't need the gold anymore in any quantity. 

I had a customer that mined in Alaska. He always got paid in gold, and he would try to buy from us in gold. I did a cursory glance at values, but it became clear pretty quickly that either he was trying to take advantage of us, or someone had taken advantage of him (probably both, in reverse order). 

I did have a customer at the data center that wanted to pay in bitcoin (circa 2013). Our sales guy was all over it. I told him fine as long as he took his commission in bitcoin as well. He declined, so I did as well. That was a miss, but not until recently. 

 kurtster wrote:
“Nope. You look hungry my friend. Today that gold piece will buy you *looks around the storeroom* one slice of bread. Take it or leave it.
Tomorrow, it will cost two pieces or gold.”

 islander wrote: 
You can't eat ETF's either.

Long ago I thought of hoarding Bic lighters.  Still a good idea. 

Trade them for food.  Can't cook without a fire when the electricity is out.  

I buy them by the box of 50 at a time.  Easier to start a fire than rubbing two sticks together.

OBTW, you don't need to have coins assayed.  A tenth of an ounce coin is worth at least $250 all day long now.

 Steely_D wrote:

I always wonder when people say gold is great for catastrophies. It's hard to transport, you will need some kind of assayer to set value, and the other party may not be interested in it for tender at that point. If you think things are going to get that bad, bullets and beans are better commodities. I do know people hording bullets, but if you have enough beans you can probably just wait them out. A good balance would be recommended, but I'd be heavy on beans and light on gold. 

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

Yoiks!

 Steely_D wrote:

well, there is this case 

 kurtster wrote:

You need a farmer
since you can't eat gold

 islander wrote: 
Yeah, but you don't need a broker or even electricity to use gold.

 kurtster wrote:

That's only slightly worse than you would have done with an S&P index fund. And the index fund is held in a brokerage with regulatory oversight, and virtually hurricane proof.

 Steely_D wrote: 
Trump has yet to take office so I am not sure what you're trying to say.  Must be them damn Mormons ...


 

Sorry to hear about your brother.  I understand about truck stops and showers having run a truck stop on the Ohio Turnpike for years in another life.  The showers were the worst part of that, keeping them clean.  Hope he didn't keep his gold at home.  If he had it longer than the past 10 years, he surely is rocking since it has gone from around $1,000 to around $2700 these days.  Not a bad return.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
He's beaten cancer at least three times and had a few vessels bypassed. And, he's 80, which is admirable. But you really don't want your last years to be difficult or miserable.
But he's too independent. And you can guess his politics. He's too angry, all the damn time. And it takes so much more energy to be angry at people in DC or "those" other people that are supposedly making your life rough.

So, could he afford to retire? I guess for some people logic doesn't play into it and they want to be "independent thinkers" hoarding gold and ammo and when it goes bad, it's someone else's fault.

 Steely_D wrote:

yikes.. this place is getting depressing