Quote:
Originally Posted by ahnuld
eh, in nazi germany many jews were able to bribe people to get out with gold/diamonds.
Its not for a mad max scenario, but for a war time type scenario.
for the record I own no physical gold but being jewish can understand it based on history
This is a very good reason to own a SMALL amount of physical gold/silver/diamonds/etc.
I would add another reason to own these items...there is no counter party risk to this. You own AND have possession of the gold/silver it is yours. You can easily take it with you, and you are not depending on somebody else to come through. You still have some amount of risk even with cash. I've got some Austro-Hungarian gold "ducats". When they were issued, they were money in the Austro-Hungarian empire...after WWI, no that government went busto. Their paper currency is not worth anything...their gold ducats are still worth serious money because of their gold content! I don't think that will happen in the USA...but is it a 1% chance that it could? What about the next 4 years?, what about the next 8? Probably not, but who knows? Gold & silver bypass that problem...
If you've got an ATM card, or $ in the bank, you are depending on them to be open, to be there on the other side of the transaction, and to honor that transaction. 99.8% of the time there is no problem...but every once in a blue moon, there is a problem. I've experienced it myself. It sucks when the bank says you don't have that money (bad check, clerical error, IRS hold, bank error, etc.)
Also, think about this...I think it would be EXTREMELY foolish NOT to have a small percentage of your net worth in tangible assets. I'm talking a single digit percentage, 2% or 3%. If you are worth $250k, why not have $5k in gold/silver? That gives you an insurance policy against SHTF, and counter party risk.
Also, let us say that you have 98% of your net worth in stocks, bonds, etc. Is having that extra 2% going to be that big a difference in your investing results?
What is the risk/reward ratio?
Finally, I am going to guess that I'm older than most of the posters in this thread. When you are thinking investing/retirement, you need to be thinking of years & DECADES. Most of the time, everything works out as reasonably expected...but I've personally been through the S&L crisis, the internet bubble, the real estate crash, the market crash of 08, (and many other crazy situations) and hopefully will make it through a lot of other stuff. It was coming through this stuff that really made me think to have physical/alternate assets.
Good luck to everyone!