Why did you start stacking/stocking PM?

[DanStack]

Hi,

What motives do you guys have, for stacking, and why did you start?

Did it start out as a hobby, an investment, market insight, or/and fear for future economical crises as the one we experienced in 2008+ ?

Is your portfolio silver or gold, or both? Personally, i started because of the fact, that i believe market economy will get some major issues the next couple of years.

 

Hope this isnt at double post, couldnt find anything like it elsewhere

[Clens92]

Quote

"If you can't hold it, you don't own it."

That phrase resonated with me quite a bit... I don't get too het-up about banks holding savings during normal economic times, but I'd prefer to be better prepared than Joe Bloggs should anything bad happen. 

Equally, if gold and silver rocket, I'm quids in.  If they drop like a stone, I'll still be flipping and trading, and making enough to keep my stack profitable.  At the moment, it's difficult to see a downside to holding a few ounces.

 

[vand]

Have always been a saver - the idea that you are responsible for your own life, so live within your means, build up a nestegg and look after your own. Putting money into a proven store of wealth like stacking gold/silver allows me to combine a hobby with an intrinsic belief in how I like to conduct my own life, which is ultimately a self empowering feedback loop. 

It also sicken me to the stomach to see the profligacy, waste of the majority who cannot live their lives as such. I heard it put well that "gold is the ultimate defense for the productive minority against the tyranny of the unproductive majority." 

[KDave]

Great post vand, really spot on. 

Personally I started out just wanting to diversify away from purely cash and stocks. I wanted somewhere to put some capital away long term, for retirement that was reliable and wasn't going to be destroyed by systemic failures, inflation, company bankruptcy or bank bail ins. It has since developed into a hobby and learning about gold and silver has led to a much wider education in regard to economics and the way I see the world monetary system. I am still very much a student.

PM's are a large portion of my investment portfolio, I have much more gold than I have silver, partly because of the additional premiums we have to pay on the white metals. I also invest to a smaller degree in platinum group but not physically because of the even higher costs associated with them. Each metal has its own positive investment case over different time frames, but gold is preferred given its history, its continuing role in the monetary system and the fact it can be bought at a low cost relative to spot. 

[BaldyBob]

In one word. Paranoia.

I am one suspicious, untrusting mother, and I needed an extra insurance policy!

[SilverSniper]

6 hours ago, DanStack said:

Hi,

What motives do you guys have, for stacking, and why did you start?

Did it start out as a hobby, an investment, market insight, or/and fear for future economical crises as the one we experienced in 2008+ ?

Is your portfolio silver or gold, or both? Personally, i started because of the fact, that i believe market economy will get some major issues the next couple of years.

 

Hope this isnt at double post, couldnt find anything like it elsewhere

With my personal collection, I don't "Stack" as such, I collect.  The difference is that I collect individual items, I don't have two items the same.

Why did I start?  I have an extensive numismatic collection and I have exhausted the coins I want to collect; well, the ones I can afford anyway.  So I started collected bullion coins, then it expanded to art bars, then minted and cast bars. 

[ApisMellifera]

I was never a saver, spend all my cash at the end of the month, lived in the moment until that 'rainy day' happened. Things spiralled downwards and had to work my way up again. Started to change my mindset and reading loads about personal finance, clearing debts and ways to save. I'm still learning and researching every day about passive income, real estate, stocks to get myself out of the rat-race...

I finally turned towards precious metals and understood that PM are still the best way to preserve your and next generation wealth. Silver is affordable for me at the moment and I'm using the Gold/Silver Ratio (GSR) to determine my purchases. So for example; if my budget is £100 and the GSR is 70, I will spend or put aside £70 for silver and £30 for gold.

How to work out GSR; Divide 'gold spot price' by 'silver spot price'.
Today's GSR = $1308.44 / 17.79 = 73

[StinkyLebinowitz]

My reasons were 90% investment and 10% total collapse of fiat currencies.

As far as for investment, I looked and saw silver near it's bottom and in the last 7 years it traded in much of that between $25 and $35 per ounce. Looking at the economic situation of those times and being honest about where we are today, I saw the potential of silver going back up into that range again in the near future. 

As far as the 10% of total collapse of the currencies, all I am doing toward that aspect is in what I am choosing to stack. I am sticking mostly with 1 ounce government issued silver coins as those should be easiest to barter with, should the crap hit the fan. I don't think there's any probability a total collapse will happen during my life. But I also don't see where considering it for my stacking strategy is detrimental to my investment goals either.

I should also add, it's fun, so slide that in there as a reason too.   

[Paul]

This past 6.5 years roughly I have been at this the stacking game. Listening and learning brought me into stacking

Working from home, having no office gossip to keep me enthralled daily, YouTube has been a godsend for me learning and listening while working. Saving/investing/history/financial history/conspiracy documentaries I will listen to everything I can. 

I took it all on board and something sounded 'right' about gold and its history. 

Regardless whether i have bought gold at the 2011 highs which i did or the 2014 lows ( i bought at the highs and lows) the moves have not really bothered me too much mentally
Once i have converted my fiat cash to gold it gives me a sense of personal relief i have put a degree of separation between my cash and the bank/banksters to gamble with
It also gives a sense of insurance that should the worst ever happen in these uncertain times we live in, gold is always my insurance and will always be worth £something

Once i have converted fiat cash into gold it removes the temptation the fritter the cash away on something i don't need,  I have managed to save in the past 6.5 years, far more than i ever have in previous part of my earlier life.  It would take a very serious decision for me to part with any of my gold.

Lastly, as my pile of shiny metal increases month on month you get such a sense of personal achievement that you cannot value.

Knowing that i hold several years salary gives a sense of security in case should the worst happen, business flatl-ines or i get injured

Gold is your instant pension pot you can dip into at any stage from 18 until to 100 years old with just a 4-5% spread.  If you are buying at lowest % per oz and selling at near to 100% of spot.  Just shame it doesn't pay a dividend or interest.

When is enough enough ?  i don't know.  I think i will just continue as i am.  

In a nutshell, Gold investing 101

Buy & bury in the garden x10 Krugerrands today @ £930  (£9300)  - return in x25 years times

Bury £9,300 in cash in the garden - and return x25 years

I would be 99.99% sure the x10 Krugerrands sold in 25 years time would buy more 'stuff' than the £9,300 cash

So i am part stacker, part collector, part addict, part speculator, part investor, part saver, part collapseatrian, part best price per oz, part hoarder, part OCD, and lastly part writer of too long forum posts

[vand]

1 hour ago, ApisMellifera said:

I was never a saver, spend all my cash at the end of the month, lived in the moment until that 'rainy day' happened. Things spiralled downwards and had to work my way up again. Started to change my mindset and reading loads about personal finance, clearing debts and ways to save. I'm still learning and researching every day about passive income, real estate, stocks to get myself out of the rat-race...

I finally turned towards precious metals and understood that PM are still the best way to preserve your and next generation wealth. Silver is affordable for me at the moment and I'm using the Gold/Silver Ratio (GSR) to determine my purchases. So for example; if my budget is £100 and the GSR is 70, I will spend or put aside £70 for silver and £30 for gold.

How to work out GSR; Divide 'gold spot price' by 'silver spot price'.
Today's GSR = $1308.44 / 17.79 = 73

That's a great strategy. Love it.

Sometimes I briefly get annoyed with myself when I see that Gold has risen, eg from it's recent $1220 low back around $1300, and I didn't use it as an opportunity to buy some... But then I remind myself that it does not fit in with my own strategy to accumulate as much silver is cheap relative to gold. I will not consider buying gold until it falls below 70 ozs of silver, which necessarily means that I will be enschewing the opportunity to buy cheap gold to instead by really cheap silver, and accept that when the time comes to buying my gold it will be at a little higher cost in ££s.

[SilverTanner]

I was, and still am, a collector however whilst attending auctions I noticed bullion sovereigns sometimes tended to go for less than the spot price. Over the years if anything looked to be at spot or under (incl. the buyers premium) I would bid and ended up with few - particularly bulk lots.

Probably 50:50 now, but my collection has sentimental and long term value and my stack doesn't. Problem is which one do I buy for next!

ST

[HighlandTiger]

I was never a saver, spend all my cash at the end of the month, lived in the moment until that 'rainy day' happened. Things spiralled downwards and had to work my way up again. Started to change my mindset and reading loads about personal finance, clearing debts and ways to save. I'm still learning and researching every day about passive income, real estate, stocks to get myself out of the rat-race...

I finally turned towards precious metals and understood that PM are still the best way to preserve your and next generation wealth. Silver is affordable for me at the moment and I'm using the Gold/Silver Ratio (GSR) to determine my purchases. So for example; if my budget is £100 and the GSR is 70, I will spend or put aside £70 for silver and £30 for gold.

How to work out GSR; Divide 'gold spot price' by 'silver spot price'.

Today's GSR = $1308.44 / 17.79 = 73

Youd be better using the Real gold silver ratio which takes into consideration the costs of the premiums when buying pms.

Gold can be bought at 5% premium and silver at 25% premium. so using current spot prices of ....

£928 x 1.05 = £974.4

£12.62 x 1.25 = £15.78

this gives you a real GSR of 61.75. Compared to the spot price GSR of 73.59

[ApisMellifera]

Thanks @HighlandTiger ! Great tip. That prioritise me to get more gold, which I do prefer at the end of the day. You learn something new every day

[vand]

2 hours ago, HighlandTiger said:

Youd be better using the Real gold silver ratio which takes into consideration the costs of the premiums when buying pms.

Gold can be bought at 5% premium and silver at 25% premium. so using current spot prices of ....

£928 x 1.05 = £974.4

£12.62 x 1.25 = £15.78

this gives you a real GSR of 61.75. Compared to the spot price GSR of 73.59

It doesn't really matter though as long as you are consistent..

Anyway, silver can be brought for much less than 25%. I've been able to buy maples for +16% recently, and for those fortunate enough where they live they can buy bars at spot+$1.