Hold on to it. I bought a bunch of gold and silver in 07 and 08 and sold at a loss. After some corrections, I convinced myself that I was becoming a paranoid conspiracy theorist and that the whole gold/silver deal was a bubble that would soon blow over. Now I know better. I was seriously wondering about gold in 1998 because it was so cheap. However I believed what everyone else told me, that stocks/mutual funds/401K/etc… was the way to go. If I had had faith in my inner voice I would probably be retired today. As it stands I am hoping that my 10 year old car will last another 10. Have courage and stick with your convictions, don’t be afraid to admit when you were wrong and try to learn from it.
These markets are heavily manipulated and can swing wildly. They can be artificially undervalued for decades at a time if it favors TPTB. Caveat emptor.
$5K is only gonna get you 3 gold eagles so it’s not like you’re gonna have a lot to play around with. BTW if you have another $5K to play with some silver might make sense. OR NOT. The whole mess could come crashing down at any time.