To invest in Silver Bullion or Firearms?

[LoadAmmo]

What do you think about investing in silver bullion versus NIB firearms? What has the most potential in 10 years?

Silver is hovering around $9 an ounce right now.
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html

Peak Silver
www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/peak.htm

The gold-to-silver price ratio also has risen well above the historic mean of 40:1 in recent years, suggesting that either gold will decrease in value or silver will increase. By many traditional measures ("bundle of stocks," "suit of clothes," etc.), gold already is grossly undervalued, due to government rigging of the price via the orchestrated sale and purchase of financial derivatives (again, see my book for a discussion of how gold derivatives temporarily can convert even gold into a fiat currency). In Defensive Racism, I go through a lengthy analysis in explaining how I think gold will spike well above $2,000 per ounce (in terms of today's dollars, not tomorrow's Greenspanbacks), then settle into a trading range three to four times higher than today's price.

Before silver is done, however, not only should/will/must it revert to the historic gold/silver mean ratio, suggesting a commensurate price for silver of $62.50 per ounce once gold becomes fairly priced. However, silver's scarcity should cause it to surpass even gold's price. Even if I am dead wrong about any upcoming increase in the price of gold, today's gold price alone, when divided by 40, suggests a "mean-ratio value" for silver of $11.75, which is a tidy 60% rise over today's actual silver price!

 

[El Tejon]

Silver, China will be sucking an enormous amount up over the next few years.

 

[benEzra]

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/iran

Defiant Iran could withdraw oil in nuclear row
Reuters - 1 hour, 2 minutes ago

LONDON - OPEC power Iran wields a potent weapon -- oil -- which if fired to ward off international pressure over its nuclear programme could blast prices to record levels last seen during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Emboldened by strong prices and stretched global supplies, Tehran could retaliate by removing all or part of its daily crude sales of 2.4 million barrels from thirsty world markets. As the United States and its European Union allies lose patience with the Islamic Republic, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has kept the world guessing as to whether the world's fourth biggest crude exporter will withhold supplies.

If that happens, the price of precious metals will definitely climb.

Things would have to get REALLY bad for gun prices to climb drastically. I'd say silver would be the better investment.

Of course, the best course of all would be to jump in your time machine and go back to the '90's, when silver was $3/oz...looks like Warren Buffett knew what he was doing, again, when he jumped into silver big-time at that price...

FWIW, I've read that Buffett is now getting out of dollars...I assume he knows what he's doing, and if he is onto something, and the dollar is going to decline, then silver will rise even more against the dollar.

 

[Rem700SD]

The price of NFA weapons keep climbing, you might consider a couple M-16's in your portfolio!.

 

[a454me]

You could always buy an old musclecar , the price of some models are going crazy right now ! And like a gun you can have some fun out of it .

 

[boofus]

M16 and HK sears are worth far more than their weight in diamonds, gold, or plutonium.

 

[Omni04]

silver guns!!!!

but yeah, silver really seems like the way to go.

 

[rms/pa]

guns will get you money in times of no cash on hand.

better than money getting you guns when you NEED them immidiatly.

rms/pa

 

[Thefabulousfink]

How will this affect the price of silver bullets? Will the Federal Government subsidise the cost of silver bullets so that the civilian population can defend itself against werewolves?

Remember in the 2008 election to be sure of your candidate's stance on werewolf defense.

 

[Father Knows Best]

It's called "speculating", not "investing"

You don't "invest" in precious metals, you "speculate." Don't fool yourself. Prices of precious metals are highly volatile. They always have been, and they always will be. The same goes for collectibles, including firearms and muscle cars. For every guy who makes a fair amount of money on them, there are dozens more who lose their shirts. The only sure-fire way to make money on either is to be a broker. That way you make your money both coming and going, i.e., you benefit from the volatility because you get a cut of each trade.

 

[JohnBT]

I would rather own something that contributed a little to my yearly income - guns and metals in any real quantity don't do much other than take up too much space or cost me money for storage.

Let's see, $100k of silver at $9 an ounce would fill a space the size of...dern, what's that, almost 700 pounds of silver. Maybe stamp collecting would be better.

John

 

[seansean]

I can't recommend these guys enough...
http://goldmoney.com/

Allocated storage, you can buy gold and silver, very cool. I found out about them a couple of years ago.

 

[Hairback]

This is strictly an "FYI" for investors/speculators.
Should you decide to invest in precious metals, you should be offered the option whether or not to "take delivery" of your metal. This option is designed for businesses that use the material in production and individuals who don't know better.

NEVER take delivery. If you do, you will never be able to sell the product on the open market without having it remelted and reassayed, which will cost you a good bit of money, plus a percent of the value, unless you are willing to discount it drastically to someone who is willing to take the risk that the product is in its original 99.999 fine condition (Gold) and will use it in production, because he can't sell it either. You might get rid of some of it at a coin shop or the like, but not enough to make a difference, and the shop will discount it too.

I used to be both a broker and a "mover of product in the dark between countries" many years ago. Always had to remelt and reassay when I returned to the states for resale. Sometimes I made money, and some times I was just glad to make it back alive.

 

[f4t9r]

I always heard "Go for the Gold"

 

[Drewcat]

Started buying silver about a year ago. I'm a geologist so got intereted in the supply/demand side of the equation. I don't see that you are in much danger of losing money at these prices. Unlike stocks, at least you've got something physical so you know it won't go to zero!

I'd disagree with Hairback on never taking delivery. I think with metals, if the top really blows off and you just have paper silver you've got a very real chance of being left with nothing. A lot more paper silver is being sold by speculators than there actually is available above ground. So if silver prices do a 1980 and people have sold contracts without the actual metal they likely won't have enough money (or it just won't be there period) to buy real silver to fulfull the contractual obligation they sold to you. In other words, you're screwed and they go bankrupt.

I'd recommend physical at as close to spot as you can get (you can buy it all day a .70 over from places like NWT mint with NO shipping charges, .45 over if you buy 100 ounce bars). Considering it was at 7 just a few months ago and paying .70 over (7.70 oz) may have seemed like a lot, but when it's 9 today that looks pretty good. If you are not planning to buy and sell daily and are buying for longer term and not selling until the price REALLY moves you're safe with physical. If you really can't stand having physical get an allocated account with seriel numbers of the bars so you can be fairly sure they actually have the metal they are selling you!

check out these sites for metals info.

www.gloomdoom.com
www.goldseek.com
www.gold-eagle.com
www.silverseek.com
www.thebulliondesk.com

 

[TABING]

I'd stick to my guns, have they ever gone down. After the Iranian revolution 1979, when the world economy was in flux and turmoil, the Hunt brothers cornered the silver market and the price went to 20$, gold $800, NIB Colt series 70s 1911s $180.00, where are they now, you do the math.

 

[Father Knows Best]

I'd disagree with Hairback on never taking delivery. I think with metals, if the top really blows off and you just have paper silver you've got a very real chance of being left with nothing. A lot more paper silver is being sold by speculators than there actually is available above ground.

Good advice. Keep in mind that if you don't take delivery, all you're really buying is a promise from a company. If the company goes belly-up, you lose your investment. You might as well be buying stocks and bonds at that point.

 

[JohnBT]

The Hunt Brothers. I got in and got out well before the crash. Those were the days. And there were a lot of collectible silver coins floating around screaming to be saved from the bullion buyers.

John

 

[Drewcat]

f4t9r:

Last year silver out performed gold something like 18% to 29% respectively!

(not to say I wouldn't keep a little gold around)



It was the HUNT brothers who cornered the silver market in 1980 and the fundamentals look better today than they did then. ie. it could happen again!

By the way, that is a really interesting and gun related story. The Hunt brothers decided to take delivery of huge amounts of silver (which caused the price spike because they wanted physical rather than just paper silver). Anyway, they had a big shooting contest with the local cowboys in Texas and the winners were hired as guards for the silver shipments. Look it up, it's pretty interesting.

 

[palerider1]

i think buying good quality used guns (collectable ones) is better than buying new guns. i like the 1903 springfields, wwI and WwII 45's, 1917 enfields, ect.
anything you can buy used below current market value that increases with time is a good investment. i saw a chart on vintage 1911 45's and since 1980 they have substantially increased. you wont get that out of silver or gold, although it is good to invest in silver and gold too. its the world standard and in the event you ever needed to lets say go to another country in case of some catastrophy gold will always spend.

 

[bogie]

Maybe last year before things started climbing... Right now, I don't know. The gold bugs are riding high right now, but over time, gold and silver are just now gaining... I suspect that if one had invested $1,000 in mutual funds and $1,000 in gold, back in 1985, that you'd have a pretty fair chunka profit on the mutual fund side. And not all the much on the metals side.

 

[Drewcat]

Bogie,

You're definatley right. But that was 20 years ago!! The biggest mistake I think people sometimes make is investing in what worked 20 years ago. Times change and markets are cyclical. Right now comodities are riding high like stocks were in the 1990s and from all indications they have a way to climb yet. Stocks on the other hand haven't done squat (on a broad market basis) in the last couple years.

 

[bogie]

Nelson and Bunker also bought a lot of land... It was truly trippy dealing with those folks before they went down.

Gold is also available in coinage, which is fairly liquid... Sovereigns are probably the most popular.

But I'd go with stocks...

 

[bogie]

Don't buy single stocks - diversify.

Last year my mutual funds did about 9% or so. This year they're around 4% already, but I suspect we're about to see a correction.

 

[palerider1]

i can get alot more enjoyment from looking at classical collectable firearms in display cases than looking at paper stocks and bonds. i plan on investing in firearms,land, and in my business. www.oasisedging.com