Lot more people interested in Silver?

[DebtFreeMe]

In the past month at work I have had 5 guys ask me to purchase silver for them, (it's known that I have some experience with silver).

Before this many people at work kind of gave me a "ya, whatever" kind of response when I would talk about it. The last guy that asked me, completely out of the blue, said, "ya know, I'm not a conspiracy theorist kind of guy, but it's obvious what's going on these days, and it's better to be prepared, than pretend... and in the end I can always sell and get some of my money back if it gets better."

Anyone else having these kind of out of the blue discussions with people not actively in the PM world? Even with people you have never directly talked to about gold , silver, or the economy in general?

[Bham]

I haven't been asked to purchase but I have had two close friends that know I stack silver ask me recently to teach them what I know about investing in PM's. One of them came to my house with his wife and asked to see physical bullion (I trust both with my life, known since early childhood). Since then, they both started purchasing and always ask questions about whether something is a good deal or not.

I suspect that as we casually let our close friends in on our little secret, their ears will perk up. In another website someone asked what percentage of the population in our country stacks PM's. The overwhelming response was less than 1%. I believe that the general population is educating themselves more and more on our economy and international politics. This is a topic that although popular in other countries (Europe, Latin America) it has only recently evolved in our country. Quite honestly, everyone is getting more and more concerned about what they need to do to preserve their wealth (or lack thereof...) so the inquiries will continue and exponentially increase.

Have others noticed this anxiousness that I describe?

[68Camaro]

I'm seeing it. It's still at a low level, but it is building ... slowly expanding. There is an even broader (still low, but multiple percents - 5%, 10%) level of awareness, but it takes different things to move people off the dime and start to act.

[mflugher]

Its the beginning of the end. Just remember once too many get involved we will be in real bubble territory and time to sell. That will take a while...

I have had 5 new buyers show up in my shop... My shop does not advertise selling of bullion or coin products at all, only jewelry. I always quote premiums $1 above what the LCS upstairs charges, because I'm not a seller of silver unless I get a really great deal... Butt there is definatley increased interest.

[IdahoCopper]

Last month I was looking at a car to buy. I offered the young woman silver bullion. She said she didn't know how to sell it for cash so she could buy the vehicle she was looking at. I told her to ask those sellers if they would take silver. She did, they said no, and told her, that silver was easier to steal than cash. She declined to accept silver for her car, saying she just couldn't take those risks.

[creshka46]

Last month I was looking at a car to buy. I offered the young woman silver bullion. She said she didn't know how to sell it for cash so she could buy the vehicle she was looking at. I told her to ask those sellers if they would take silver. She did, they said no, and told her, that silver was easier to steal than cash. She declined to accept silver for her car, saying she just couldn't take those risks.

"Silver is easier to steal than cash"- I think that's a bad bias on their part. If you steal cash, you can spend it anywhere, any time and no one will ask questions unless it's a huge amount. If you steal silver, you either have to find a buyer who's into that, or you need to bring it to a pawn shop/LCS where there will be paper work and record keeping. I think any thief who had the choice would chose $1000 cash over $1000 silver any day. I don't know, maybe I'm biased...

[brian0918]

Last month I was looking at a car to buy. I offered the young woman silver bullion. She said she didn't know how to sell it for cash so she could buy the vehicle she was looking at. I told her to ask those sellers if they would take silver. She did, they said no, and told her, that silver was easier to steal than cash. She declined to accept silver for her car, saying she just couldn't take those risks.

"Silver is easier to steal than cash"- I think that's a bad bias on their part. If you steal cash, you can spend it anywhere, any time and no one will ask questions unless it's a huge amount. If you steal silver, you either have to find a buyer who's into that, or you need to bring it to a pawn shop/LCS where there will be paper work and record keeping. I think any thief who had the choice would chose $1000 cash over $1000 silver any day. I don't know, maybe I'm biased...

Right - the fact that she couldn't find an easy way to unload silver shows just how "easy" it is to steal.

[SilverDragon72]

Don't tell anyone else....except for your closest family and friends. No one else needs to know....don't look at the shiny....

[IdahoCopper]

Last month I was looking at a car to buy. I offered the young woman silver bullion. She said she didn't know how to sell it for cash so she could buy the vehicle she was looking at. I told her to ask those sellers if they would take silver. She did, they said no, and told her, that silver was easier to steal than cash. She declined to accept silver for her car, saying she just couldn't take those risks.

"Silver is easier to steal than cash"- I think that's a bad bias on their part. If you steal cash, you can spend it anywhere, any time and no one will ask questions unless it's a huge amount. If you steal silver, you either have to find a buyer who's into that, or you need to bring it to a pawn shop/LCS where there will be paper work and record keeping. I think any thief who had the choice would chose $1000 cash over $1000 silver any day. I don't know, maybe I'm biased...

I think they meant that silver is easier to steal than cash-in-the-bank. Unless you're Bernanke, of course.

I posted the comment to illustrate that we are still a long way from having enough people properly educated about the real value of real money, vs. FRN funny-money.

:shh: Don't tell anyone else....except for your closest family and friends. No one else needs to know....don't look at the shiny....

Of course, SilverDragon also makes a good point. The sooner too many people know, the sooner the price explodes and the current historic buying opportunity ends.

[Catfish4u]

In another website someone asked what percentage of the population in our country stacks PM's. The overwhelming response was less than 1%. I believe that the general population is educating themselves more and more on our economy and international politics. This is a topic that although popular in other countries (Europe, Latin America) it has only recently evolved in our country. Quite honestly, everyone is getting more and more concerned about what they need to do to preserve their wealth (or lack thereof...) so the inquiries will continue and exponentially increase.

Have others noticed this anxiousness that I describe?

A few questions: What % of silver is industrial vs investment? If instead of 1% say 3%, 5% or 10% of people started investing in silver - what would be the expected increase in price? What would/should be considered 'bubble territory'? I think silver is WAY undervalued but what would the proper value be? I understand people will have different opinions and no single one is correct.

[shinnosuke]

Many of you have probably already seen this video of Mark Dice trying to sell a 1 oz gold Maple Leaf for $25. Nobody wants it. There is no gold bubble while the sheeple are still this ignorant. Of course the video is heavily edited, so he may have met several people who were ready to relieve him of his coin. However, most people just can't draw their eyes away from teevee long enough to figure this stuff out.

If stacking is urgent, why aren't more people doing it? Forget about that question. Just forget about it! The real question is, "If stacking (of any physical assets) is that urgent, why aren't I doing it?" I've got to stop spending money on X, and buy more real stuff. Get real. Get smart. Get physical.

[68Camaro]

Nevertheless, it's growing. It's only going to hit a few percent of the people before we crash, or PMs snowball (or both). Our builder just came over to close-out the construction project paperwork we had in place earlier this year, and he started the conversation himself - he's looking at gold and silver. We just nodded sagely, encouraged him, but kept our specifics private.

Stupid people on the street abound. It's the norm (and getting worse). That's why the comedians can get so much material from just doing street interviews of basic questions.

[beauanderos]

One thing to consider when you guys speculate on what kind of a price rise might just occur... if interest doubles to 2% of the public... or triples to 3%... or more. Along with the attendant price rise will follow scarcity of physical. How would you like to be bidding against 2500 members? 3500? I hope you have your stacks already in place when your wished for price explosion occurs... because you won't be augmenting it quickly (in any meaningful fashion) after it does

Over on BullionStacker... and sometimes here... you can get a sense of what will happen. When someone prices something desirable too low... it vanishes within seconds from the board. The other day I PM'd christostock about something, eight minutes after it posted... and I was the fourth one

You can expect anyone listing sales (if they dare to in an accelerating silver price rise scenario) to have their few listings stampeded by a herd of johnny-come-lately's. Best to top off your stash now, before this happens... because you just never know if that price pullback alot of you are hoping for will ever occur

[everything]

Just lately, when silver shot up in comparison to gold, I was thinking for $750 you can get a tube of ASE, or for another $100-$150 you can get 1/2 oz. gold.

If anything, people are noticing how much silver just went up and wish they were in on the action.

[silverflake]

I have had people emailing me at work recently, as if they are afraid to ask in front of others. They are asking me what to buy, how much to pay, where to buy and most importantly WHY to buy. Gang, be ready. The public may just be dipping it's little toe into the water.

[68Camaro]

I have had people emailing me at work recently, as if they are afraid to ask in front of others. They are asking me what to buy, how much to pay, where to buy and most importantly WHY to buy. Gang, be ready. The public may just be dipping it's little toe into the water.

They are all that. I have to remind myself that I'm atypical, as are most of you here, so the person on the street has a lot of "stuff" to get through. Here's what I've got going for me, and most of you have similar (or better) stories.

a) My dad was a coin collector, and passed on the interest to me when I was a kid, had been buying modest amounts of silver and gold for some years. My mom collected jewelry (now passed on to my daughters as their PM inheritance). My grandparents gave me silver dollars and kennedy halves for Christmas every year. Because of my family I have always recognized the intrinsic worth of gold and silver.
b) My mom was an investor, and because of those discussions as a kid I've always been concerned about basic finance and economics. I became appalled at the level of national debt in the early 70s when I was in high school (oh, that it could be only that low now).
c) I was raised in the west/midwest in the 60s/70s, in a spirit of self-reliance. Even though my dad was a liberal university prof, my mom and most of my other relatives were conservatives. Taking hand-outs wasn't acceptable. I did not expect the government to save me, and most others of that time didn't either, unlike about half of the current population.
d) etc

In contrast, the typical person on the street has been told for decades now that PMs are risky, unreliable, volatile, have no intrinsic value, and that people that store their wealth in them are ignorant. As evidence of that the circulating coin for 50 years has had no value, and since that time, every time the intrinsic value of any of the coin approaches its face value the government debases it. That's a lot of "stuff" to get through. But, the curtain is starting to be pulled back for some people.

[Treetop]

No one I know has recently found silver. I did get a few interested a few years back. But since then TWO family stashes of silver have been sold! My grandmother sold my great grandfathers stash and went on vacation. My mom has just sold a few thousand worth despite NOT needing the money, literally to put it into cash to save "just in case"... despite all I told her.

Out of friends, only those I got interested a few years back are involved, and apparently both have since sold their stash. One of them actually sold it at a loss!!! when silver dropped to 10 bucks for awhile there. (which he is mad at Me over even though I told him hed be nuts to sell.)

No one else I know has recently had any involvement. So perhaps a wider group is starting to look into PMs, but I personally see nothing to believe its widespread yet or will be anytime soon. It looks to me several waves of folks have dipped a toe into silver over the last few years. Many of those seem to get freaked out when they see how volatile silver is.

I think we are very far from most of these toe dippers truly getting wet.

[IdahoCopper]

Yesterday I again tried to buy a car with PMs. I asked the guy selling the 1980 VW Rabbit diesel (45 mpg) if he would take silver bullion for his car. He hesitated for a moment, so I said, "If you don't need cash right away, its an excellent way to hold it as savings." He said no. So I offered him 1/10th gold eagles. He also said no to those. He said he wanted the cash.

Most people will not accept PMs for items they are selling. They want FRNs to spend immediately. Very few people sell anything they own, just to put money into any kind of savings plan.

[Treetop]

Ive found a good place to buy stuff with PMs is a pawn shop. Generally my pan shops have TERRIBLE prices offered for silver, and sell at steep markups. However when taken as payment for items in their stores Ive gotten great deals!!! Keep in mind they usually got those items well under value as well! So if your ever in a pawn shop and see something you like ask if they will trade for PMs. In my case I made out really well. I got the item much cheaper then if I had sold the silver and bought it. And frankly I bought silver right away anyway. I only had silver on me because I wanted to test what they would offer. Once I had traded it, I replaced it and ended up with a large savings compared to buying the items direct.

In that context, trying to buy a car with silver might work better at a smaller independent used lot. Try to find someone who has inventory, and potentially makes enough they have a savings. A single person selling one car is a much different matter. Worth considering anyway... In my case with the pawn shop I made out well doing it that way.

[68Camaro]

People selling things generally DO need the FRNs. They are generally selling because they need to buy something else or pay-off a debt, and they aren't in a position to be able to invest with the proceeds.

I wouldn't at all use such as datapoints supporting general lack of interest in PMs.

[Bluegill]

Many of you have probably already seen this video of Mark Dice trying to sell a 1 oz gold Maple Leaf for $25. Nobody wants it. There is no gold bubble while the sheeple are still this ignorant. Of course the video is heavily edited, so he may have met several people who were ready to relieve him of his coin. However, most people just can't draw their eyes away from teevee long enough to figure this stuff out.

Would you buy a gold bullion coin with a metal value of over $1700 for $25 off some annoying knucklehead on the street who just approached you? Some of us might take the $25 gamble that it isn't fake, or stolen, but to the masses, even those who aren't completely ignorant of PM's, no, I don't see it.

Mark Dice's method (whatever he is trying to accomplish)is at times down right stupid and pointless.

[Bluegill]

Yesterday I again tried to buy a car with PMs. I asked the guy selling the 1980 VW Rabbit diesel (45 mpg) if he would take silver bullion for his car. He hesitated for a moment, so I said, "If you don't need cash right away, its an excellent way to hold it as savings." He said no. So I offered him 1/10th gold eagles. He also said no to those. He said he wanted the cash.

Most people will not accept PMs for items they are selling. They want FRNs to spend immediately. Very few people sell anything they own, just to put money into any kind of savings plan.

You have to remember that the reality we have to deal with is that FRN's are the monetary unit of the realm. You have to pay somebody to exchange PM's back to FRN's. The buy sell spreads on PM bullion are not subtle, especially Au. If I were to take PM's as payment, I would charge you what my net would be when I sold them to acquire FRN's to pay my bills. Not current spot price.

If I was actually looking to acquire PM's, then that would be a completely different situation.

Until public perception changes, that is just the way it is. Plus, the wild swing in spot price over the last 2 years, that even the masses are mildly aware of, is only exacerbating the situation with the public recognizing that PM's are real money.