[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I don't know. But, I once called a gold company who advertised on TV and asked them: If I bought $1,000 worth of gold from them today and then sold it back to them the next day, with no change in the market price, how much money would I get. The answer was $920. So, that is how they make money.

I would have thought they had a higher markup.

Do not like assets that I have to store and earn no return while holding. I like dividends with companies that only return a smaller portion of their profits as dividends while continuing to grow.

[DaddyD]

Originally Posted by Blueblaze

10% of a typical Villager's total portfolio is $100,000 or more. Somehow, I doubt that all you gold bugs have a couple pounds of gold sitting in your safe. And that's the problem. If its not in your hands, it's not where you need it to be on the day the currency comes crashing down. Yes you can buy ETF's -- on the gamble that Vanguard (or whoever) will still be around to honor your electrons and pay you back in whatever passes for currency on the day the dollar collapses. But you should be aware that GLD currently holds their gold with HSBC -- the most corrupt bank in the free world. Unlikely there'll be enough to go around, for a peon like you, even if you can get a hold of them to pay you back in rubles or yen. So, instead, you buy one of those "Gold IRA's". Now you actually have title to the metal, but it's in some bank vault you've never seen, 1000 miles from where you need it to be, on the day your dollars won't buy anything. And you spent a fortune in fees and overhead to get it into that vault, so it's worth a fraction of what you spent for it.

What it comes down to is that gold is just another fake "investment" -- yet another way to bet that there will always be a greater fool (and a particularly volatile one, at that). So you might as well go the ETF route, and avoid the astronomical fees associated with any other form of "gold". Because if you're buying it to save you from the coming currency collapse, I guarantee you will be out of luck, unless you have pounds of the stuff in your safe at home, and a way to convert it into a small enough denomination to buy a loaf of bread.

If you ask me, the only thing that has any chance of saving your fortune on the day the gooberment destroys the currency, is prayer!

I'm not suggesting that physical gold is a good investment, but there a lot wrong (imho) with your post.

First, $100,000 in gold at today's prices (approx $2,600/ounce) is only about 38 one ounce coins. 38 one ounce coins don't take up much space at all (about the size of a small water bottle) & could EASILY fit in a home safe or in the smallest bank safe deposit box.

You wrote that gold is just another "fake" investment--I'd be interested in hearing you justify that statement. While it's true that most Americans probably no longer invest in physical gold, billions of people still do in the rest of the world, especially India, China, and the rest of Asia. Gold has been a store of value & been considered "money" for literally thousands of years! It can't be destroyed (i.e. it doesn't decay, rust or burn) and has many practical uses today.

That said, I do think gold would be of limited use in an "end of the world" scenario, but I doubt many here are investing with such a scenario in mind. If that is one's concern, it would be much wiser to invest in guns, bullets, liquor, cigarettes, dried food, and silver coins, but again I doubt many of us here are investing with this in mind. Younger investors should be focused on growing their money (stock index funds!) while older investors are likely more focused on preserving the purchasing power of their money. Personally I don't think physical gold is a great investment (though I do own some), but that said I'd rather own physical gold vs cash under my mattress.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Silver is only about $31.3 per ounce, so you could get away with bars and remain under the reporting threshold.

I wish I didn't see that.

I have a sealed 20 lb box of Kangaroo Silver Coins, that I hid inside my house (not in TV). I had a flaky gf for a while.

It's been 2 years looking and still can't remember where I put it.

[Pugchief]

Originally Posted by MrFlorida

I haven't seen anybody pay for food with a gold bar yet.

Yep. As DaddyD pointed out, ammo and whiskey will be better barter material than gold bars if SHTF. If you are more worried about a general collapse of the dollar, Gold ETFs should be fine. If you trust that the electrons involved in Bitcoin or Stocks will work, paper gold will work as well. Or it all won't.

I have never been a fan of physical gold due to bid/ask and storage safety. But I like paper gold for a dollar hedge and real interest rate hedge.

[Pugchief]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

I wish I didn't see that.

I have a sealed 20 lb box of Kangaroo Silver Coins, that I hid inside my house (not in TV). I had a flaky gf for a while.

It's been 2 years looking and still can't remember where I put it.

[MorTech]

Originally Posted by MrFlorida

I haven't seen anybody pay for food with a gold bar yet.

It would be difficult to accurately scrape off gold from a bar to buy a Big Mac. SATS would be a better idea.

Looks like Peter Schiff is finally right! LOL! Gold to $10K?

[DaddyD]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

JM Bullion is a good and reputable company. Any sale of gold or silver over $10,000 is required to be reported to the government. Precious metals are considered collectibles for tax purposes, meaning any capital gains are taxed at the maximum rate of 28% federal tax. At a current price of about $2,625 per Troy ounce, that’s only about 3.8 ounces until you reach the reporting threshold. It would be impossible to sell gold bars and not have it reported to the government. Gold coins are typically 1 ounce, so at current market value, you could sell three coins per day without ever having anything reported to the government. Silver is only about $31.3 per ounce, so you could get away with bars and remain under the reporting threshold.

Agree that JM Bullion is a legit / reputable company. Closer to home Gainesville Coin (name is a bit of a misnomer, I don't think they are located in Gainesville & I don't think they have a physical location you can walk into to buy/sell metals) is legit.

With regards to the comment above that "you could sell three coins per day without ever having anything reported to the government" while you might be able to get away with that as long as you went to different shops, technically that would likely be considered "structuring" and as such would be illegal / considered tax evasion. I doubt many people would need to sell three coins a day, day in and day out, but I can easily see why someone might want to sell a couple coins a month for pocket money, to pay for gas, groceries, dinner out, etc., and doing that would likely not pop up on anyone's radar...

[goodoldan]

Originally Posted by TJ SoBos

So, where is a good place to buy Gold, and/or Silver?.....and which is better, coins or bars?

Myself, I like the Sprott physical silver (PSLV) and gold (PHYS) ETFs, held in my Roth IRA. Sprott (Sprott Homepage ) holds a huge amount of the actual metal in Canada (yeah, I know) at the Royal Canadian Mint as fully allocated and unencumbered physical bars. You can even redeem shares for the physical metal with some restrictions. Best practical solution I've found.