San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

Gold Supplier

I guess this Roma(Gipsy) fellow would cover your uncle's demand just from his index finger alone :).

I'm not trying to highjack your tread jimmyle, I just needed a little laugh after a tough day.

P.S. talking about being ahead of the market. The big shots in the Roma hierarchy have/wear gold ties (flies in the face of inteligent/educated people like ourselves that Romas are more financially secure than ever......their savings are mostly in GOLD )

Enough trivia for today, so I'll yield back the tread.

www.bulliondirect.com

www.kitco.com

or gold etf (gld). but i dont trust it anymore.

I am no expert, but I personally am in favor of actually holding on to the physical gold, silver, platinum, or whatever. I am sure there is nothing wrong with ETFs or gold pools or whatever, I just find more peace of mind in being able to touch it. There are drawbacks with holding it, yes. You must think about safely storing and protecting it. A bolted-down safe, a guard dog, and a home protection hand gun and/or shot gun make a formidable defense. You might also consider insuring your investment if you store it yourself.

Also, I have heard that it is best to purchase those precious metal products that are the most easily convertible, like Maple Leafs, American Eagles, Krugerrand, etc. And don't get suckered into the numismatic, or collectibility, of your items...some dealers will often overcharge for this.

What's the cheapest way to buy and sell physical platinum? Anyone knows? Kitco does not sell 1-ounce coins and they have huge spreads on 1/2 ounce coins (buying for 490 and selling for 569).

My concern with physical gold is where should you take it to redeem for cash? I don't know how liquid of an asset gold may be. Maybe someone with experience of buying gold and selling it for cash could give us some feedback.

This is more of an opinion rather than an answer. I don't hold any platinum and don't doubt its long term prospects, but I question its convertibility. I think your post attests to this. Platinum is valuable, yes, but it isn't at the level of gold or silver when it comes to convertibility. Additionally, I fear that a large portion of platinum consumption, along with the consumption of the other platinum metals like palladium and rhodium, are heavily over-weighted (as much as 50% or more) towards vehicle consumption in the form of catalytic converters. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Sea...

Vehicle consumption in the US and Europe has stalled. And those who argue that China and India are the next big markets for vehicles must confront the lack of environmental regulations in those countries and ask whether catalytic converters will be utilized in vehicles sold there. My gut tells me NO, at least in the short term (10+ years).

I guess my answer to your question is a question: why platinum? If you are looking to be able to convert it in the short term (1-5 years), I think you might be better served in highly convertible forms of silver or gold, IMHO.

See if there's a local dealer in your area. PM's are carrying kinds of wealth. So I take no chances. Get them in my hands and put them in my safety deposit box. Hell, there's not even serial numbers on them. Pure and simple purchasing power in its rawest form. Man, the libertarian in me loves the stuff.

Thanks to Mish's post today, there is a new breaktrough in the gold supply chain....wow :)

Gold Supplier

blanchardonline.com
bulliondirect.com

I also don't trust the etf gold (GLD), but do for some reason trust cef (central fund of canada. publcily traded as CEF, 1/2 gold 1/2 silver, although they have a gold option too. it's audited, it's actual gold. Gold miners -- GDX, an index fund of miners. fisch makes a gold fake coin detection device thats easy to use.

Here's a California based place to add to the list...
www.golddealer.com

I'll second the Central Fund of Canada.

I dig Canada, gold and *love* silver so its all good.

Plus they have the best website ever:

http://www.centralfund.com/

Effin' A, its like its 1996 again!

If you are going the physical commodity route, look at buying silver in Mexico. For one should you need a physical commodity as money silver will probably be as if not more useful, and transactions in Mexico (where lots of silver is mined) aren't traceable!
Josh

cellar coin - pb - straight shooters

http://www.cellarcoin.com/

Silver is starting to close the ratio gap. Could be the way to go in heavy bars. Or silver miners in the short run.

If you're going to hold metal, it absolutely MUST be physical. Do not trust paper. ETFs will be deadly. Not only do their prices not track the actual price of metals, but they are not even redeemable for gold or silver, themselves. If the price of gold goes to $5000/oz you can redeem $5000, but in the end you still won't own any gold. That may suit your needs just fine in the short term, but we may very likely see a time in which no one wants dollars. If that happens, a million shares of GLD or SLV will be absolutely useless.

Also, there are many more shares of gold and silver ETFs outstanding than the actual volume of existing gold and silver. So when the short squeeze comes, ETFs will be useless.

Also consider that ETFs can only be sold via the stock market. In the event we experience a systemic breakdown, your ability to liquidate and cash out would be severely limited. One also wonders what kinds of additional government restrictions might eventually come down to limit or prevent liquidation of stocks as the market collapse intensifies.

And last, but not least, when you sell an ETF, the tax man cometh. When you unload bullion at a local dealer or to your best friend, no one is the wiser. Dealers are everywhere in LA, and I suspect in the coming years EVERYONE will be a dealer ;-)

Keep and hold physical. It is truly your best bet and hedge against what's to come (in addition to food, of course).

I have only sold to a dealer once, and it wasn't difficult at all. Of course the price I got was a few bucks under spot, but it was tax free :-)

In terms of storage, everyone on this board should have a good, fire-proof safe for important docs, cash, metals, heirlooms, etc. That's just common sense. At this point, I trust my own ability to safeguard my wealth more than I trust any bank or broker to do so. With a good alarm, a safe and a couple of reliable firearms, your assets can be adequately protected.

Aren't the chances of having the actual physical gold stolen from your house far greater than the risks of the ETF going bust???? Maybe diversify with GLD, IAU and another ETF with mostly the miners (GDX???)...Maybe then buy a small % of the physical stuff if it makes you feel good.....Also it is fun at a party to whip out your gold bar and show it off!

Weird, I've never heard, "it is fun at a party to whip (it) out," in the context of a gold bar.
Josh

The best way to buy gold, assuming you do not want to buy and store bullion is at Goldmoney.

Still you should hold some bullion. I have seen recommendations of $10,000 in bullion coins before going the digital gold route.

The beat part about Goldmoney is that you get storage outside the US. This is an added hedge.

I agree, it seems like a good idea to hold some amount of gold in a form you can touch. Last time I checked (back in October) the big problem with coins was that due to the 1 oz coin shortage the coin dealers were all charging hefty premiums. This wasn't an issue with kilobars, only with coins. You couldn't even get Gold Eagles or Krugerrands, but Maple Leafs were still available. I've never owned a kilobar so I'm not too familiar with them. I don't know how liquid they really are. That, and of course you need to have ~ $24k loose that you can drop in one shot. At the time I checked, the primary attraction of the kilobar is that the premium was 2%. Otherwise, if the premiums are the same which is ordinarily the case, coins are obviously the way to go.

BTW, as noted previously, Cellar Coin on Garnet is a great shop, as is SD Coin on Clairemont Mesa.

As per my analysis, gold may not hold present price (Around $900) for a longer time. Price may go down in next 6 months to one year. At present it is better to keep some money in different foreign currencies (Canadian, Euro, pound, etc...). Dollar may lose values (at least 20% in next six months to two years. Make sure invest in foreign currencies that are convertible to US dollar pretty easily.

Larry, whipping your gold out at parties is precisely the kind of move that WILL increase the chances of someone stealing your metals from your house! Come on, now. If you have a safe, the idea is not to let others know that it exists or that you have anything of value worth putting in it. The odds of someone randomly coming into your house and HOPING to find a safe hidden somewhere are very slim. Or at least a lot slimmer than the chances of losing your ETF investments in a financial system that is collapsing as we speak.

Sandia, gold will most definitely fluctuate above and below $900 in the near future. The Plunge Protection Team is more active than ever, desperately attempting to short Comex futures to keep gold from hitting $1000. I suspect that sometimes this year their efforts will become much more difficult. I'm curious, though, why expect gold to suffer more than the Looney, Euro, pound, etc, given that they are all fiat currencies and central banks around the world are printing billions (if not trillions) to stem the un-stemmable? The dollar is most certainly going to lose value, but don't you think that other fiat currencies are going to lose value for the same reason? It seems to me that on balance, gold is the safer alternative.

I was just joking about "whiping it out at a party....I was just commenting on putting a good percent of your net worth in a house safe...Still dont think it is a good idea (unless it can be insured)..

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned ebay. I admit I'm a bit odd, and had a coin collection when younger. If I had some spare $$, and wanted to buy gold, I'd look for collectible gold on ebay. I have bought some stamps and a few silver coins there - prices seem good, sellers honest, etc.

Your mileage may vary. Be careful out there.

Cheers,
Scott

My analysis may be wrong. I will share some of my thoughts here. I have just three years experience in futures market. My analysis is based on following observations and assumptions.
1. As per history (last 15 years) gold and oil are moving in the same directions. Last six months they are not followed that path. Some time in future gold will go down and follow oil.

2. Oil rich countries invest considerable amount of their wealth in gold to beat inflation. Now their revenues are down considerably. Their investment in gold will go down proportionately

3. China govt invested lot of their surplus money in Gold for the last four years. Most probably they are not investing any more. They are planning to spend lot of money (surplus money) on their infrastructure projects in next 5 to 10 years. Their main aim is to employ all their unemployed people in their infrastructure projects.

4. Physical consumption of gold has down a lot. It will go down further until economy recovered.

Right now Dollar is trading at pretty high level. I believe traders are thinking US economy is far better than other economies. But that is not true. National debt passed 10 Trillion dollar http://brillig.com/debt_clock/ . Future foreign investment will go down. This makes US economic recession will stay longer comparing with other economies

if you buy some physical gold and hold it in your hand, and compare that to what's it like to hold the equivalent in GLD shares, I guarantee you you will notice a difference. GUARANTEE IT! you will feel better holding the gold coin. you will feel kind of dizzy with glee stacking some of them. get some insurance, it's a better bet than GLD. the other thing is, you WILL hang on to your coins. you will sell GLD witha mouseclick. Just TRY the gold coin thing. it's different. it's like the difference between reading a travel guide and going to paris. kinda...

I'm with you, Scat. Holding those coins in your hand DOES feel different. It has an almost magical effect. There is truly something special about gold. Once you touch it, you know instantly why it has captivated kings and emperors the world over since the beginning of time.

I just wanted to pass some info on about www.NWTmint.com . I have used them for a few different transactions of silver and gold bullion. Two times they pushed my order back past 4 months while I found out they had shipped numerous other smaller orders that were placed after me.

I wouldn't recommend them to anyone as I have been treated much better with places such as www.tulving.com . Physical silver and gold are a better place to put your funds as the paper markets will soon change! My trust in banking and securities institutions are gone.

I just wanted to pass some info. I have used them for a few different transactions of silver and gold.
rocky

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Rocky

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