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Cramer also made a lot of people broke
When to to sell silver and gold?
- Thread starter Chris142
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While that sounds like it would be correct, I'm not so sure.
If you look at the original Dow stocks from 1896 - American Cotton Oil, American Sugar, American Tobacco, Chicago Gas, Distilling & Cattle Feeding, General Electric, Laclede Gas, National Lead, North American, Tennessee Coal and Iron, U.S. Leather, and U.S. Rubber - holding onto a portfolio of that gang for the past 130 years probably wouldn't have made for a great investment.
I think there is more movement in what constitutes a good stock than we might expect.
An investment in the S&P 500 index (which allows for changes over time) for the next 100 years, now you're talking. Even at an 8% average gain a year, a $1 investment would be worth $2199.76 (not adjusted for inflation) after 100 years.
To give an example from my own family. My mother and BIL invested in a hot prospect, a small oil and gas company in about 1975 (so, 50 years ago). The company has been taken over, and taken over, and taken over several times since then. Fifteen years ago, when my mother died, I turned the share certificate over to a prominent oil and gas company, the current owner of that hot prospect's assets, and got almost $200 for it. This past year, when my BIL died, we tried to turn over his share certificate to that same prominent oil and gas company. They declined to even accept it. I suppose we could have sued, but for $200??
In the end I always pick my bottom............wait
Stocks and PM's: If something just happens to go up or down really fast after I bought, it's chance, so I get out. Something down more than ~8-10% is statistically proven to rarely flex back to even and above. Something up 5-6-7% - in days? Out! That is a huge gain annually.
Funds are different. Buy more and more and hold and hold, that will eventually make you rich. Not speculating in gold. This said I bought a gold fund years and years ago right at some peak. It stunk up the joint for YEARS. many years. 1981-2007.
Stocks and PM's: If something just happens to go up or down really fast after I bought, it's chance, so I get out. Something down more than ~8-10% is statistically proven to rarely flex back to even and above. Something up 5-6-7% - in days? Out! That is a huge gain annually.
Funds are different. Buy more and more and hold and hold, that will eventually make you rich. Not speculating in gold. This said I bought a gold fund years and years ago right at some peak. It stunk up the joint for YEARS. many years. 1981-2007.
No one remembers what my mother and BIL paid for the stock in that hot prospect oil and gas company. Neither was very flush with cash so I don't suppose it was very much, $20 or $50 maybe.
If an investment had grown at 8% a year a $20 investment would be worth $295 after 35 years, and $938 after 50 years.
If my mother had invested only $20 she did sort of okay (gained about 7% per year), but not so well if she had invested $50 (gained about 4% per year), and my BIL (who got nothing at all after 50 years) really lost out.
All that to say, a random unwatched long term investment may not be all it's cracked up to be.
Funds like the "Inverse Cramer ETF" SJIM put a smile on my face.
It's gone and liquidated now, but I love the spirit.
It's problem was that it never got to "Best of Breed" status.
On selling gold & silver, it depends on the reasons you bought in the first place.
* Flip a commodity for a profit.
* Store of accumulated wealth.
* Because they're shiny and pretty.
Ah, no. They’re worth close to zero from a metals perspective because most jewelry is 14, 18 or 24k. To melt them down and extract the gold is expensive and time consuming.
Used jewelry has a shockingly low value on the market. Worth far less than the weight of the metal used.
Keep them for sentimental reasons. Hand them down. You’ll get next to nothing if you sell them, either as jewelry or for the metal from which they were made.
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Market maybe, buy decent scrap PM buyers will give you a fair price. Heck with 8kt they may not even need to inquart.
I've had a different experience with APMEX. They are consistently offering $4 to $5 below the spot price for silver, even stuff I've bought from them and still in the plastic wrap from the mint.
Lucky for me, I have a dealer nearby that pays $1 below spot. I've been slowly selling since it hit $35 and have stepped up the quantity recently.
I’ve only sold them gold
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
WoW. That 50% / 60% sure is nice. Especially for the very large investors.....
For some reason have never purchased / invested in gold. A big mistake I am sure because many years ago I got on this kick of buying silver bars and collecting silver coins etc.... Just about every time I bought or still buy some silver , I send some of the same thing to my two sons for the collections they are now sharing with their kids. Mostly a hobby but it is now and will be worth more than what I paid for it. At least they are sharing and teaching their kids about saving and investing at a young age. One of my grandfathers did similar for me. He had me doing my own tax returns on the paper forms as soon as I was working and earning any money enough to file. I still do them myself all these years later.
JHZR2
Staff member
I worked at a place that dealt with a lot of metals back in college. We used to buy the photo scrap silver.
Proper businesses can handle it and get it where it needs to go. Not the sell gold kiosks. Real shops that probably also deal in bullion and collector coins and whatnot.
One time I processed $500k of platinum or rhodium. I forget which now. Was on pins and needles taking those packages to the PO to ship registered mail.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
I used to work in a chemical processing unit that used a palladium catalyst in the reactor. This thing , unfolded was about 1/4 the size of a bed spread and was surprisingly heavy. It looked like some knight's chainmail. When ever we needed to reload with a new sheet, we had to go to the plant stores building where the new one was kept in a safe. I never did catch exactly what it was worth but I have heard the stuff could cost as high as thousands an ounce?
There was a time when palladium was valued above gold in USD terms. But not now.
That's just a crazy spread compared to gold %. All my silver I've always sold locally. One guy paid spot when I lived near Redmond.
Here is another thought:
Whenever you start seeing a lot of ads "Invest in Gold!":
Thats the time not to, because the people who are holding quantities of it are spending money on ads to help them sell it.
Thats means in their professional judgement its currently high enough for profit taking.
In other words ,when the ads pop up "its time to buy Gold" they pop up, because it isn't.
Whenever you start seeing a lot of ads "Invest in Gold!":
Thats the time not to, because the people who are holding quantities of it are spending money on ads to help them sell it.
Thats means in their professional judgement its currently high enough for profit taking.
In other words ,when the ads pop up "its time to buy Gold" they pop up, because it isn't.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Yes. My days of fooling with palladium on the job were the early 1980s. I don't even recall back then hearing much talk about investing in or even the prices of Gold or Silver. What stands out the most to me from back then was the wild near 20% interest rates I was staring at when thinking of buying my first home. I was so young starting out with two young sons and paying for the wife's 2nd trip thru college. For some reason, I have little to no memory at all of what inflation was doing then. I assume BAD if interest rates were 15% to 21%.
JHZR2
Staff member
Generally agree. The money was made when we bought mint bullion eagles and collectible double eagles in the late 90s. And when you could buy 90% silver coins for 3x face.
That said, the shops make their money on the spread. So they need to be constantly buying and selling regardless.
JHZR2
Staff member
Is that for 90% or eagles/maple leafs?
$4 below spot is like 8% below spot. That’s pricy. I haven’t found their prices to be great.
Most pawnshops will try to rape you.
I once had a place offer me 50% of spot on a hundred ounces of Buffalo Silvers.
(Buffalo Silvers are "just" a round not a coin, which will lower your offer, but one of the mostwell known rounds at least, which usually helps the offer you will get. Though it might still be slightly below spot, if your quantity is low or the guys inventory is high. ... You wont get as good an offer as on a Silver Coin though. For those who dont know Rounds generally 1 oz, are minted like Coins, except by private mints and will not carry a face value. They cannot be called officially Coins since only govt minted product can call itself coins. The "big name" Coins even if they are not numismatic, will generally command offers above spot. Silver Eagles being the prime example. This of coruse is also reflected in a higher buy price for you. Both applies to other coins too, albeit to a lesser extent)
My Bullion was in the original packaging unopened and accompanied with my buy receipt. (this all lowers his risk and "risk" is a big part of what pawnshops use to justify their spread).
I had stopped there on a lark, since he was right on my way to my main guy and he did have that big banner.
So I thought, why not give the little guy a chance?
Bad idea, guy was just hoping I was ignorant and then to take advantage of that.
Worse yet, when I told him no deal and to give me back my Silver (he was checking it behind his glass divider), I sensed a lot of hesitation of him even giving it back.
I had to tell him 3 times, raising my voice ever so slightly each time. (I was a BIG man back then, think movie villain's main henchman type looks).
Sometimes I wonder if I had not been in uniform and looking the way I did (I was still active duty and it was lunchtime), if he hadnt tried to pull something..
Moral of he story, deal with the largest business you can find.
They will actually have a reputation to protect.
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