I'm not sure. At $1200 per ounce, you wouldn't end up with much gold.

I sold my gold last year, and got good money for it, but it wasn't what it is now.

Some people make a lot of money ion silver and gold, especially coins. Mainly, the people who sell them. It's about guaranteed that YOU the buyer will not make money on such an investment.

May I recommend the Household Finances forum? Lots of good information.

We had this discussion at lunch. We think the best investment is property--but w/ $7,000. I don't think that would go too far. I'd vote for the gold.

Where's OJ???? He might have some insight. Meanwhile, I would be tempted to invest in property or land and maybe join a family member in such an investment.(Of course, that might be problematic,huh?) Nanny

There are gold stocks like ABX(Barrick) that pay a stock dividened or NG(Novagold) that has gone up 300% in the last year. I would buy gold stock before I would buy coins. Gold is expected to top $2k by years end. I would own no more than 20% of your entire savings/portfolio in gold. Copper is also a good buy. (SCCO) IMO

My advice to myself...which has never failed...is to never buy any metal when it's on the high side of its value. IMO...now is not the time to buy gold, silver...or any derivative thereof. My personal choice would be to buy interest bearing bonds if you feel you must invest that money. Otherwise...sit tight. What has gone down will eventually go back up. Unless you can honestly say that you can afford to throw that money away...be patient. Having the $7000 is better than not having it.

JMHO

Anne

I would not invest in coins. I would invest in a fund which includes a broad spectrum of precius metals.

Think about how much risk you are willing to tolerate too. Could you stand to lose half or all? There are safer ways to invest that money which pay more than those (miserable) CD's.

Real estate IS GOLD! My brother-in-law made millions buying, restoring and re-selling properties in Miami, Fl.

Thank you for your advice, I will hold off. This friend of ours was telling us today he cashed in a small ins. policy and bought $8000 worth of silver coins, American Eagle. He says now he has to find a place to hide it, he's thinking about digging a hole somewhere on his land and hiding it there. Yes, he is a wee bit eccentric. :o)

Linda~

Hey Linda, I wouldn't exactly say eccentric. Don't forget that in 1933 Roosevelt ordered gold to be confiscated by order of congress AND that all safety deposit boxes held at banks were to be SEALED!

Executive order: By virtue of the
authority vested in me by Section 5(B) of
The Act of Oct. 6,
1917, as amended by section 2 of
the Act of March 9, 1933, in which
Congress declared that
a serious emergency exists, I as
President, do declare that the national
emergency still exists;
That the continued private hoarding
of gold and silver by subjects of the United
States poses a
grave threat to the peace, equal
justice, and well-being of the United
States; and that appropriate
measures must be taken immediately
to protect the interests of our people.

"Therefore, pursuant to the above
authority, I herby proclaim that such gold
and silver holdings
are prohibited, and that all such
coin, bullion or other possessions of gold
and silver be tendered within fourteen days
to agents of the Government of the United
States for compensation at the
official price, in the legal tender of
the Government. All safe deposit boxes in
banks or financial
institutions have been sealed,
pending action in the due course of the
law. All sales or purchases
or movements of such gold and
silver within the borders of the United
States and its territories,
and all foreign exchange
transactions or movements of such metals
across the border are herby prohibited.

"Your possession of these
proscribed metals and/or your maintenance
of a safe-deposit box to
store them is known to the
Government from bank and insurance
records. Therefore, be advised
that your vault box must remain
sealed, and may only be opened in the
presence of an agent of
The Internal Revenue Service.

"By lawful Order given this day,
the President of the United States."

Blessings,
Haley (who DOES buy gold and silver as a safeguard against American currency plummeting, not as an investment)

hale bopp, I sent you a email.

Linda~

Here's a little movie for those of you on the fence about buying gold and silver. A lot of these people have GREAT information on what's to come. It's not to be taken as a conspiracy or cause panic- it's in hopes that you prepare in the event that our dollar becomes worthless.

Blessings,
Haley

Here is a link that might be useful: Get out of paper assets

We usually have to pay more for coins than the intrinsic value of the metal that's in them.

If you buy bullion ... you either have to pay storage fees to the agency that stores it ...

... or, if you hold it yourself, must either pick it up yourself or pay freight, then store it (how safely??), and, on sale, deliver it to the buyer or his agent, and pay costs of the assay to ensure that the material is the same as you had received.

In all - costly.

I prefer to own part of a qualuity gold/silver/copper mine.

Or - maybe some of those rare earth materials that are essential in all of the electronic gizmos that we demand these days (and sourcing which underlays a great deal of the current fighting in Africa, sort of like the U.S. sourcing oil in Iraq).

Currently, at something above 5%, I hold far too high a percentage of my asset in (even Canadian) dollar-based asset.

When one considers the huge debts that many countries are piling up, it seems to me that paper currency is at risk.

And when the bankers to the U.S. want to be paid instead of being willing to extend more credit, the only choice will be to raise interest rates to entice the lenders to give us more ...

... and in what kind of a mess will we be, then?

If we're in trouble paying 3 - 5% ... how about 10 - 12%?

I remember when I sold mutual funds, 25 years ago, some folks, especially seniors, chortling as they told me how they'd taken up the Canadian Gov't's offer of Canada Savings Bonds a few years earlier, at 18% (and people were paying upwards of 25% on mortgages).

When I asked them how they liked making about $2,000. - 3,000. on an investment of $100,000., they laughingly told me that they were earning far more than that.

If they were paying 25% income tax, their after-tax return on their 18% was 13.5%, right?

And ... did they happen to know what the rate of inflation was at the time? Few knew that it was running at about 12%. After all - a person could buy a fine car for well under $10,000. a while earlier, but not any more!

When our gov'ts. print more money, as the U.S. is doing big time these days ... the real value of each dollar lessens commensurately.

Three or four years ago, had you shifted U.S. money to Canada, as I suggested on here, 79 cents or so U.S. would have bought a Canadian Dollar. If you repatriated it now (and why would you? better to move more dollars offshore, while they'll still buy something of value) ... that Canadian Dollar would buy you 98 cents U.S.

And if you'd bought a Canadian bank, pipeline co, oil well, etc., that would likely have gained you about 20%.

Happy investing.

ole joyful