Gold and Silver Prices Sliding - Chance for Preppers

The current slide of Gold (and Silver) prices which now appear at this post time to be possibly be inching  up again, nor reports of Gold scarcity from purchases by foreign governments (read Chinese among others) have nothing to do with the Survivalist's need to have some gold and silver on hand as an essential component of their collapse plan. Let me say that again,....all the hoopla around Gold and Silver, .....as investments, as hedges against inflation, or to protect against deflation of the dollar have nothing to do with the the need for preppers to have some precious metals on hand, be it gold and/or silver bullion, and/or coins for silver melt value just to have some type of buying power after a economic or financial collapse.

It has been reported by several respected financial analysts that China and India alone account for almost 80% of the annual Gold purchases. Add in Russia's new focus on building national wealth through Gold purchases does not leave much for the rest of the world. There have also been reports that the U.S. is vastly overstating the Gold Reserves that the Federal government holds. Nice! In some minds this makes it more likely that the U.S. Government will develop some sort of regulation on physical precious metal holdings and even a confiscation program under the guise of national security, a la F.D.R.

In my mind, damaged as it is, I draw a difference between a economic collapse and a financial collapse. In short, an economic collapse would be commodities driven with shortages (fuels and food among others) and skyrocketing prices driving food riots and the projected government attempts to control the mess. On the other hand a financial collapse would be a collapse of the dollar, a tanking of Wall Street reminisance of the Great Depression, or a possible attack on our banking systems and networks.

I don't expect many people to agree with me on the above definitions, but that's how I have to cateogorize these real threats in my mind and in my speech to predict possible scenarios.

Back to Gold and Silver. So again, the market forces, large foreign government buys and investment advice all have nothing to do with the need for the totally prepared survivalist to have physical gold and/or silver on hand as purchasing power if and when the dollar holds no more value, or is even perceived to hold no more value and people will refuse to accept it for transactions.

I fully realize that most people cannot buy Gold as it is prohibitive expensive to buy much if any at all. Gold closed on Friday 19 April at $1,392.70 an ounce while Silver closed $23.30, so Silver is the poor or average man's precious metal.

Two of the questions I get asked the most regarding keeping cash and precious metals on hand, are:

"How much cash should I keep on hand?"

Well how much can you afford to keep on hand? I know a guy who, every two weeks at payday, takes all his money out of the bank except for the mandatory minimum enough to pay bills. While I don't advocate this, I do admire this guy for the committment he has, as he has been doing this for three years now. No telling how much cash he has at home! And no, you can't have his address.

I believe that upon the imminent and actual collapse of fiat currency there will be people accepting cash for a short period of time,...until food runs out or until it is clear that fiat currency won't be making a comeback anytime soon.

Just like noted financial guru Dave Ramsey advocates an emergency fund, I just think this emergency fund should be partially kept at home if you can take measures to safe guard it.

"How much precious metals should I keep on hand"?

Again, how much can you afford? I have a very small amount of gold. SIlver is the poor man's precious metal and taking last week's closing price of $23.30 and not counting the premium you pay for rounds or bars, 100 ounces would cost you $2,330.00

Starting from nothing, if you bought 2 to 4 ounces a month after a year's time you would be a quarter to half way towards 100 ounces. I think that's a decent target goal. If you can afford mre then go for it. That advantage of buying small amounts at local sources, and paying cash, would keep you under the radar for both robbery and confiscation,...sorry about being redundant,..I should have just said robbery.

So just like that AR-15 you have in the closet and hope to never use for real, Gold and Silver fill an  emergency need as well.  Consider putting some away.