bluemoon

Land is a good option, at the moment woodland prices are going up because big companies are snapping them up to offset their carbon credits. I don't know if they'd drop in a recession. The other thing is I'd like to buy it behind a trust or something anonymous. Apparently "Russians" (I put that in quotations because that's the media & government's excuse) are still owning major UK properties without an end user individual being identified, despite the UK bringing in new laws last year. I don't know how us small folk can accomplish that, but I'd look into it in case they seize your land for wrong think.

Def spread your assets. If I had property, I'd put some money into a loft extension or something like that, to go with the gold and silver. The other inflation protecting asset would be collectables (like art), but I don't know the foggiest thing about what art is good! So as much as I don't like having too many eggs in one basket, I am alas heavy in the gold and silver eggs basket, in the absence of property and collectables.

I guess we don't. Hope the CBDC pushers dreaming of phasing out cash think of that.

While I haven't bought gold with crypto yet, if I did I would simply buy some crypto then pay for the gold with it. Some bullion dealers take crypto already, and I've seen some forum members take crypto. I would get the crypto from a decentralised exchange like AgoraDesk.

The problem is that greedy people use it AS speculation which is not what crypto supposed to be. I'd be perfectly fine with a roughly stable 1:1 bitcoin parity with the GBP, I only care to use it as a decentralised transaction method that won't be QEd, regulated or otherwise fiddled with. The greedy people looking to get rich are what ruined it.

Things have gotten so bad that at this point I will only open a new bank account if it doesn't do KYC. What's that, no such banks exist any more? What a shame, it's cash, PMs and crypto then. Maybe some barter here and there too. My current bank I've been with since I was 6 years old and they obviously didn't KYC me back then. It's a personal current account and I use it as sparingly as possible. The more we use our bank accounts, the more likely something will trigger the algos to kick up a stick about.

I'm pretty sure you get them margins on this forum too compared to spot, it's just eBay who have even higher margins due to all the fees on there. A cursory look at the trading section shows me about 20% markup on silver spots or more.

I used to think this way about VAT but in reality you sell the same margin premiums back so it shouldn't really make a difference if silver is bought with VAT or no VAT.

That's a good idea. Since we're individuals on here anyway, it's like paying a friend. And we're all buddies on this forum, right? 😏 🎎🤘👊👍👯‍♀️

Looks like manipulators played a rope-a-dope, what the heck was that!

That GSR refuses to go down. Being in the 80s is pretty high and it's been hovering round there for the past 8 years.

Indeed, mixed date coins that say "mixed date Sovereigns" on the certificate could be used over and over. I think as long as you show A certificate and you don't look like a drug dealer, that and a passport is enough lip service to satisfy the boxes that need ticking. Still can't see why you'd ever sell to a dealer though when you can get better rates on places like this forum or eBay.

The best personal data protection is to not take personal data at all. All talk of servers and encryption is a bandage over that initial act. This is why Sharps Pixley and Gold Investments are the current kings of gold dealers, as they take cash with no ID up to I think 7.5k. And yes despite what competitors say, what they do is perfectly legal and yes they are very legitimate establishments. Any dealers claiming the law binds them to take your personal data for purchases below the threshold, when it doesn't, are to be viewed with suspicion.

I can't speak for the person you're replying to, but I for one would be happy to "embrace" decentralised cryptocurrencies to replace the bank transactionss if it became accepted by normies. But it hasn't become so, therefore cash still leads the pack for private control of your own money.

Another cash/bank story was when the old £50s were due to come out of circulation. I went into the Post Office to have them swapped out. The man said something about only being able to put it into my bank. I told him I don't have a bank account (I'd only get more grief from my bank). He offered to set me up with a Post Office account and I said definitely thanks but no thanks. So he gave in and asked how much I have. I said £500.He said he can swap only £300. I don't know why but fine, it's a deal. When I took the money out, his eyes went on stalks when he saw they were all £50 notes. He nervously took my money and started counting. Despite saying £300, he had a "F this" moment at £200 and tossed the rest of my money back at me, mumbling something like "that's enough, £200". He then took out the new notes to give to me (all £20s because apparently Post Office don't do £50s), gave me £200 worth and said goodbye in a "now go away" tone of voice. I said to hold on while I count up the notes he gave me. I duly counted £200 then looked up and said thank you, seeing an indignant face as he was leaned back in his chair, his body language as though he just inadvertently helped a drug dealer launder his money or something. The moral of the story I took away was these responses only happen because not enough people are normalising cash, and my lesson was to do this sort of thing MORE to help normalise it. In fairness to Barclays, their self service machines could have taken my cash and spat me out some new polymer notes, and I still withdraw my money from their in £50s without a problem (max £2000). I don't know why I thought the Post Office would be better, but it made for a something to tell the Mrs that evening.

Utterly horrifying.

A lot of kindred spirits on this thread which is heartening, I only wish it was representative of wider society. Let's keep pushing it. I like £50 notes actually, good for grocery shopping, restaurants, etc. Most faked notes are fivers and tenners but the average Wilko till worker gets nervous around £50s. Frankly with inflation, we should have a £100 note in circulation. I learned the other day that Euros go up to 200 Euro notes and until recently they had a 500 Euro note!. B of E wants to limit us to £50s though? Madness! Sharps Pixley of course take £50s with no issues, they have a machine that counts cash notes in a matter of seconds. No excuse for businesses to not accept cash. Lidl self service machines no longer take cash, even though the hole in which to drop your coins into are still physically there on the machines, it's just Lidl who have switched off that part of the machine from working. As for Barclays, I spoke to their fraud team after making a payment to eBay they were suspicious of, and they do treat you like criminals. Even without that, just making normal payments mean logging in with a PINSendry device, texting my phone to conform payment, then another PINsendry confirmation dance. What a merry-go-round. I'm not much of a crypto fan but I did once pay for something in Bitcoin and I was amazed at how much less hassle you get than you do from the banks. Like wow, I just made a payment without being treated like a suspected drug dealer, I thought to myself how refreshing that was! Still prefer cash though.

It beggars belief that a nation and it's people can sleepwalk from a relatively free & laid back country such as it was in the 1990s, to now a Soviet style country that people back then understood was undesirable and thought only happened under repressive regimes in backwards parts of the globe. Now we are one of those countries. RIP Britain and indeed the former "Western World".

Yes I've been given the posh tea treatment, I feel like Lord BlueMoon being waited on whilst I engage in regal transactions. And the cash thing is very important, they have a counting machine like this, which I'm reminded of whenever those card only businesses whinge about cash being too much hard work to count up at the end of each day.

They are very posh too, which I like when buying gold.

My first coin was a Krug, at first I was underwhelmed with the colour of it but I do like the cheap robustness of it. If CGT wasn't an issue I'd def have more of them.

I get that, but I also know how unfriendly the bureaucratic pen pushers are when it comes to money. I'd love to liquidate lots of gold without hassle, but I can't see a gormless bank clerk accepting at face value that I liquidated 50k of gold I bought over 7 years ago and to stop interrogating me over where the money came from. Similarly if I buy a house with that liquidated gold, they want to know the source of the cash. Will they just accept it came from liquidated gold I bought over 7 years ago? I doubt they'd give me a free ride over that. Maybe I'm too paranoid.

If you only need to keep records for 7 years, what happens when you liquidate all your gold for fiat or a house 10 years after your last gold purchase? Surely they would want that explained?

Frankly the politicians can use it for bribes if they want, as long as it allows the rest of us to use cash without their state intrusion.

In a possible beacon of hope, EU MEPs have been found with huge amounts of cash in their homes. So it seems the lawmakers do see the value in cash after all and may hopefully keep it.