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Are central banks losing control?
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A new parade of reasons to expect higher prices soon
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A group for sharing the concerns and strategies of "senior" or near senior and/or retired members of the Peak Prosperity community.
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Preparing those people on Ise Lodge (Kettering) Northants, interested in the future post fossil fuel.
This is exactly what I did. Sold six months ago in London. Bought precious metals. (also from BV) Will wait three five years and buy a house again. But renting is not fun. Landlords are crap.
Yes, landlords can be crap, but I"m sure the gains will be worthwhile :)
I'm finishing the siding on my house. I ripped it off last fall and finding it hard to sell a house with no siding. In a week or 2 when the siding is up I will have my first open house!
Meanwhile, I have to watch what I tell people when asked why I'm selling. I'm telling people that I'm just getting by and I'm selling because all my money is going on the house, which leaves me with very little to live on. Although that's partially true, people think I'm nuts if I tell them the truth. That I want to trade my home for a few boxes of silver and why. They look down at me like I'm making the biggest mistake of my life! Where I live, prices haven't fallen yet and I'm going to make a profit, but the profit isn't keeping up with real inflation.
Mryuri or others who've done the same, what kind of reactions did you get when people found out that you sold your home for precious metals? Do you even try educating people on what's to come? I have great respect for trailblazers like Chris Martenson and Chris Duane for doing the hard work of educating others.
Although that's partially true, people think I'm nuts if I tell them the truth. That I want to trade my home for a few boxes of silver and why. They look down at me like I'm making the biggest mistake of my life!
I would keep that side of things quiet if I were you. The last thing you want people to know (or think they know) is that you may have something of real value in your house. Once the general populace starts waking up I think you would find yourself a target pretty quickly.
Mryuri or others who've done the same, what kind of reactions did you get when people found out that you sold your home for precious metals? Do you even try educating people on what's to come? I have great respect for trailblazers like Chris Martenson and Chris Duane for doing the hard work of educating others.
I didn't tell my side of the family though I think my missus told [some of] her side. I guess the problem is that the drop in PM prices over the last 12 months or so makes our decision look somewhat daft. My wife is mostly supportive though we both go through dayily/weekly bouts of doubt. But when this happens I always look at what's going on and ask myself if anything has gotten better. Since it hasn't the rationale of our decision still holds. But it's not easy going against the tide.
There was an interview Chris did earlier this year, I forget who with, but they were basically saying that if people aren't ready to even consider looking at our viewpoint then there's no point trying to convince them. I'm increasingly of that mind and so even though sometimes I bludgeon people with the arguments I think it's better just to be cool, get ready and enjoy life.
just to add another point to this subject. Up to now we have not mentioned the so called 'Reset Button' whereby governments are basically forced to allow everybody to forget about their debts and start again.
I would be interested to see how this would work....I would imagine they would have to introduce some sort of rule that if you had paid off (or owned) say 51% of the original value of the property then you keep it ... otherwise you lose.
This then gets into the discussion of 'if this is a possibility then surely money you have now which could have been used to pay off the mortgage would be better spent by buying PMs as when the button is hit you may end up with the property anyway'.
Just something else to think about....albeit not very likely...but who knows in these crazy times.
I've been struggling with rent vs. buy problem myself. I'm in the military and have to move every few years (which makes preparing tough), so on paper renting makes the most sense. However, I really hate renting and the cost of ownership is very low compared to renting where I'm moving (Norfolk, VA area). I estimate I could purchase at about a 20-25% monthly cashflow discount off a comparable rental (with a fixed rate VA loan at 3.75%, very little down), which means when I move I should be able to rent it out at a positive cash flow with a little room for rents to decrease. I think I could get excellent returns on energy efficiency improvements (by getting higher rent) given the tax incentinves, the likelyhood of energy costs increasing, and the fact that the cost of solar systems are currently subsidized by cheap energy(supposedly it takes almost as much energy to make a PV panel as you get from it over its life).
The other consideration I've been thinking about as I read everyone's posts is that if the deflation scenario plays out, the credit markets will dry up and you might not be able to buy a house if you wanted to unless you had enough cash on hand. In this case there might not be a spike in PM value to help buy other assets.
I've been struggling with rent vs. buy problem myself. I'm in the military and have to move every few years (which makes preparing tough), so on paper renting makes the most sense. However, I really hate renting and the cost of ownership is very low compared to renting where I'm moving (Norfolk, VA area). I estimate I could purchase at about a 20-25% monthly cashflow discount off a comparable rental (with a fixed rate VA loan at 3.75%, very little down), which means when I move I should be able to rent it out at a positive cash flow with a little room for rents to decrease. I think I could get excellent returns on energy efficiency improvements (by getting higher rent) given the tax incentinves, the likelyhood of energy costs increasing, and the fact that the cost of solar systems are currently subsidized by cheap energy(supposedly it takes almost as much energy to make a PV panel as you get from it over its life).
The other consideration I've been thinking about as I read everyone's posts is that if the deflation scenario plays out, the credit markets will dry up and you might not be able to buy a house if you wanted to unless you had enough cash on hand. In this case there might not be a spike in PM value to help buy other assets.