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Long-time
readers know I am an avid bike rider. Not mountain biking, but LONG rides in
the country, where I can dissociate my thoughts from the real world. I
have been long-distance riding since a teenager, and haven’t let up one
bit in my “old age.” To the contrary, two summers ago I rode
nearly 2,500 miles in one summer, by far my record for a single
season. I’ll never be able to repeat the bliss of riding on the East
End of Long Island in the late 1990s and early 2000s – as discussed in
“PEACE OF THE
ROCK” – but the flats and foothills of Colorado are a close
second!
On the
road for hours at a time, the mind often wonders; and I suspect, the
“fraternity” of bike riders ponder many
of the same topics. Additionally, we create “mental games” to
keep us sharp – such as searching the side of the road for hidden
or discarded money. Many a time I have scoured the landscape for
suitcases of cash, envisioning movie-like scenarios wherein criminals
“ditch the evidence” while being pursued by the law. Perhaps such
events only occur in the movies, but there’s always the chance
it happened in real life, too – isn’t there? Oh well, silly or
not it kills time, and as noted earlier – keeps my mind sharp.
However,
notice that I said I was searching for “money” – which in
prior lifetimes, suggested suitcases full of crisp, unmarked $100 bills. Over
my “TEN
YEARS OF HEAVEN AND HELL,” I have come to not just suspect,
but KNOW dollars are not “money”; but instead, fiat currencies
not even CLOSE to meeting its definition. The slide below is utilized
in my Power Point Presentations – depicting how only two of the
six requisite conditions of “money” (black-highlighted) meet the
definition…
The point
is, when I bike today, I NO LONGER look for suitcases of dollars. Instead, I
search dunes and grasses for hints of green or red-topped tubes
containing SILVER or GOLD EAGLES – although it’s hard to even imagine
a scenario where they were ditched by “bad guys.” Heck, most
bad guys are too dumb to realize GOLD IS MONEY, so the only way bullion coins
would be on the side of the road is if left by “good guys.” As
the “good, smart people” are in this together, I’d have
reservations about taking someone else’s gold; but you can bet that
wouldn’t stop me!
While
riding the other day, I passed a U.S. quarter on the side of the road.
Normally I’d let it go, but something in my bike riding genetics urges
me to “defray” my three hours of solitude with ITEMS OF REAL
VALUE I might find along the way. True, a quarter will one day be worthless
– and practically is already – but as I said, I felt compelled
to pick it up. Frankly, I haven’t held a quarter in some time, as not
only is there little left to buy with a quarter, but in an
increasingly paperless world, there’s little reason to even carry “cash”
anymore.
Thus, I
was shocked to realize how LIGHT it was, like a feather compared
to similarly sized coins composed of REAL MONEY; i.e., PHYSICAL Precious
Metals. Even before joining Miles Franklin as its Marketing Director last
year, I had spent years handling bullion coins more often than
“change.” After all, it’s where I store my net worth.
In fact,
when selling the concept of PMs as “money,” I tell people
they will be SOLD FOREVER once they hold a bullion coin; realizing not just
how beautiful it is, but how substantive. Significant WORK went
into producing it, and knowing how valuable it is only solidifies
the mindset that something of real, INTRINSIC VALUE is in one’s
presence.
A U.S.
quarter weighs 5.67 grams, composed of roughly 92% copper and 8% nickel.
Unlike other U.S. minted coins like the penny – worth less than
its melt value – the quarter is worth a measly $0.05 in metal. In
contrast, a similar 5.67 gram silver coin (0.182 ounces) is worth $5.10, and
a 5.67 gram gold coin $295 – not including the 5%-15% PHYSICAL premiums
over the PAPER spot price you will pay.
In other
words, if holding a PHYSICAL gold or silver coin is enough to permanently understand
why it is considered “money,” holding a nearly worthless U.S.
quarter should be enough to convince you why fiat currency has NEVER been
considered “money” for more than a few decades.
PROTECT
YOURSELF, and do it NOW!
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