FunnyMoney
12th December 2010, 09:13 PM
Here's a post I just read over at the CIGA site....
I don't care about the track-record or the location,...
If you don't hold it and if you can't protect it, a much bigger lesson is coming. -FunnyMoney
A Christmas Story
Posted: Dec 11 2010 Jim Sinclair's Web Forum
Filed under: General Editorial
http://jsmineset.com/2010/12/11/a-christmas-story/
A Cautionary Tale
Dear Jim,
The following story is, frankly, embarrassing. But it may be helpful to remind our fellow CIGAs of the reality of the world we live in — and perhaps it may even prevent some of them from experiencing what I’ve just gone through…
We are in the process of relocating from the Chicago area to south Florida.
Last Saturday night, with baby twins and our 5-year old daughter in tow, my wife and I arrived at a Holiday Inn in White House, Tennessee. I wanted to keep driving, but my wife, due to her concern for the children and her needed sleep, demanded that we stop for the night. It was below freezing and with three children crying and screaming (once they got out in the cold), in a temperature-induced rush, I made several trips back and forth from my room to the truck to get the necessities of travel for my family up to the room.
I was a bit concerned about the stuff in my truck and in the boat I was towing but it would be impossible to unload everything we had packed. It was supposed to be a good neighborhood (according to the front desk clerk).
I did not think I had a very significant amount of gold with me on this trip, just a small bag of small coins (mostly quarter ounce Maple Leafs, but also some old German Marks and Mexican Peso coins). I never bought these coins individually (or at any premium), simply because they were usually a means for my local coin dealer to round up my larger purchases to get to the weight I ordered. I would keep these small coins as traveling insurance against sudden currency or systemic collapse. I entered the coins into my spreadsheet, but was not cognizant of their specific value – -that is until my truck was broken into that night and it was all stolen!
It came to 27 ounces of gold.
Apparently there are two White Houses where people get ripped off.
The cop I sat down with to calculate their value got kind of wide-eyed when we figured the loss at more than $38,000 including a few other coins. He asked if I was some kind of collector. I said I had gold for financial insurance and investment purposes. He said something like, "Really? I never thought of gold that way." (I guess we’re still quite a bit away from a mania top!)
But even worse than losing my coins, I remembered I had, at the last moment of packing (throwing things in the bag in a bad mood and, again, in a rush because of the snow storm and another little argument me and the wife were having at the time) put a special diamond ring in the bag that my late mother gave to my wife made from her wedding engagement diamond and a gold luck charm she had melted down and had made into the ring. My Mom told my wife at the time that despite all the other wives and grandchildren in the family, that she had never felt the urge to give it away until she met her. She wanted us to pass it down to one of our daughters. We had intended to give it to the daughter we named after Mom after she passed away. Its value at a pawn shop? – Probably modest. Its value to me and my family – priceless.
And there were other things taken as well. In fact, since we will not be unloading the rest of the truck until we move into our more permanent home in Boca Raton tomorrow, we will not be able to say 100% for sure if there won’t be something else we discover missing.
Here’s a few things I have taken away from the experience…
1) It’s foolish to not take better care of these things. If you’re not especially detail-oriented, like me, it would be wise to pay someone to cover the details (one of the many reasons I shipped all my physical–except these small coins–to the trusted vaults of a 400-year old, small, family-owned Swiss bank earlier this year). This could never happen to some people, but if you’re known as a "big picture" guy or gal who’s not so good on the details, better have back-up!
2) As Gerald Celente has said, "When people lose everything, when they have nothing left to lose, they lose it." We don’t know if this was a small-time "professional" thief or someone who was more desperate–perhaps an out-of-work guy who broke in out of some perceived need to survive (strangely, they stole a couple of bags filled with cosmetics, but left a portable GPS device). In our lake front neighborhood in a far northwest Chicago suburb, we have always felt safe leaving the doors unlocked–even as recently as a couple of years ago. We have great neighbors and we all keep watch for each other. To think we’re safe without additional security, today is just plain foolish. That America–the safe one with unlocked doors–is so long gone. We are refocusing on family security measures as a result of this experience.
But most importantly, while the bullion coins were a great financial loss as I told my lovely wife (all the arguments mentioned above were my fault not hers!), "this was an inexpensive lesson. An expensive lesson is when someone gets hurt or killed."
The biggest loss may have been my mother’s ring but even that would have been sacrificed by my own mother if she thought it would protect any of her children or grandchildren. Who knows? Perhaps this lesson and the additional security precautions it has caused us to take may in fact, save one of our lives.
I am so thankful, and blessed, that I am still wealthy beyond measure due to my 6 beautiful children, my gorgeous, loving wife and the rest of our families. And while we’re at it, we’re also thankful for you, Jim, because we paid a lot less than $38,000 for those coins! And because you’re still helping protect my family though your work here at jsmineset.com.
Peace and warmest regards,
CIGA Grateful
...one of the many reasons I shipped all my physical–except these small coins–to the trusted vaults of a 400-year old, small, family-owned Swiss bank earlier this year...
This guy thinks he can trust his fellow man with his savings.
So if TSHTF, he'll just fly over to Europe and collect his gold. Yeah right. :oo-->
I don't care about the track-record or the location,...
If you don't hold it and if you can't protect it, a much bigger lesson is coming. -FunnyMoney
A Christmas Story
Posted: Dec 11 2010 Jim Sinclair's Web Forum
Filed under: General Editorial
http://jsmineset.com/2010/12/11/a-christmas-story/
A Cautionary Tale
Dear Jim,
The following story is, frankly, embarrassing. But it may be helpful to remind our fellow CIGAs of the reality of the world we live in — and perhaps it may even prevent some of them from experiencing what I’ve just gone through…
We are in the process of relocating from the Chicago area to south Florida.
Last Saturday night, with baby twins and our 5-year old daughter in tow, my wife and I arrived at a Holiday Inn in White House, Tennessee. I wanted to keep driving, but my wife, due to her concern for the children and her needed sleep, demanded that we stop for the night. It was below freezing and with three children crying and screaming (once they got out in the cold), in a temperature-induced rush, I made several trips back and forth from my room to the truck to get the necessities of travel for my family up to the room.
I was a bit concerned about the stuff in my truck and in the boat I was towing but it would be impossible to unload everything we had packed. It was supposed to be a good neighborhood (according to the front desk clerk).
I did not think I had a very significant amount of gold with me on this trip, just a small bag of small coins (mostly quarter ounce Maple Leafs, but also some old German Marks and Mexican Peso coins). I never bought these coins individually (or at any premium), simply because they were usually a means for my local coin dealer to round up my larger purchases to get to the weight I ordered. I would keep these small coins as traveling insurance against sudden currency or systemic collapse. I entered the coins into my spreadsheet, but was not cognizant of their specific value – -that is until my truck was broken into that night and it was all stolen!
It came to 27 ounces of gold.
Apparently there are two White Houses where people get ripped off.
The cop I sat down with to calculate their value got kind of wide-eyed when we figured the loss at more than $38,000 including a few other coins. He asked if I was some kind of collector. I said I had gold for financial insurance and investment purposes. He said something like, "Really? I never thought of gold that way." (I guess we’re still quite a bit away from a mania top!)
But even worse than losing my coins, I remembered I had, at the last moment of packing (throwing things in the bag in a bad mood and, again, in a rush because of the snow storm and another little argument me and the wife were having at the time) put a special diamond ring in the bag that my late mother gave to my wife made from her wedding engagement diamond and a gold luck charm she had melted down and had made into the ring. My Mom told my wife at the time that despite all the other wives and grandchildren in the family, that she had never felt the urge to give it away until she met her. She wanted us to pass it down to one of our daughters. We had intended to give it to the daughter we named after Mom after she passed away. Its value at a pawn shop? – Probably modest. Its value to me and my family – priceless.
And there were other things taken as well. In fact, since we will not be unloading the rest of the truck until we move into our more permanent home in Boca Raton tomorrow, we will not be able to say 100% for sure if there won’t be something else we discover missing.
Here’s a few things I have taken away from the experience…
1) It’s foolish to not take better care of these things. If you’re not especially detail-oriented, like me, it would be wise to pay someone to cover the details (one of the many reasons I shipped all my physical–except these small coins–to the trusted vaults of a 400-year old, small, family-owned Swiss bank earlier this year). This could never happen to some people, but if you’re known as a "big picture" guy or gal who’s not so good on the details, better have back-up!
2) As Gerald Celente has said, "When people lose everything, when they have nothing left to lose, they lose it." We don’t know if this was a small-time "professional" thief or someone who was more desperate–perhaps an out-of-work guy who broke in out of some perceived need to survive (strangely, they stole a couple of bags filled with cosmetics, but left a portable GPS device). In our lake front neighborhood in a far northwest Chicago suburb, we have always felt safe leaving the doors unlocked–even as recently as a couple of years ago. We have great neighbors and we all keep watch for each other. To think we’re safe without additional security, today is just plain foolish. That America–the safe one with unlocked doors–is so long gone. We are refocusing on family security measures as a result of this experience.
But most importantly, while the bullion coins were a great financial loss as I told my lovely wife (all the arguments mentioned above were my fault not hers!), "this was an inexpensive lesson. An expensive lesson is when someone gets hurt or killed."
The biggest loss may have been my mother’s ring but even that would have been sacrificed by my own mother if she thought it would protect any of her children or grandchildren. Who knows? Perhaps this lesson and the additional security precautions it has caused us to take may in fact, save one of our lives.
I am so thankful, and blessed, that I am still wealthy beyond measure due to my 6 beautiful children, my gorgeous, loving wife and the rest of our families. And while we’re at it, we’re also thankful for you, Jim, because we paid a lot less than $38,000 for those coins! And because you’re still helping protect my family though your work here at jsmineset.com.
Peace and warmest regards,
CIGA Grateful
...one of the many reasons I shipped all my physical–except these small coins–to the trusted vaults of a 400-year old, small, family-owned Swiss bank earlier this year...
This guy thinks he can trust his fellow man with his savings.
So if TSHTF, he'll just fly over to Europe and collect his gold. Yeah right. :oo-->