good silver buys

[Wheeler78]

Ok I’m really hoping this doesn’t turn into a debate on silver in prepping because I know how split many people are on this issue. I just wanted to share how excited I am at getting two really good silver buys lately. I was able to pick up 38 pre 64 quarters (37 Washington and one standing liberty) for $100 the melt value that day was $138 for them. Next I was able to find a woman who had 7 64’ Kennedy halves I was able to get them for $35 the melt that day was right around $50 for em. The way i see it any time I can buy silver for under spot is a good deal what do u all think?

 

[Darral27]

Good deals. I would have bought them.

 

[DougBarnes101]

I would love to find a bunch of deals like that.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Any time you can buy anything under it's realistic value is a good deal... even silver... It's use for SHTF is limited so I don't personally stock it, but it does have it's place.

As far as deals go. I scored just under 2 oz of sterling silver for $1 about a year ago... I would have sold it right away except it was right after the bottom fell out of silver... so I'll hold onto it until silver is high again... it may be 20 years or more, but I'll hold it...

 

[Justus]

The way i see it any time I can buy silver for under spot is a good deal what do u all think?

Yep, better than money in the bank

 

[Naandme]

Well I believe countryboy19 is wrong if the SHTF's then silver and gold will be great items to have. If we have a collapse of our financial system paper money will be worthless. Where precious metals will always have value. And if nothing negative happens then it's a great investment for retirement. There are many items that will be great to barter with ammo, fire wood, silver, gold, guns, food,medical etc. and anything related to survival. I have and will continue to buy silver and gold as well as ammo and numerous survival gear. I buy this in hopes I never need it but if I do I will be prepared.

 

[Hoosierman]

I agree with him that it's going to be useless during SHTF. In that situation stuff will have value, such as food, vehicles, tools, guns, etc. Silver just doesn't do anyone any good. After things die down, but before a monetary system is put into place is when precious metals will have value again.

 

[Leadeye]

Junk silver coins are the only way to go in my opinion, those and Krugerrands.

 

[Justus]

I agree with him that it's going to be useless during SHTF.

Name one event in the last 150 years when things went so badly that every economy was trashed and people had (or preferred) to barter rather than use PMs or currency.

 

[Hoosierman]

Name one event in the last 150 years when things went so badly that every economy was trashed and people had (or preferred) to barter rather than use PMs or currency.

I missed the rule that said EVERY economy needed to be trashed... Or that it had to have happened in the last 150 years for it to ever happen.

 

[Hoosierman]

To clarify, I don't think buying silver is a bad thing at all, but I for one, won't count on it as a barter item in a SHTF situation. I stockpile vodka for that.


Sorry OP, looks like it turned into a debate over silver in preps.

 

[Justus]

I missed the rule that said EVERY economy needed to be trashed... Or that it had to have happened in the last 150 years for it to ever happen.

OK, do you know of any event when people had to barter?

 

[Hoosierman]

OK, do you know of any event when people had to barter?

The most recent time was during hurricane Sandy. People were bartering all kinds of things for gas, due to no cash.

 

[CountryBoy19]

OK, do you know of any event when people had to barter?

Look at the Bosnian conflict... gold & silver weren't necessarily "worthless" but people were trading every single bit of silver or gold they had just for their next meal... that same amount of gold or silver in normal times would buy thousands of meal... the things that really had value were the useful items... just look at the lessons learned from that

Buy all the gold & silver you want right now, but if you trade away $1000 face value of junk silver for a single meal you probably won't be coming out ahead....

 

[Justus]

Look at the Bosnian conflict... gold & silver weren't necessarily "worthless" but people were trading every single bit of silver or gold they had just for their next meal... that same amount of gold or silver in normal times would buy thousands of meal... the things that really had value were the useful items... just look at the lessons learned from that

Buy all the gold & silver you want right now, but if you trade away $1000 face value of junk silver for a single meal you probably won't be coming out ahead....

This is true but only in the towns under siege.
That silver could most likely also have bought a way out of the area.

Hurricane Sandy was disastrous but the rest of the world still functioned as usual for that week. A well thought out preparedness plan could have eliminated any need for bartering.

 

[CountryBoy19]

This is true but only in the towns under siege.
That silver could most likely also have bought a way out of the area.

Much easier said than done... either way, it's a perfect example of a long-term SHTF where the only thing of value was useful, tangible assets that will keep you alive and precious metals won't keep you alive...

Hurricane Sandy was disastrous but the rest of the world still functioned as usual for that week. A well thought out preparedness plan could have eliminated any need for bartering.

My point is, silver is not superior to being prepared. Precious metals should be one of the LAST things on your preparedness priority list. If you think you can barter silver and gold for the things you need during an extended SHTF you're going to be in for a real shock when the "price" of those things has gone up 10,000%.

My personal opinion on the usefulness of precious metals is that they are to preserve wealth THROUGH a SHTF until the recovery begins. There are 2 key points to that statement. First and foremost, you must make it THROUGH the SHTF until the recovery has progressed to the point that things are pretty stable again. #2 You must have wealth to preserve beyond your preps. This all has to be done within reason for the current life (if SHTF never does happen). If you turn all your assets into beans, bullets, and bullion you aren't living your life for today and will likely be in a bad situation for some of life's everyday SHTF situations. You must maintain some semblance of normal life. Unfortunately, only wealthy people should be making the move to gold. After they have personal finances covered like house, car, etc all paid off, cash reserves in the bank (some at home), preps set aside, and THEN start preserving additional wealth with precious metals.

If you have the type of finances that you have no debt, have a 6-12 month cash emergency fund, and have enough preps to get your family through a year or two without any dependence on anybody else, then I applaud you, buy up all the precious metals you can without dipping into the aforementioned preps. OTOH, if you haven't met the aforementioned "checkboxes" then I would highly recommend against stepping into the precious metals as a prep world.

 

[Justus]

If hyperinflation is a concern than PMs should be on your prep list. Big biz and governments actually hope for inflation since it erases debt quicker.

Setting the war scenario aside,
I'm saying that all it takes is a little research to see that people and economies still functioned during all other SHTF events and that none of these events resulted in an overnight economic reset. Mortgages, taxes and other bills were still due and had to be paid with currency. If one currency failed, the population used another country's currency. Short-term events could be weathered with practical preps but the long term events tended to be financially rooted and people with PMs managed to do better than those without because they had wealth pre-positioned in an easy-to-convert asset.

Big Matt said it best in this thread:

"People like to say they are prepared for anything, but they aren't. They are prepared for one scenario - TOTAL MAYHEM!!!! Anything less than that and their car gets repossessed and their house goes into foreclosure.

The flip side of the "you can't eat precious metals" coin is "you can't pay your mortgage with an MRE".


I used to think that bartering goods would be good plan but I began reading up on what really happened in the past and it changed my course.

 

[CountryBoy19]

If hyperinflation is a concern than PMs should be on your prep list. Big biz and governments actually hope for inflation since it erases debt quicker.

Setting the war scenario aside,
I'm saying that all it takes is a little research to see that people and economies still functioned during all other SHTF events and that none of these events resulted in an overnight economic reset. Mortgages, taxes and other bills were still due and had to be paid with currency. If one currency failed, the population used another country's currency. Short-term events could be weathered with practical preps but the long term events tended to be financially rooted and people with PMs managed to do better than those without because they had wealth pre-positioned in an easy-to-convert asset.

Big Matt said it best in this thread:

"People like to say they are prepared for anything, but they aren't. They are prepared for one scenario - TOTAL MAYHEM!!!! Anything less than that and their car gets repossessed and their house goes into foreclosure.

The flip side of the "you can't eat precious metals" coin is "you can't pay your mortgage with an MRE".


I used to think that bartering goods would be good plan but I began reading up on what really happened in the past and it changed my course.

If you really want to break it down and get into the nitty-gritty details, the best way to guard against hyper-inflation is with tangible assets and you can even profit from hyperinflation by GOING INTO DEBT to buy tangible assets that will appreciate ... but lets be honest here, we aren't trying to prepare for hyper-inflation only, we are trying to prepare for a great number of things.

Regarding your quote of Big Matt, you likely can't pay your mortgage with gold bullion either... the only good precious metals do is preserve wealth as I believe I said before. But you have to make it through the tough times to realize the benefit of that preserved wealth, if you prioritize PMs and don't make it because you didn't have enough cash to pay your mortgage, or enough food to live through it etc the PMs were all a waste... OTOH, food and other staples are also a guard against hyper-inflation. They track similarly to PMs but without the volatility of PMs. Prioritizing food supplies and other staples will pay off almost 100% of the time due to their very nature; PM's won't always pay-off. The benefit of food & other staples is that they have other uses outside of wealth preservation. They can be eaten, or used for whatever use they are intended; PMs can't.

So my point is starting to come full circle here. Staple items and PMs both preserve wealth. But staple items are more versatile and are the thing that will get you through the tough times; PMs won't. So what advantage do PMs have? They are compact, don't expire, can be easily stored. Can you realistically preserve $100k of wealth by stocking food and other staples? Not likely. But you can with PMs.

And now the full circle back to my original argument. This is why I said you need to #1 get out of debt (yes, debt is a "hedge" against inflation of sorts but it's not good), #2 get an emergency fund that is in dollars, not PMs, #3 prepare with useful, tangible items (they still hedge against inflation), #4 then you may consider PMs as a hedge against inflation or currency crashes etc ... if you get to #4 you have MUCH more money than I do and MUCH more than most people so your situation doesn't apply to very many people...

 

[Wheeler78]

Lol I figured it would quickly turn into a debate

 

[Justus]

FWIW, my replies have been directed at Hoosierman.
Yes, we are trying to prepare for many things and we're both saying that PMs preserve wealth.
I think that some people underestimate the duration of a truly serious financial crisis.
Even in today's crisis, the pawn shops and ebay are full of tangibles that people thought would be a good investment but ended up selling at a loss to pay bills.