There are certainly many things one can do with surplus dollars, which can harm if you pick the wrong one, benefit if you pick the correct one, or if you don’t invest in anything, it is almost a guaranteed loss, since our dollars, according to our government, depreciate 2% every year. Do not go to your calculator, use $1,000 and take 2% off, giving you a fake result of $980 for maybe five years. That’s only for the first year. You must take 2% off each year, and then take 2% off from that result, and so on for maybe 5 years, at which point your $1,000 will be just a hair above $900. Like this: $1,000 X – 2% = $980 for the first year, then 2% taken off of $980 = $960.40, etc. Leaving dollars under a mattress, is a sure way not to survive, and especially if history is accurate. History, tracing un-backed paper money, in 100% of the time, would leave you with zero. As long as our dollars were backed by gold and silver, and coinage was of 90% silver, they held their value. Government spending more than it took in, as in 100% of all governments, made the gold and silver go up as the paper went down. Paper money going down in value, thanks to irresponsible governments in 100% of history, made investments necessary to counteract government imbecility.
Actually, converting your surplus dollars into physical bullion gold and silver, and storing them under your mattress, would do just fine in all of recorded history, assuming your mattress is safe from pilferage by thieves, kids, or relatives. As I write this, Venezuela is having fake elections, which guarantees continual socialism till the whole thing is nothing more than a heap of ashes, failed promises, fraud, and of course Cuba’s influence, which has turned socialism into communism, as if there is a real difference, which there isn’t. I’ll bet silver in Venezuela is a trillion dollars an ounce, so even there, it was a good investment. Maybe it would buy a ticket to get out of that hell hole, whereas their dollar wouldn’t buy you an ounce of drinking water. Venezuela used to be a capitalistic, wealthy, prosperous, extremely high standard of living nation, and was the envy of all or South America. It has one of the largest amounts of oil in the entire world, but socialism has destroyed it. Maybe socialism is communism without guns, huh? Socialism seems to be overtaking the entire world as Islam, Democrats, Labor parties, and other schemes designed to ‘take from the haves and give it to the have nots, who need it so much.’ Was there ever a more blatant formula for bankruptcy?
Stocks have made many people rich, but a thousand times more, broke. Futures contracts, the same. Years ago, I bought a silver futures contract, betting that silver would go over $12, and it went the other way, costing me plenty. That sealed my futures gambling permanently, the first time I did it. J.C. Penny stock has gone from $70 to $2.95, as an example of stock potential. Had you bought Home Depot stock when it first came out, you would be a millionaire, but who did that? The same with lots of stocks, but who knows what can happen to a stock in ten years? All I know is what has happened to gold and silver in ten years. I have written about that fraud known as Bit-coin before, and I won’t bore you with more of it, other than to point out that it has gone from just under $20,000 to $8,100 Last Friday. That’s for one coin made of brass! Dumb, dumb, dumb. In 2008, you could have bought a share of Ford for under $3, and now it is around $10 I think, but in 2008, housing and stocks had collapsed, and the future looked glum and uninviting. I wasn’t buying stock then, and most weren’t, or they wouldn’t have collapsed. Yes, I am aware that metals went down then too, but if you had them or bought then, and stored them under your mattress, you would have done well.
You can invest in antique cars, furniture, art, and stamps. I have had 105 cars in my lifetime, and am on my 14th Mercedes. The oldest was a 1918 Mack “Bulldog” fire engine, which I used in one of my theatres to promote Walt Disney’s “Big Red,” if your memory goes back that far. I named the fire engine “Bid Red,” gave rides in it around one of my drive-ins, and made money for my playing that film, but didn’t make any on that fire engine after “Big Red” finished playing. I have had fun with cars, but I doubt that I have made even a small profit over the years. Our 1887 home is full of antiques, which gives us pleasure, but I doubt that we could sell them at a profit. I am certain we couldn’t as a matter of fact, but they certainly do give pleasure and atmosphere to a 131 year old home. Antique dealers want to triple their costs (or all they can get!) to help defray their inventory cost, which generates no profit till the item is sold. The same is true with coin shops. Was the 1887 home we bought in 1991 for $150,000 a good investment? Possibly, but a 131 year old home is not maintenance free, so a comparison in 1991 between a modern one bought for $150,000, and our home at $150,000 plus all the maintenance and infrastructure improvements since put into it, makes the ‘investment’ in ours vs. a modern home, shaky probably, other than the pride of ownership and our home having irreplaceable character, high ceilings, incredible quality of craftsmanship, etc. I’ll take our 131 year old home thank you, but unless you like old stuff, forget it. We love old things! A home is a place to live, love, and develop priceless memories, so I urge you to buy, not rent. Mortgage interest and property taxes are deductible from federal taxes, a reason to buy, not rent, if for no other reason, although I have no mortgage, and I assume the majority of readers of this stuff don’t either. There’s just something wonderful about owning the place you live, profitable investment or not.
Everyone needs a place to live, and a home purchase, to me, is necessary. Filling it with expensive antiques? Not a good investment, but indulge yourself if you can afford it. A car is necessary for basic transport, but a new one? Not a good investment. Drive it around the block, and suddenly it’s a used car, and worth $10,000 less. Buy the newer one with low mileage for the $10,000 less. I bought my 14th Mercedes new, and it was the first new car I had bought in 34 years. I love it, but it was a poor investment. 58,000 miles, totally trouble free, and worth probably half of what I paid for it. My mistake!
There are people who go to yard sales, buy junk and sell it on e-bay at a profit, and many actually make a living doing just that. Sometimes, that ‘junk’ turns out to be very valuable, but that’s ‘iffy’ just like stocks, but can be fun. Here’s a new one for you, which I stumbled upon by accident. Bonnie, my wife, wanted a Jeep so bad she could taste it. We currently didn’t have one although we have had a few. We found a 1987, which was being sold by a widow whose husband had loved his Jeep so much, that he had everything chromed that was possible to be chromed, a brand new winch which had never been used, all original paint, and spotless in every way. Paid $6500 for it and figured it made Bonnie happy, but probably a bad investment. Then I discovered that 1982-1989 Jeeps are in great demand, because they are the only ones which came with factory cruise control and air conditioning, and can go for a lot more than my $6500 purchase price. That man must have loved that Jeep, because he spent so much money on it. RIP. Life can be interesting and fun.
Investing can be risky. If an investment guy calls you with a great deal, hang up on him or her. When they call you, they don’t give a damn about you. It’s their commission they’re interested in, and they’ll lie through their teeth to sell you. On the other hand, if you call us, it’s because you are smart enough to know what you want, and that is gold and silver, and not because of fancy TV or other advertising, because you realize that the customer pays for that advertising, not the firm that purchased it. You call us because of your desire or needs, and you also know that we have no fancy office, work out of our own homes, and have no employees. Our 1% commission is based on our exact wholesale cost from the largest distributor in the world, and it includes shipping to you. You may ask, “How can you do it with no advertising?” Easy! Reputation, word of mouth, and an excellent web site. Our web site has prices we buy and sell for, changes constantly, and no need to have some guy in a cubicle, working for some big TV advertising outfit, give you the runaround on prices. No, we don’t give ‘free silver,’ as one TV ad screams. Lies, lies, lies. Having an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau for 40 years doesn’t hurt either.
Spring is here in Colorado, and if you’re sick of big cities, humidity, and unfriendliness, try the American west, with our glorious sunsets, 14,000 foot mountains, still snow covered as I see them out my back window, low property taxes, and western big heartedness and genuine friendliness. I like Texas, and it has high property taxes, but no state income tax, and no mountains.. The property taxes on our 3400 square foot, 1887 brick home on a large lot with huge trees, is $1,000 a year. I’ll never go back east where I was born and raised, other than to visit, if absolutely necessary. – Don Stott – 1-888-786-8822