ISO: Advice for protecting long-term savings
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Anonymous
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Greetings!
Mine is a good problem to have but I am very uneasy about it and hoping for advice. My family is low income by DC-area standards ($90k household). I have a low-level mommy-tracked job, my husband has a labor job with a union. We should be right in there with the people who have high credit card debt and barely making ends meet. Instead, I can hardly believe my fortune because the precious metals that I've been stashing away for years have exploded in price to where I now have about $70k at the moment. This is a collection that I'd like to leave untouched for the next 10-15 years, and have it be money for the kids when they reach adulthood. But because I've never had savings like this before, I am worried about losing it because sees too good to be true, especially with the price predictions going forward. Please give me advice for the long-term of how to preserve this. Right now it's all eggs in one basket (physical precious metals only) and I'd like to mix it up to ensure that this opportunity doesn't slip away through some preventable misfortune. Thank you. |
Anonymous
| Do you have an emergency fund? How old are your kids? How much are the metals worth? |
Anonymous
Yes, we have an emergency fund and UPS stocks from 20 years of buying from each paycheck through husband's job, and we live within our means. So the precious metals are just this windfall that we do not need for daily expenses. The metals are $70k now, it's several pounds of silver and a few ounces of gold, silver bought in the $18-$25oz range and gold at $1500. This is my kids best chance to have a launch pad when they're older, something that neither my husband or I ever had and I have no idea what to do from here to ensure that they have it when they need it. Currently ages 3, 6 and 11. |
Anonymous
It's honestly pretty crazy. I can't save if my life depends on it. Spend every penny on whatever. Then a few years ago, stumbled into message board posts by people who collect precious metals. And I figured "this is the cure for my poor shopping habits. I'll just buy shiny stuff and it'll arrive like any other package with that dopamine hit, but instead of money wasted, its locked." And this year I wake up one day and it's worth $70k. Never in my life have I had so much money basically by dumb luck. Would love to make something of it for the kids. |
Anonymous
| My initial thought is to dump the precious metals and UPS stick and invest the proceeds in a broad based index fund. Keep it simple and don't touch it. |
Anonymous
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Diversify your investments. Metals definitely can go up a lot, but they can also go down. If I were you, I'd sell at least 80 or 90 percent and invest it in Vanguard VBIAX (balanced stock/bond fund).
Really, this is important. I'm glad this worked out for you, but having all your eggs (or gold) in one basket is very risky. |
Anonymous
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My advice is just keep it in precious metals, right where it is now.
No investment is guaranteed, but precious metals have a solid long-term track record of serving as reliable stores of value, which is what you're looking for. |
Anonymous
+1 You're not going to spend it if it's in a lump of silver or bar of gold, and (don't quote me here, but  there's a chance that in its current form it doesn't show up on any tax or financial aid forms so it doesn't count against you when college comes.
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Anonymous
| Make sure your retirement is on track before setting it aside for your kids. That will be the biggest gift to your kids in not having to support you later. Sell it and make sure you max out every tax advantaged account available to you this year - 401k for both you and your husband ($48k). Roth IRA for both you and your Husband ($15k). HSA (8.5k). Everything else put in VTSAX taxable account at Vanguard. |
Anonymous
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Think about how you’ll feel if it drops 25% by the end of the year or goes up by 25%. If you aren’t sure what to do maybe sell half.
Personally I’d figure out how to sell most of it and then figure out what to put it in— maybe a stock market index fund plus some ibonds, or a 529. |
Anonymous
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Is the UPS stock vested?
How much do you have? Consider diversifying to an index fund as noted above. |
Anonymous
| Make sure you're maxing retirement. That's the best advice anyone can give you. |
Anonymous
| You have to take some risk if you don't want to get killed by inflation. Precious metals is a joke IMHO. |
Anonymous
Sell your gold later this year after rate cuts start and QE begins nationally. Maybe in November. Start a Schwab taxable brokerage account. Take your proceeds and invest them in a low cost domestic/international like Vanguard’s “VT”. Don’t touch that for 20 years and your kids will have hundreds of thousands of dollars. Gold is a good thing to hold, but you’re better off having your money in index funds. |
Anonymous
| Thank you all. I'll research the advice here. |