KDave

I can’t believe it was under £1000 only a year ago. The cruel mistress that is lady fortuna, when the price rises she fills you with happiness at a gain and sadness of the loss of cheaper opportunities. What a B*tch.

Up 40% in a year. Spot was at £987 a year ago today. 

I used to watch the Keiser report too. He’s been banging the door on gold for years but now it’s more bitcoin. His anti establishment message sat well with me. My trust in government had totally gone after the war in Iraq and the financial crisis. Loved his zany style and straight talk. I didn’t take what he said as gospel but it was the only place I could find someone who had a platform to attack the mainstream narrative. I found my own truth somewhere in between. I always find it funny when RT gets branded as a Kremlin mouthpiece when that’s exactly what the BBC is too. 

Personally I don’t know anyone else who collects gold so I’m interested to learn how other people got started, their motivations and what it means to them. What’s your story?

I'll start with my own.


 
My initial fascination with gold started when I was a kid. Like many households we always had an Argos or Index catalogue lying around that I would flick through when I was bored. As you would expect I spent a lot of time looking at all the toys but it was the jewellery section that really caught my eye. I liked all the birthstones and gems but my favourite pages were near the end of the jewellery section, it was all the gold chains. I used to sit and stare at the weights, purity and price of them for a reason I can’t fathom even to this day. The first piece of gold ever bought for me was by my mother when I got my ear pierced. I got a 9ct gold stud and hoop. A few years later after a fair amount of begging at shop windows she bought me a half sovereign ring and my brother a full sovereign. They were either lost or sold I guess and my gold story goes cold for a decade.

The financial crisis and great recession was my induction into the world of economics. I remember watching the TV as the queues formed outside Northern Rock and then like dominos the banks started to collapse. The government started QE and the bailouts commenced. What caused it? Where did this money come from? Who was going to pay it back? Pandora’s Box was open and my studies began. All the cash for gold shops appeared on the high street as the price took off - gold was more than just jewellery - gold shone bright once again. I seriously considered buying my first gold during this period but never followed through although my faith in the financial system was gone never to return. In the following years new terms and trends emerged. Help to buy, 0% finance, balance transfer credit cards, PCP car loans, early pension drawdowns and negative interest rates. I reasoned this was totally unsustainable, can only end in pain and it was time to prepare. I cleared all my debts then began living well within my means and saving in earnest. I knew what I had to do.

I bought my first gold from the Royal Mint. Three and a half ounces of pure gold were delivered by post the next day. When I opened the parcel and held the coins in my hands I was taken aback by the density, the purity, the colour. It was outside the financial system, untaxable, free from manipulation. It was perfect. It was that day I became a goldbug.

I’ve accumulated more incrementally and now it amounts to around half of my total assets. I’ve learned more about golds history as money and its universal appeal across ages and continents. I still don’t fully understand our love of gold which seems irrational but so is much of what we do. Gold is many things to many people but I view gold as the perfect way to store time. Immutable from government policy and excess in perfect parallel to its physical properties. I don’t care too much about price fluctuations because in the long run I’m as certain as I can be that gold will serve that purpose. During times like these it brings me comfort to know that I own gold and I’m sure I always will.

Chart of commodity price changes over past 10 years.

Its probably worse than that given the size of the financial industry attached to cars. Most own a part of a car and have debt on the rest, which is worth more than their pensions. 

Same, between my life insurance and death in service 8x salary through work, if I were to die my family would do very well. 

Love this infographic I just ran into comparing asset breakdown by tier:

 
https://medium.com/@jeffwiener/are-you-really-cut-out-to-be-rich-1f2afadd76d8

to follow up, a little bonus. Last time speculators were this bullish gold was also 1700... place your bets.

This month's gold added to the stack, I've been waiting for the sovereign from Atkinson's for weeks

I understand what you mean. 100 oz bar only has two price tiers. For 1 up to 4 bars and as from 5 bars.
1 kg bars give you the option of 5 price tiers.
So with a budget to spend of about £4000-£6000, you get a better price per ounce buying 1 kg bars. This means between approx 300-500 ounces.
Below table makes it more visual. (Prices excl VAT)

$400, give it time... 
I reckon we see $1350 again before this thing turns around, no lower than that and it won't be straight down. 12 months to 18 months from now we should all have much more gold and silver ready for the inflation driven moonshot of the 2020's. 

I have no idea sorry.
I don't buy the $400 story sorry wonga. I am bearish almost permanently, but think I have finally met my match with that one.
I like the $1350 story, as it would fit very well with some of the finest macro work I have ever seen, and will also form a handle to the multiyear cup in USD gold, then there is the seasonal nature of gold (always seems to fall into December) among other things that are all playing around my mind. That said, it is just as likely to bust through $1900 for all I know. 

Wonga is that you? 

No, he would never admit he is wrong about his $400 prediction.

Wonga is that you? 

Wonga is that you? 

Wonga is that you? 

Wonga is that you? 

Just another day at the office

1/10 oz                          7 coins in stock
https://goldsilver.be/en/platinum/1758-110-oz-platinum-britannia-10-.html
 
1 oz           50   coins in stock
https://goldsilver.be/en/home/3232-uk-1-oz-platinum-royal-arms-2020-100.html
 
1 oz          10  coins in stock
https://goldsilver.be/en/platinum-pd-rhodium/1778-1-oz-platinium-platinum-britannia-2020-100-5.html

Sovereigns £7.50 at Baird's
 
 

Gold and silver will do very well over the next decade, industry and commodities is where I think most of the inflation will end up, which is why wages will struggle. Anything consumer related will struggle. 

Just got a 500g cast silver bar from Baird's, worked out at £16.28 p/toz (£261.66) including VAT. Delivery £10 on top, but you'd have to add delivery to most purchases. 
Even if premiums drop spot should rise even if only incrementally making these bars a pretty good bet for at least holding value. My gut says it'll go up further in currency value so even better. This p/toz cost puts it in line with what I was paying for silver (admittedly coins) two months ago so makes me feel a little better about buying.

£496 delivered for a Bairds kilo is a good buy in my limited experience (and I am biased because I bought some Bairds bars for similar sub £500 delivered money). It is fair value for delivered physical because it will happily fetch that price at current spot when sold privately even when everything was fine with the world. 
I have a record from May 2016 a buy of 2 kilo bars for £850 delivered, £425 each - these were Cook Island coin bars with face value (no VAT, very low premium) bought from Europe, spot silver was between £11/£12 an ounce. I remember selling them a year later for £520 each, private sales, priced competitively with other kilo bars, they sold quickly. Silver was a bit higher than now (£12-£13 an ounce) but the principle I learned is kilo bars will sell above spot, roughly VAT added plus dealers premium prices or just under.   
I have not seen coin bars generally as cheap since, certainly not over the last couple of years - the Fiji Argor-Heraeus coin bars are technically the same product but don't seem to be sold for much less than a normal silver bar, even though they should be VAT free. Cook Island bars are the same. I wonder if the tax application on them changed, or whether the dealers just worked it out and put the premium up on them to match the other kilo products.