Total hypothetical here. Any resemblance to real life is purely coincidental.
Let’s say you’ve convinced yourself that the U.S. Total Economic Collapse is right around the corner and you want to have some money around after it all goes down. How would you go about getting the best price on gold and quickly acquiring the physical gold (as opposed to having a bank or other institution hold it for you)?
There are many online places which are reputable and which will sell you bullion via credit card (although they will sometimes do things, such as require you to fax in other ID, or sit on it for a few days while your CC company confirms you really want to make the transaction). I am not going to post links because I’m uncertain if it would be construed as advertising, but I can testify that we have over the last 3 years bought silver, gold, and platinum bullion in that way and been very happy.
Also, we have found that local coin and jewelry stores will often sell gold and other bullion at very low over market price. Last year Fierra bought me a 1-oz Kruggerand from a jewelry store, and the following year a 1-oz platinum Maple Leaf from the same store, both about 2% over market price.
I have the same question as the OP.
OK, so let’s play 20 questions (or 15, or 5). Is MONEX for real? I’m always a bit suspicious of a company that spends that much on advertising. Is there some Googlefu that we should perform to find a reputable dealer that is better? Any other hints or advice?
There are numerous reputable bullion dealers online. For instance, these guys are definitely for real:
You can buy gold coins from official US Mint-Authorized Purchasers. See more here:
http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/buffalo24k/
See also here: http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/american_eagles/index.cfm?action=american_eagle_bullion
A Vietnamese friend I knew used to buy Canadian Royal Maple Leaf coins as they were almost 24 kt (0.999 pure). Gold is what got his family out of Vietnam after the war and he continued to buy it, just in case.
I don’t know if he purchased them through a dealer or in Canada itself, but here’s the Royal Canadian Mint site: http://www.mint.ca/
I have heard on some news programs that investors think gold could explode in value to 8000 dollars a ounce if the worse happens.
And i have always been perplexed as to why if the economy totally collapses why anyone would want gold at all. You cant eat it, or use it for shelter, and bartering with gold would not get you much for those reasons,
Isnt the survivors choice “canned food and shotguns”?
Interesting. Thanks for the input, all.
Is there any information out there about how popular this investment method is in the U.S.? I’m not talking about investing in gold in general, but actually collecting the bullion.
Per the last post, I’m guessing that shotguns, plenty of ammo and plenty of canned goods will be the way to go if there’s a total collapse. But I’m thinking about whether or not people who hoard gold would necessarily be at an advantage post-collapse.
Because barring a nuclear war there isn’t going to be a “total collapse”. People don’t collect gold because they’re worried about living through The Road Warrior, they collect gold because they’re worried about living through hyperinflation that makes paper currencies worthless. The correct way to think about it is not that the value of gold rises to $8000/ounce, it’s that the value of the dollar falls to 1/8000th of an ounce of gold.
I have a follow-up question: where do you sell gold? As in, lots of it?
Like, for example, I find 10 kilograms of buried doubloons while snorkeling off the coast of San Juan? I doubt yer average pawn shop/jewelry resaler has enough cash on hand to cover such a sale.
If you had 10 kilos of pure gold, our store could buy it. That’s only about $300,000.US today. We wouldn’t give you cash, but would give you a check that is good. We have that much in the bank. Most coin stores don’t have that much liquid, but probably there are a few hundred in the US that could do the deal.
If you truly found the doubloons, then you send them to auction at Sotheby’s or some such, wait, collect your fortune a bit later.
I never thought about it that way until you said that, so thank you for pointing out the flaw in my logic Lemur866. 