As we are a simple living sub, I would like to offer my experience in simplifying my finances with gold > cash > prepaid visa.
For us who make a little extra, the problem is where to stash the extra cash.
You can keep it in a bank, but with modern technology, it can be accessed by smartphone or if linked to a debit card, a shopping trolley is just a few keystokes away from being spent. Money also gets eaten up by inflation over a long time.
You can chuck the money is a stock or index fund, but that too can be sold though your phone app and the money spent through your phone too rather quickly (subject to fund being cleared in 24-48 hours).
I like gold in that you have to go through many motions to unlock the value in it and spend it in a shop. This gives you time to pause if you really need something.
First, you have to go to a coin shop to exchange it for cash. They are only open on business days 9-5, so you have to take time off work to unlock the money.
Second, you have to go to your vault or wherever you store your gold and bring it from there to the coin shop. Again, more time to reflect if you really need to spend it.
There are some disadvantages to owning gold. Gold will earn less than stocks or index over the long term. But you have to pick the right stocks and buy and sell out of them and keep track of them (not a very SIMPLE and could potentially be a time consuming task). But gold have and will earn more than cash over the long haul.
I also like the simplicity of gold. You have extra cash, you buy gold, you store it in a hidden place. Very simple.
Again, I stress this is not investment advise, but just my investment/cash idea management that others may find useful (or not).
Submitted June 24, 2017 at 09:27PM by OkExplainToMe http://ift.tt/2s8TbOE
