Banking… how things have changed

[Hay Dude]

Interest rates are too high, gold will not be as lucrative to investors as you may think.

Not my only investment, either. Not as easily controlled as our upcoming digital fiat money.

FYI: Gold is up 61.15% in the last 5 years.

 

[Hay Dude]

Non-fiat money has specific characteristics. Various things have been used throughout history as currency. To be used as currency, a substance must have these characteristics: Portability, Durability, Divisibility, uniformity and limited supply. Some would also add Acceptabilty, but that is self evident and not inherent to the substance.

Gold has many uses besides jewelry. That is one reason it (and other precious metals) have retained their status as media of exchange. Salt, shells, corn and the like all lacked at least one characteristic of money.

The way we are “printing” it, it seemingly has an unlimited supply and sadly, an unlimited devaluation.
This last round of spending, nearly 10 trillion, is unsustainable. The annual interest payments alone are more than our annual national defense budget.
With so much new money “printed” and so many people not only broke, but in debt, it makes you wonder, where is all the money going?

 

[Yander]

No… just smart… my last two transaction were at the buyers bank branch nearby…

In the metro areas lots of car selling issues…

Sell car for cash and paperwork in order and then get robbed after buyer leaves…

This is what I do. I'm not carrying thousands in cash anywhere, nor do I expect anyone to. We meet at a bank and do it all.

 

[newbury]

One can easily need 10k in cash to buy a used truck or equipment. I am not going to take a check from someone I do not know from out of town.

Am I getting too old?

No, you are getting too trustworthy. Trusting that none of the cash will be counterfeit, and that you won't get robbed.

 

[riptides]

This is what I do. I'm not carrying thousands in cash anywhere, nor do I expect anyone to. We meet at a bank and do it all.

In my county and surrounding counties we have designated "safe" spots that are monitored by LEO for public to public transactions. Is a great idea. I have even seen some LEO in some of these spots at times. All have video surveillance and all are in highly visible traffic areas.

 

[dmccarty]

In my county and surrounding counties we have designated "safe" spots that are monitored by LEO for public to public transactions. Is a great idea. I have even seen some LEO in some of these spots at times. All have video surveillance and all are in highly visible traffic areas.

Going to a bank or a police station is a good idea. However, even that is not a guarantee of safety.

Just recently, an elderly American man walked out of the place he was staying in Dublin on a major street at 10:30pm. He was attacked and taken to the hospital with life changing injuries even though the attack was close to one of the largest police stations in Dublin. They have a shortage of police in Ireland due to low pay.

We have walked within a few hundred feet of where the man was attacked and it is not a "bad" neighborhood. No word on why the man was attacked but it could have been just random.

The price over there often uses the phrase, "life changing injuries." which I think runs the range of loosing ones teeth, eye sight or being crippled from a bullet to the knee or elbow.

 

[dmccarty]

In the UK people are having their bank accounts close because the bank does not like what the person has said or politics. I have not read how widespread this is but it just blew up when one of the banks for the rich closed the account of Farage who was a party leader pushing for Brexit. The bank lied to the BBC, which has it's own problems at the moment, and Farage forced the bank to give him the reason why his business account was closed. The paper work was 40 pages, which he gave to the press, and it shows the bank closed his account sorely because they did not like him.

A Vicar had his account closed at another bank because they sent him an opinion survey and he asked why the banks were flying so many flags that represent a certain group of people.

Sounds like the UK will pass laws and/or regulations preventing the banks from just closing an account because they don't like a person.

In the Netherlands, much of the payment system is via one's phone or a transport card linked to your bank account. Stores may or may not take cash preferring to use these debit transactions. One major grocery chain store did not take any of our credit cards but it does take cash. Kinda odd on what works over there to pay.

 

[Hay Dude]

In my county and surrounding counties we have designated "safe" spots that are monitored by LEO for public to public transactions. Is a great idea. I have even seen some LEO in some of these spots at times. All have video surveillance and all are in highly visible traffic areas.

I like that R!ppy!!!

 

[grsthegreat]

I was a loyal wells fargo customer for 30 years. Than 2 years ago i closed everything and have all my accounts in 3 different credit unions, including my business acct.

i just lost all faith in big banks. All accounts are still fully insured, and rates are better. All accounts are fee free. The cd’s are paying over 5%.

plus one credit union just opened a branch 5 minutes from my place. Never been happier.

 

[drssg]

Not my only investment, either. Not as easily controlled as our upcoming digital fiat money.

FYI: Gold is up 61.15% in the last 5 years.

FWIW, that's about the same as the S&P 500. In the last 10 years, gold is up about 48%. The S&P 500 is up 168%.

If our economy doesn't collapse, gold will probably not outperform the market. If we end up like Venezuela, but not full Zombie Apocalypse, then your physical gold will be a life-saver.

It depends on the investors goals and risk-tolerance.