Urban Survival Planning - Gold and Silver just an Anchor?

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received a comment from Anonymous on the article Survival Planning - Validity of Gold/Silver in Trade or Barter....."I have purchased more gold and silver then you can carry, twice as much as you can carry. I held it for 20 years, no exaggeration. When prices went up I sold it and was so happy to get my money back and make a profit. Even so I could have made more if I had invested it or put it in CD's. A little gold or silver bought at a bargin price is insurance or even an investment. A lot of gold and silver at any price or a smaller amount at a high price is like an anchor."

UrbanMan replies: Have to disagree with you here for the most part. Sure, if you sink all of your available liquidity into Gold and Silver then it can become a problem several ways: finding vendors to cashing it in or accept it in trade in this current economy; or even moving and/or safeguarding a weighty amount.........unless your primary reason is that you have bought your Precious Metals in support of a collapse survival plan.

That's what I have bought my Silver for. Last month when Silver was briefly $50 an ounce, I could have sold all the silver I bought for less than $5 an ounce and made a 500% profit (someone please check my math!). However, I bought that silver and continued to buy small amounts over the years so I would have some way of purchasing necessary items when cash, or what we call fiat currency, failed.

But it certainly is interesting that some financial institutions and higher institutes of learning have taken physical possession of the PM's. In some cases that weight amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars of annual storage and security fees. Why would they do this if they felt Gold and Silver were an anchor? Why would they incur the storage and security costs unless they thought there was a possibility of not being able to take possession at a later date?

Just food for thought and of course all this depends upon one's definition of how much, weight wise, is enough,...or how much weight wise is too much to safeguard or transport. Certainly if you were located in your final Safe Location than storage in safes and hidden below ground caches would be an option.

Thanks for your comment and chance to think. After all, if we do not analyze the problems and develop workable solutions, considering the threats and the environment, then we have a good chance of missing something.