Debi:

I agree with Jack. If I were in your position and wanted more metals, I'd keep $1000 cash and another $1000 in silver. Silver is good for small unit bartering. One ounce silver rounds or what is called 'junk silver' US 90% or 40% silver coins, usually silver dimes or quarters. Avoid silver eagles because of the high premium above spot price. My preference is 90% silver quarters. If the price of silver rises, you would have a gain, vice-versa of the price went down. But you could use it for batering purposes, as the coins are legal tender.

Good luck

-- cynic (cynic@skeptic.com), August 23, 1999.

Debi,

I second Jack's motion. His post is an excellent summary response to your question! And I say that even though I am sure that Jack and I would differ in various details of the subject. For example, I would suggest more cash than gold, but that is trivial compared to all of one and none of the other.

As does Jack, I suspect you will be hearing from several folks of diverse opinions. But since goldbugs tend to be more interested in the subject than non-goldbugs, I would suspect that you will be hearing more from them than from others.

Let me emphasize a few points:

1. People are accustomed to dealing in cash, not in gold. While we do not know which of the many possible scenarios will actually occur, in most of them, cash will work as well as, or better than, gold.

2. The expectation that gold will "skyrocket" is speculative, and elemetary prudence would suggest not putting "all your eggs" in one speculative basket.

3. Gold tends to appreciate during periods of inflation, not during periods of deflation. Cash tends to appreciate during periods of deflation. If the banks tank, or if the stock markets tank, we will be likely to encounter deflation.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), August 23, 1999.

Put four silver quarters on your table and next to it put a one ounce round and a old time Morgan dollar made in 1929. Which one would you choose? Which ever one you choose, that is the kind of silver to buy. I have over $20,000 stashed away in Morgan dollars and one ounce rounds. Silver quarters has no clout compared to Morgan dollars or one ounce rounds. In 1980 silver went up to $50 an ounce and gold was about $800. Which would you rather have? Silver is the poor man's gold!!!

-- freddie (freddie@thefreeloader.com), August 23, 1999.

Debi,

I forgot about the silver bugs!

If you buy silver dollars, you will pay much more that one dollar each for them. But if you try to spend them in a grocery store, you will get no more for them than you would for a one dollar bill (unless the owner/operator of that particular grocery store is a silver bug).

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), August 23, 1999.

Debi, I go along with the half and half solution. Don't put the rest of your cash into gold. You are going for survival, not to become wealthy. Hold pat. As for getting coins people aren't familiar with-- that's sheerly speculative. I'd rather barter tuna for services than coins.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWayne@aol.com), August 23, 1999.

I have to aggree with freddie, silver dollars the way to go, whatever kind you can find cheapest (the silver eagles, even if they're $7.50 when silver is $5.20 at least are clearly labeled "one ounce fine silver".)

Silver will rise more than gold, in my opinion.

If, however, you think the stock market will survive (regardless if it tanks in value, I'm only talking about the institution, hardware, people) you might consider a small amount of gold mining stocks. These will move much more than the price of gold, (short of TEOTWAKI, and WWIII of course, which isn't impossible)

Gold Eagle web site... Gold eagle forum... USA Gold, forum

Because of the ridiculous Stock Market, and the simultaneous low gold/silver prices, precious metals are a no brainer for y2k. They'd be a good idea even without y2k.

-- hunchback. (quasimodo@belltower.com), August 23, 1999.

Debi,

I also agree with above posts, however, please remember WHO you will be dealing with if TSHTF!! Most people today don't know what a St. Gauden/Liberty or for that matter a bullion eagle gold coin looks like let alone want to trade for one. This stems from the continual dumbing down of the American public for years, hell, decades, and also the negative press on gold. Keep a bit of all different tradeable commodities as I think these will be the store of value in the near future til something shakes out. Hate to sound pessimistic, but, da' facts is da' facts !!

-- speculatin' (rgt350@aol.com), August 23, 1999.

Debi: I agree with everyone and everybody. Now that we have all answered your question, I have one for you: Do you like to mudwrestle?

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 23, 1999.

Thank you ALL so much for your helpful replies. It's given me a lot to think about. I think one of the reasons I wanted to "put all my eggs in one gold basket" was in hopes of "striking it rich" LOL. However, as Mara pointed out "the goal is going for survival, not to become wealthy. I never had the courage (or money for that matter LOL) to try the stock market, so why press my luck now (never had any to begin with where money was concerned). I also believe the stock market and banks will tank and I didn't realize that deflation will not appreciate gold. I think it makes sense to have cash as that is what people are used to (as per speculatin') and while I do have extra cash other than the above, if Y2K doesn't cause terrible disruptions, I have to relinguish it back to its source (if you know what I mean). I might think about a bit of silver in the near future. Once again, thank you all so much for responding. I KNOW that when Y2K is upon us bigtime, I will be thinking of all my friends on this forum and hoping you all (polly's included) are safe, healthy and doing as well as you can.

King o Spain....would have been soooo disappointed if you didn't include me in your mudwrestle invitation. Methinks you ask that question to see which of us doomers have a sense of humor. : ) Anyway, my answer to you is thus:

1) I will mudwrestle with you only if the mud is Y2K approved.

2) I would prefer a good arm wrestling session.

-- Debi (LongTimeLurker@shy.com), August 24, 1999.

Buy cigarettes instead!

-- number six (iam_not_a_number@ .), August 24, 1999.

Debi,

you make more sense than all economist's put together!

Jack is on the money as usual! Listen to his advice!

Slainte!

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 24, 1999.

Debi, great post and answers, thanks for starting it. At the coin dealer I've dealt with I learned that if you purchase $1000.00 or over of gold or silver you don't pay tax. I understand that holding gold is a method of "preserving wealth". Since all of your preps are completed , I'd go with Gold Eagles, Maple Leaf and Junk Silver.

quietly......

-- quietly (quietly@preparing.com), August 24, 1999.

Jerry- Your theory about inflation vs. deflation might hold if gold still behaved like gold. As it is, there was a drop today of two dollars? an ounce, after announcment of a rate hike. Now I'm not normally one to put all my eggs in one basket either, but there is some serious ongoing manipulation in the gold market and it can't go on forever.

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), August 24, 1999.

Quikie for Number 6. DONE! Bugler is bought already in quantity. Can't do without my coffee and ciggies! : ) I am not a number either, I am a smoker, latte drinker, late sleeper LOL.

-- Debi (LongTimeLurker@shy.com), August 24, 1999.

Gia,

Good catch. My phrase "gold tends to appreciate during periods of inflation" was a kind of shorthand for "gold has often appreciated relative to paper and/or electronic money during periods of very rapid increases in the quantity of paper and/or electronic money".

Also, your phrase "if gold still behaved like gold" is very timely. Not only does the percentage of the population, who have personally experienced using gold coins to make ordinary purchases, declined as each year passes, but it seems that the corporate and banking use of gold as a hedge against unfavorable changes in interest rates and foreign exchange rates has declined in favor of such things as interest rate swaps and foreign exchange swaps.

Regarding the perceptions of manipulations of gold markets, I have seen various articles discussing the subject, but have not seen enough hard data to get a sense of what the gold market would actually do in the absence of the activities that are viewed as manipulations. For example, there have been many comments about gold shorting. Well, in a down market, shorting accelerates the drop in prices. Absent shorting, prices would still drop as far, but not as fast. If the shorters go too far, the price will drop further than otherwise, and then rebound somewhat, and the last of the shorters to cover will take losses on the last of their trades, but the price will still settle out on the down side.

One the one hand, I have not studied gold markets enough to have any "feel" for what gold prices "should be"; on the other hand, I have observed for years that there have been numerous people, for better or worse labelled gold bugs, who have, year after year, proclaimed that gold prices will rise again to whatever heights while gold prices, year after year, refuse to do so. So, while I know that I am not an "expert" on gold, I do not see any way of ascertaining who is (i.e. who has an accurate, long term, track record of forecasting gold markets?).

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), August 24, 1999.

Debi,

Bugler? In which part of the globe do you reside? :-)

Jerry

Four main food groups: protein, caffeine, nicotine, and (what's the other one? Donuts?).

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), August 24, 1999.

A good thread. Lots of intelligent answers. (Now equal time for the other side.)

It seems we have overlooked the obvious compromise: SILVER BULLETS!!

"Uh oh, Tonto, it looks like they don't know it's a joke. We may be in for serious trouble here."

"Whadaya mean "we". paleface?"

(not Lon Frank, but......)

-- the Loan Arrainger (lgal@exp.net), August 24, 1999.

Jerry B...I live in rural VA on 5 acreas and whilst I wouldn't know how to grow my own tobacco LOL I'll have on hand the next best thing, many cans of Bugler cigarette tobacco. 6.9oz goes for around $4.50 and rolls 230 ciggies (comes with papers) which is about 1 cartoons worth. I buy them in Food Lion (Yup, still available so far). Don't get me wrong, nothing like a good Camel but cartoons get stale after awhile so these are good for long term storage. I know that if Y2K is a 10, I might eventually have to quit (forsake the thought :( but the longer I can forstall it, the happier I will be. And if keeping up the nicotine levels makes Y2K a bit easier....well.. Anyway, these cans of Buglers are GREAT for barter. (might stock a few nicotine patches as well....hum). Hey...this topic can start a whole new thread LOL. (Uh oh...I sense the nonsmokers coming this way).

-- Debi (LongTimeLurker@shy.com), August 25, 1999.

Debi,

The name Bugler didn't ring a bell, and I had imagined that it was a brand of cigarette used on some other continent. :-) Once you mentioned cans of tobacco, I recognized the name. Thanks, that's an interesting idea!

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), August 25, 1999.