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RE: Preparing for Financial Thriving During Global Downturns
The problem with precious metal is that they are hard to transport and store. Moving to a different country? Good luck with sneaking them past customs. Live in Detroit? Cross your fingers that your house isn't going to get broken into.
This is why I think crypto is the way to go!
The international move issue is the biggest drawback to precious metals to me. But unless you have rare/collectible coins, the easiest thing is to sell just before you leave then buy back once you reach your destination. They are pretty interchangeable and internationally available, though depends on where you're going I guess. You can also buy gold and have it stored in vaults overseas. And I definitely wouldn't keep more than a few hundred in junk silver in my house. I know some people worry about confiscation, but I don't. I think that was a one time thing that worked because we were still on the gold standard. Lots of Americans actually had gold that wasn't jewelry then. Now, the government would be far better off confiscating from bullion companies and miners than anything else. Far more collected with far less public pushback at a time when people are also much less trusting of their government than they were in '33. So I think for local storage a safe deposit box is still a good choice for all but emergency stashes.
Still, in the end, crypto is far more portable. If it gets to a point where some limited supply coins are also widely accepted as money, I think it's the better money for most people.
The problem with selling off and then buying it all back is all the transaction costs I guess. You will get whatever spread that your gold broker is going to sell and buy your gold for to convert it to fiat1, then there will be transaction cost to convert the fiat1 to fiat 2. Then, fiat2 back to gold.... This is an actual problem I faced when I was trying to figure out a best way to move assets from 1 country to another without losing it's value.
I agree that confiscation shouldn't be an issue in the US. But outside of developed countries it is still an issue.
Yes, you do lose on the fees. But presumably this is going to be a very rare event. If one is very internationally mobile, then I definitely would go with remote vault storage I pay for. It is simply wise to have some precious metals, despite the drawbacks. Maybe just have less of that and more of crypto.
Definitely good point on the possibility of confiscation outside the developed world! In fact, it's pretty clear that China has been trying to get its citizens to buy gold with the intent that if they need to go back on the gold standard even partially, they will confiscate the gold of the people. I forget their exact (translated) phrasing, but it basically came down to their counting all gold in the country, including in private hands, as belonging to the Chinese government.