Hi again pug,re. ""I know squat about eft's except they are on...

Hi again pug,

re. ""I know squat about eft's except they are on trust."

That was your first sentence on this thread. What do you mean by 'trust'? do you mean 'trust' as in the business/legal term, or do you mean 'trust' as in common use: to believe in someone/thing?"" ---

I mean it in the normal sense - like I put in money and I trust that they will give it back to me when I decide to sell.

I am not saying that any particular eft's are not ok - all that I am saying is I don't know.

That same trust covers 20oz bars from the mint - I have read the scam theories but from what I can glean it is not worth a scam to do small ingots ----- it may be a completely different matter with 400 oz bars and the like - but I am not interested in them, so it is of not much concern for me.

You may be right about dud little ingots as well - but I would hope they aren't all duds.
Eg. if I wanted to put $500k into physical - that would get me about 20 X20 oz bars---- very apx. - well you would hope they weren't all duds - my guess is we would have heard about at least some by now in Australia if it were true.
I don't think you are right btw- I have heard no evidence from the trade at all.
I have mates that buy AND use gold all the time. I am pretty damm sure that when it melts down tungsten??? titanium, whatever they are supposed to dud it with would be a dead giveaway - and you would hear about it rather quick and loudly.

Nuggets I can pick a mile away. And even if I did get a batch of duds from someone else (hard to imagine how) - it would only be a small part of a whole.
I reckon I can trust my own - unless god is in on a scam as well.

I hope I haven't given the wrong impression about dark days - here is my clarification

Normal course of economies - I only hold my own gold and perhaps a little other small ingots.

My major investments (in normal times) at any particular time go from a fairly small holding of what I think are quality producers (in the majority of times) in the portfolio to a hefty chunk of the same producers in times that I think some gold security might be needed and or profitable BUT NOT complete breakdown time. In other words right now I am happy to hold gold equities - but a larger amount than normal.
For breakdown times (yep, end of financial world as we know it times) - which I do NOT think I will see in my lifetime (but you never know) - that is when I would hold a much larger amount of physical gold - and at those times I certainly would not be talking about it.
And I say again about those nasty total breakdown tough times ------
walk into a butcher shop with a mining certificate or an eft or a nugget or small ingot and what are your best chances of coming out with a lamb chop?? - if I were the butcher - nugget or ingot - hands down.
Simple stuff from my pov. I have traded physical and found it easy, so my guess is that in tough times it will be similar - probably easier.
From my experience gold can buy you food, booze, sex, a bed, petrol and the like --- I think I have covered most of the needs in life there.

It can also buy you things like boats and cars and houses as well - now I suppose shares and eft's can do that, but I am not so sure they would do it in 1930, perhaps they would. The thing is, I KNOW physical would.

I am amazed at some people who think it is paranoid to hold gold for security of bad economic or risk times. But think on this -------
Why do we value it at all?????? We actually do not use much of the stuff industrially. It is just a yellow metal that we collectively agree is worth ?something? -- it is the something's that change - not actually the gold - the gold is always the gold.

So why 'do' we value it?
Because it is a rare commodity that is very portable and almost indestructible and is 'greatly' valued in dire times. It is currency. That is why we value it.

That's exactly why Knights of old carried all their stuff in trunks etc - because they had to port their wealth in dire times ------- no other reason.

Maybe I am paranoid :)

time for a coffee have a good w/e

Pinto