Saturday, October 16, 2010

Gold and Silver Coins, The 80-20 Rule and the Need to Take Action Now


In turbulent economic times people have traditionally turned to precious metals to preserve and protect their wealth. In today's world, with rising levels of government debt, out of control spending and persistent high levels of unemployment more and more people are investing in gold and silver for financial security. This is a smart decision.

But talking about the need to invest in gold and silver coins and actually doing it are two entirely different things. For every person who buys gold and silver coins there are probably another 10 or 20 people who talk about buying coins, but who seem to never actually get around to doing anything about it. These are people who know they should start buying some gold and silver coins and who may even be advising others to buy these coins, but never take any action themselves. Why is this?

In life, most people procrastinate and never get around to doing a lot of the things they know they should do. According to the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, 80% of the result in any endeavor is achieved by 20% of the people while the remaining 80% of the people will end up dividing 20% of the result. It also means that when it comes to taking action, only 20% of the people will get around to doing anything while 80% while procrastinate and delay. Weirdly, this principle has proven to be roughly true in many different fields and disciplines.

The 80/20 rule applies to investing in gold and silver coins.

There are two primary reasons people procrastinate in buying gold and silver coins. The first reason is because they are unfamiliar with how to go about it. Very few people today have bought gold or silver coins and doing so is outside their comfort zone. For most people, this is reason enough to put off buying gold and silver coins until some undefined tomorrow.

The second reason people put off investing in gold and silver coins is that they are afraid of losing money. "What if I were to buy the coins today for X and tomorrow the price drops to Y?" they ask themselves. Since we never know the future this seems like a valid excuse, as price drops can happen, but this excuse is just that, an excuse. Both silver and gold are volatile metals that rise and fall in price. We can never know the perfect moment to buy them, just as we never know the perfect time to buy or sell a stock. There are people who have been waiting to buy since gold was $250/Oz and who are still on the sidelines waiting for the optimum time. They should have been buying all along.

It is my belief that everyone needs to own some gold and silver coins because bad things can happen to our money. Through inflation and possibly hyperinflation our money could become worthless. When this happens cash may not buy much, but gold and silver will. A portion of our financial savings should be in assets that are backed by tangible value. This can be achieved with gold and silver coins. If you don't own any, now is the time to take action and buy some coins.

The best way to overcome our tendency towards inaction is to make the decision to step outside our comfort zone and get started. This can be done cheaply and easily by starting out buying junk silver coins and then adopting a regular purchasing program over a given period, say for a year. By doing this you'll not only build up a nice little gold and silver reserve, you'll also become comfortable buying, trading and dealing in gold and silver. This is a skill that may come in handy in the future.








Steve Chambers is a long time precious metal investor who believes everyone needs to hold a portion of their wealth in the form of silver and gold coins. His website, http://www.junksilveronline.com has resources and information on investing in silver, specifically junk silver coins. In these turbulent economic times characterized by high unemployment, uncontrollable government spending and a massive increase in the money supply everyone needs to add precious metals to their portfolio. Junk silver coins is how you get started


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