Side track issue that needs to be addressed:
I know this is a blog on primarily silver investing. Unfortunately, I've had on more than one occasion, individuals so excited about buying silver and/or gold, that they want to take advances on credit cards (With offers of 12 months interest free), take equity out of their home, etc... to buy more silver gold. These are definitely bad ideas. Just as bad, is a couple of individuals when asking my advice, eluded to the fact that they basically do fine paying their rent, food, utilities, cell phone, and spending money; but a large chunk of what they have left, they want to buy silver or gold. Basically, they have no emergency money; they have no backup funds in case they lose their job, get sick, injured, etc..., and nothing for the future. Either for their kid's college or their own retirement. Folks..... THIS IS MESSED UP!!!!
I'm all for buying silver and gold. I've got visitors to this blog from all over the country and world. From the USA, and Alaska, to Germany, Russia, and a number of other countries. You know I'm all for buying silver and gold. For numerous reason. But before you buy 1 ounce of ANYTHING, you need to do 4 things.
1. Become DEBT FREE!!! I don't mean your mortgage, or to an extent a car payment. Those are high end long term items, that are sometimes a necessary evil. Fortunately, they are usually pretty low interest rate loans. But if you have ANY credit card debt; student loans; or any similar debt; you need to PAY IT OFF!!! Do that before buying any silver/gold.
2. Have as a MINIMUM, 3-4 months of your salary saved up. If you make $36,000 a year, then you need to have $9,000 - $12,000 saved and put away. This is your fund in case you lose your job, get injured, sick, etc... and your normal monthly source of income slows down or stops. This is NOT NEGOTIABLE!!! If you are really conservative, you could have around 6-9 months of salary put away.
3. Have at least 1 full moths pay put away as an emergency fund. Hot water heaters goes out; transmission in the car goes out; tree limb falls on your house and you need to pay the deductible, etc... Again; this is NOT NEGOTIABLE. The last thing you want to do, is to use a credit card because you don't have any money saved up. Then you're back to square one again. You're back in debt. And if you need to use this money for an emergency or whatever; make sure you replenish it as your first priority.
4. Have some sort of semi-long savings started for items in the future. E.g. new car, new furniture, vacation, etc...
These 4 things are needed. #4 you can obviously do at the same time as you buy gold/silver. There's nothing wrong with that. Also; you should be saving towards retirement. Possibly, that is part of what the gold/silver is for. Some people buy silver/gold for retirement. (Usually the term "STACKER" comes to mind. People who buy but have no intention of selling). Some for a SHTF scenario. Some, like me, to use to pay down large debt like a mortgage and/or to purchase high dollar items at a discount. Such as a new car. (Buy low and sell high). But you should have a retirement plan figured out to WHILE you're buying silver/gold. Maybe it's a 401K at work. Maybe a ROTH IRA. Whatever it is, STAY DIVERSIFIED.
Here's a short 2 minute video from a well respected adviser. He advises pretty much exactly what I have written here, and what most investors (Including those in silver and gold) recommend. There's nothing wrong with buying silver and gold. But if you don't have your 3 months of salary saved in case you lose your job; your 1 month of salary saved in case a major expense comes up; are totally debt free from revolving type debt like credit cards, student loans, etc., then you have no business buying silver/gold at this time. Once debt free, you don't want to go back into debt. And thinking you can sell the silver/gold if necessary, is totally a NO-NO!!! What if you bought most of your silver over the last 12 months on a regular basis. You'd be averaging around $33 an ounce. If you HAD to sell it today at $22 an ounce, you'd be taking a 30% loss. Is that what you want? Anyway; here's the short video. CYA: SE:
I know this is a blog on primarily silver investing. Unfortunately, I've had on more than one occasion, individuals so excited about buying silver and/or gold, that they want to take advances on credit cards (With offers of 12 months interest free), take equity out of their home, etc... to buy more silver gold. These are definitely bad ideas. Just as bad, is a couple of individuals when asking my advice, eluded to the fact that they basically do fine paying their rent, food, utilities, cell phone, and spending money; but a large chunk of what they have left, they want to buy silver or gold. Basically, they have no emergency money; they have no backup funds in case they lose their job, get sick, injured, etc..., and nothing for the future. Either for their kid's college or their own retirement. Folks..... THIS IS MESSED UP!!!!
I'm all for buying silver and gold. I've got visitors to this blog from all over the country and world. From the USA, and Alaska, to Germany, Russia, and a number of other countries. You know I'm all for buying silver and gold. For numerous reason. But before you buy 1 ounce of ANYTHING, you need to do 4 things.
1. Become DEBT FREE!!! I don't mean your mortgage, or to an extent a car payment. Those are high end long term items, that are sometimes a necessary evil. Fortunately, they are usually pretty low interest rate loans. But if you have ANY credit card debt; student loans; or any similar debt; you need to PAY IT OFF!!! Do that before buying any silver/gold.
2. Have as a MINIMUM, 3-4 months of your salary saved up. If you make $36,000 a year, then you need to have $9,000 - $12,000 saved and put away. This is your fund in case you lose your job, get injured, sick, etc... and your normal monthly source of income slows down or stops. This is NOT NEGOTIABLE!!! If you are really conservative, you could have around 6-9 months of salary put away.
3. Have at least 1 full moths pay put away as an emergency fund. Hot water heaters goes out; transmission in the car goes out; tree limb falls on your house and you need to pay the deductible, etc... Again; this is NOT NEGOTIABLE. The last thing you want to do, is to use a credit card because you don't have any money saved up. Then you're back to square one again. You're back in debt. And if you need to use this money for an emergency or whatever; make sure you replenish it as your first priority.
4. Have some sort of semi-long savings started for items in the future. E.g. new car, new furniture, vacation, etc...
These 4 things are needed. #4 you can obviously do at the same time as you buy gold/silver. There's nothing wrong with that. Also; you should be saving towards retirement. Possibly, that is part of what the gold/silver is for. Some people buy silver/gold for retirement. (Usually the term "STACKER" comes to mind. People who buy but have no intention of selling). Some for a SHTF scenario. Some, like me, to use to pay down large debt like a mortgage and/or to purchase high dollar items at a discount. Such as a new car. (Buy low and sell high). But you should have a retirement plan figured out to WHILE you're buying silver/gold. Maybe it's a 401K at work. Maybe a ROTH IRA. Whatever it is, STAY DIVERSIFIED.
Here's a short 2 minute video from a well respected adviser. He advises pretty much exactly what I have written here, and what most investors (Including those in silver and gold) recommend. There's nothing wrong with buying silver and gold. But if you don't have your 3 months of salary saved in case you lose your job; your 1 month of salary saved in case a major expense comes up; are totally debt free from revolving type debt like credit cards, student loans, etc., then you have no business buying silver/gold at this time. Once debt free, you don't want to go back into debt. And thinking you can sell the silver/gold if necessary, is totally a NO-NO!!! What if you bought most of your silver over the last 12 months on a regular basis. You'd be averaging around $33 an ounce. If you HAD to sell it today at $22 an ounce, you'd be taking a 30% loss. Is that what you want? Anyway; here's the short video. CYA: SE:
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