DRIGGS, IDAHO – Greetings from our Airbnb in the mountains… It’s time for our Friday mailbag edition, where I answer the latest questions you’ve sent in.
But before we get to today’s questions and comments, I want to thank you for your messages, as always. I read every one.
We’ve been especially interested to read your views about keeping families together (or not) after the kids grow up and leave home. And your stories of going into business with your children – like the ones in last Wednesday’s mailbag.
Please keep them coming! Write us at [email protected]. And now, let’s get to today’s mailbag…
Below, we talk about some of the pitfalls of our nomadic lifestyle… why I’m not gambling on bitcoin at current prices, even though I made a nice profit on it in its early days… investing in gold coins and nickels… and more.
Let’s dive in…
Reader comment: Longtime reader vacationing in Driggs. I hesitate to contact you but wanted to say how much I enjoy your writing and want to shake your hand (and maybe buy you a cup of coffee). I hesitate because I don’t know what value I have to offer you for your time. Peace and blessings to you and yours.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to share a coffee break with you. (I don’t see spending time with friends as a transaction or a value exchange.)
Reader comment: Fill your car with as many of the kids’ things as you can. They need some sense of belonging. Keep some gear for them, too, that they haven’t outgrown. I think they will feel a loss of the friends in Driggs. Kids need their friends, not just adults around them. It helps nurture them in a very different way.
Hopefully some little Brit pals to add to their joy in London. They are growing up and have their own needs to fulfill as well. Good luck.
It’s tough. We don’t have much storage room in our car. And we’re traveling very light to London (no checked bags). Everything else goes to the thrift store. We’ll keep all the special toys and dolls, though, to find when we come back to collect our car.
Reader comment: Although it may be appealing to rid yourselves of all worldly goods, I would advocate for some leniency in this area in regard to your children. It can be healthy to hold onto a few meaningful items as connections to one’s youth. In addition, as you sort through your mother’s belongings in London, I hope you will make a special effort to preserve items of a historical nature for your family. We all need a tie to our past.
My mother’s house is full of antiques – silver, Victorian China, furniture, carriage clocks, etc. She inherited a lot of it from her parents. I have no idea what we’ll do with it. It’ll be a shame to sell it for pennies on the dollar, but nor can we keep it as we don’t have anywhere to put it.
Reader comment: I’m confused. There was an ad signed by Tom Dyson that said he hit it big with bitcoin and bought a very valuable beach property. I thought we’ve been told you have no interest in bitcoin. Are you aware someone is using your name to push bitcoin?
The ad is right…
I made a big profit in bitcoin in 2013 and bought a beach property with the proceeds.
That said, right now I’m only interested in bitcoin as an intellectual curiosity, not as an investment opportunity – especially at its current price.
When I first bought it in early 2012, one bitcoin sold for under $10. Today, each bitcoin sells for more than $58,000.
Reader question: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have reduced my investment volatility and raised my net worth. Can you please, for the love of God, put 2% of your net worth into BTC or a combo of BTC and ETH)? It will not affect your current lifestyle if it goes to zero. It may very well save it if gold slacks. Thoughts?
I sympathize with the portfolio approach of putting 2% in bitcoin and treating it as a perpetual call option on the emerging crypto “metaverse.” And I wouldn’t fault anyone for using this approach.
I get the narrative. It’s very powerful. But personally, I hate buying the fashionable trendy investments that everyone’s talking about… and bitcoin definitely is one of those.
If I bought now, I’d be following the crypto evangelists and their social media acolytes at the back of the line… So I’m not going to use the “just 2%” strategy.
We’re in a powerful bubble in everything. Crypto has huge implosion potential in my opinion. I’d much rather buy when I feel like I’m doing something really crazy and unconventional… like when I bought bitcoin in 2012…
Reader question: Funny that you mentioned saving the pennies. I’ve been saving pre-1982 pennies for many years. I think the U.S. Mint started making junk pennies in the middle of the 1982 run, so that’s why I save the pre-1982s. You mentioned the nickels. Are they worth saving?
Just the other day, I was finally able to open an old, wood footlocker that had belonged to my mom. She had locked it using an antique padlock, and I finally found a key that fit. Inside were three coffee cans filled with nickels. I was going to gradually take them to my Florida Credit Union’s coin machine and deposit them. Should I hold on to them instead?
Hoarding nickels could be a cheap way of accumulating copper and nickel bullion. (Nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel and at current prices, are worth 5.3 cents in metal value.)
Both copper and nickel prices must rise significantly if humans decide to stop burning fossil fuels and electrify instead, so I’m interested in investing in both metals.
But as I touched on when I first wrote about this, hoarding coins isn’t the most practical way.
For a start, it’s illegal to melt coins down. Second, we’d need a smelter. Third, coins are heavy and inconvenient to store and transport.
So… I don’t know. Maybe I’ll invest in a copper mine instead?
Reader question: Where do you suggest one keeps their physical gold? And are you concerned that the U.S. may confiscate physical gold in the future?
Start by throwing a couple of coins in a sock drawer. Then, for bigger quantities of gold, you’ll probably want a better hiding place, like in a PVC pipe buried under your lawn. Or in a home safe, anchored to the floor of a closet.
Beyond that, I’d recommend storage in a private vault.
As to your second question, I’m not worried about gold confiscation. Gold has been exiled from the financial system for 50 years. I don’t think there’d be any benefit to the government in banning gold today.
Reader question: I noticed on the coin dealer’s website that I use (golddealer.com) that many gold coins, 10-oz. PAMP (artistic precious metals products), and 1-gram and 5-gram Perth Mint bars are out of stock. Saw the same thing on Kitco, and much the same at Gainesville Coin. Apmex had a bit better selection but still several gold coins out of stock.
Also noted that golddealer.com (actually California Numismatic Investments) was offering $30.00 above the bid price to buy a 1-oz. Gold Eagle. The bid/ask spread on that coin was about $160. What’s going on? Why such a shortage of gold coins?
Are people having the same idea as we are?
Inflation is coming, negative interest rates are coming, higher taxes are coming, central bank digital currencies are coming, and financial repression is coming.
Gold coins are the best solution…
And that’s all we have time for this week! As always, please keep writing us at [email protected].
I can’t give personalized investment advice, but I’ll answer as many of your questions as possible in future Friday mailbag editions.
– Tom Dyson
Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [email protected].