Guns vs. cash

[XDM45]

I suggest diversify your investments:
403b (401K)
Roth IRA
Silver/Gold
Guns and Ammo

The 403b 401k pretax to maximize contributions.
Roth IRA incase of exorbinant taxation down the road.
Silver and gold if the banking investments get wiped out.
Guns and ammo if all else fails and collapses.

Got all that. Good advice

[grousemaster]

what a failure of a thread. Too bad it hasn't been locked yet. Gotta love all the "diversify", "401k" answers.....yea, got that. that wasn't the question....

I

[Mn01r6]

what a failure of a thread. Too bad it hasn't been locked yet. Gotta love all the "diversify", "401k" answers.....yea, got that. that wasn't the question....

I

Guns and ammo vary wildly in price to your advantage during times of panic. If she/you don't sell during the "panic" before her college tuition is due, you will be selling in a buyer's market. If you time the market right, you could make a good return on your investment. If you aren't doubling your money every 6 years, you aren't investing in good performing assets. Do panics that double the price of guns come along every 6 years? I dunno. I am pretty sure I could have sold my 6920 for $2100 in the panic and doubled my money. The problem is, I could have bought that 6920 10 years ago or 10 months ago and only doubled my money.

Timing markets is risky. It is taking a huge gamble versus the other forms of investments people have mentioned. Sell early and you might not be able to afford to get back in. Sell late and you may be holding something that is worth less than you paid for it or is illegal to own.

[grousemaster]

what a failure of a thread. Too bad it hasn't been locked yet. Gotta love all the "diversify", "401k" answers.....yea, got that. that wasn't the question....

I

Guns and ammo vary wildly in price to your advantage during times of panic. If she/you don't sell during the "panic" before her college tuition is due, you will be selling in a buyer's market. If you time the market right, you could make a good return on your investment. If you aren't doubling your money every 6 years, you aren't investing in good performing assets. Do panics that double the price of guns come along every 6 years? I dunno. I am pretty sure I could have sold my 6920 for $2100 in the panic and doubled my money. The problem is, I could have bought that 6920 10 years ago or 10 months ago and only doubled my money.

Timing markets is risky. It is taking a huge gamble versus the other forms of investments people have mentioned. Sell early and you might not be able to afford to get back in. Sell late and you may be holding something that is worth less than you paid for it or is illegal to own.

Thanks for a helpful answer....I was beginning to lose faith

[Tronster]

what a failure of a thread. Too bad it hasn't been locked yet. Gotta love all the "diversify", "401k" answers.....yea, got that. that wasn't the question....

I

ok to answer your question, guns are not a sure bet for investing. but the payoff can be huge IF you time it right.
If it was a sure bet, then EVERYBODY would be in guns and ammo investing. so id say do half college fund and half gun fund.

[20mm]

Condoms, birth-control and vaccines mights also be a wise investment...but who knows, as everything is prone to change.

Firearm generally have a U shaped investment value. You might be better off getting something like copper/lead/helium and sitting on it.

[Evad]

Condoms, birth-control and vaccines mights also be a wise investment...but who knows, as everything is prone to change.

Firearm generally have a U shaped investment value. You might be better off getting something like copper/lead/helium and sitting on it.

You think helium is going to gain value?

[20mm]

Condoms, birth-control and vaccines mights also be a wise investment...but who knows, as everything is prone to change.

Firearm generally have a U shaped investment value. You might be better off getting something like copper/lead/helium and sitting on it.

You think helium is going to gain value?

More than it already has? Of course... It's not like they can make more.

[Evad]

Condoms, birth-control and vaccines mights also be a wise investment...but who knows, as everything is prone to change.

Firearm generally have a U shaped investment value. You might be better off getting something like copper/lead/helium and sitting on it.

You think helium is going to gain value?

More than it already has? Of course... It's not like they can make more.

I guess I never considered it something a casual investor would care about.

By the time we run out, we will be sending ships with huge tanks into space to collect more. It's not really rare.

[gun_fan111]

There is only one major flaw with the approach of buying guns, reselling, and buying more to resell - how will you ever bring yourself in 10-20 years to sell this massive collection! I do not think I would be able to part with that and my kids would end up neck deep in loans

One good idea I heard a while back is to put the savings into a Roth IRA - when it is time you pull out the contributions to pay for college and keep all earnings for you own retirement. This way if the kid decides to skip the education - the money is still yours and easily accessible. I am no financial manager though...

[minnhawk]

The Ant and the Grasshopper

I'm the ant, my brother is the grasshopper. He is older. Never worried about money, made a bucketload in commercial illustration back before computers destroyed his occupation. Spend spend spend on stuff, old cars, old furniture, WWII stuff (ALL) old campers, records, you name it. Squirrelled it all away, never saved a dime in a Roth, 401K, nothing except a paid-for big Victorian house down south.

I got the corporate type job, 40lKs, good salary, couple of Roths, yadda yadda. Pretty well got wiped out in 09, starting to make a comeback but never to the height of the summer of 08. Had to put off retirement because the pension stumbled, I need more in my own retirement accounts now. Brother retired 3 years ago, sells stuff when he needs money, started power selling on eBay and at local and regional antique shows, and is killing the Gen Y kids with his collection of great 1950s modern furniture. Who knew that crap would be valuable some day? Example: he sold his '69 Porsche 911 last month for $25,000 to a guy in Switzerland. He will pay no tax on that money, no tax on his ebay and antique show sales; he is "living" on his social security check as far as the IRS knows.

Moral: He had fun all of his life, never saved money, bought things he liked. Enjoyed the stuff he had, and is now slowly selling it off. Me? I worked like a dog and am very worried I can pay off the mortgage when I sell my house and get moved up north. If I had it to do again, I would have followed his lead and been a lot more happy. At least I have 3 Garands and a WWII Government Colt in the collection....

[bothwell]

I would say that if you think your daughter might actually want to own/shoot a gun which you can buy for her now, but which she may not be able to buy later due to cost or laws, then go for it. But if the guns are a straight investment, she may find that she needs the money at a time when the guns are not at peak value (so: first she'd need a comfortable balance sheet from other investments, before she has the luxury of selling the guns at peak value). The gun collection also needs someone to care for it: if you were not around to care for them, would they rust the next time a family emergency pulled others away for a few months? Worst-case, in 30 years she may find that she owns several guns, but can't legally sell them.

I would approach it as "mad money": invest in a typical 401k/403b/529 portfolio, then also invest a bit in guns, for the fun, and the chance.

[XDM45]

The Ant and the Grasshopper

I'm the ant, my brother is the grasshopper. He is older. Never worried about money, made a bucketload in commercial illustration back before computers destroyed his occupation. Spend spend spend on stuff, old cars, old furniture, WWII stuff (ALL) old campers, records, you name it. Squirrelled it all away, never saved a dime in a Roth, 401K, nothing except a paid-for big Victorian house down south.

I got the corporate type job, 40lKs, good salary, couple of Roths, yadda yadda. Pretty well got wiped out in 09, starting to make a comeback but never to the height of the summer of 08. Had to put off retirement because the pension stumbled, I need more in my own retirement accounts now. Brother retired 3 years ago, sells stuff when he needs money, started power selling on eBay and at local and regional antique shows, and is killing the Gen Y kids with his collection of great 1950s modern furniture. Who knew that crap would be valuable some day? Example: he sold his '69 Porsche 911 last month for $25,000 to a guy in Switzerland. He will pay no tax on that money, no tax on his ebay and antique show sales; he is "living" on his social security check as far as the IRS knows.

Moral: He had fun all of his life, never saved money, bought things he liked. Enjoyed the stuff he had, and is now slowly selling it off. Me? I worked like a dog and am very worried I can pay off the mortgage when I sell my house and get moved up north. If I had it to do again, I would have followed his lead and been a lot more happy. At least I have 3 Garands and a WWII Government Colt in the collection....

I think he's the exception, not the rule. Most people that don't have squat, end up with squat.... Also, not everything they buy is worth money, o0r is worth money at the time they want to sell it. He gambled and won it sounds like more than anything.

[MaryB]

Paper investments are foolish in this market. We are headed for a crash that will make the last 2 look small.

[XDM45]

Paper investments are foolish in this market. We are headed for a crash that will make the last 2 look small.

WHEN that happens, (and not IF, but WHEN it happens, and it will happen....) yes, but until then, it seems to be working well for some people. Obviously it's wise to have a diversified portfolio, which means not only having the traditional investments in different areas, but in my opinion, that means also including physical assets that are both traditional investments such as gold, silver, etc, and non-traditional investments such as clean, potable water, food, medicine, anything and everything else that would be of use to you personally as well as for trading in a WROL/SHTF/TEOTWAWKI type of situation.

You can prepare, and you should, as best that you can.... but honestly, to do it right I think it's too little too late right now. I wish I was one of those people who started 20-30 years ago, bought land and such like that one guy did in Kansas when he bought an underground missile bunker complex for 40k, but I was too young back then. I feel like I'm behind in many ways, but I also know I'm ahead of some others. Many people are blissfully, willfully and ignorantly unaware. Humankind has survived millennia without the stock market, the 40-hour work week, or currency, we made that stuff up. When the SHTF, we'll have to go back to the old ways in part, if not in whole. Sadly, I'm unprepared in many ways, as are most people. Back 100+ years ago, everyone hunted, but now? Do you think the average person knows how to live off the land, hunt, what things are poisonous or not, etc? I sure don't...and I need to learn.

Anyway, this is a rabbit hole subject that you can go down into quite a ways. I'm glad there's others out there aware - and who prepare and also post on such things.