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beauanderos
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2408 Posts |
 Posted - 07/30/2010 : 21:12:51
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It's 1932. Knowing what you do today, what would you buy with $5,000? Stocks? Rare coins? Which ones and why? I think it would have been so cool to go to the bank and turn in twenty dollar bills for a stack of Double Eagles, even though you would have had to have sat on them for years and passed them down thru the family to escape confiscation. Can you imagine how cheap key dates in good condition in different series were back then? I wonder which has outperformed the most? A great stock pick or an incredible cherry picked coin. Or betting on sports events outcomes. This sounds like the basis for a movie script "The Wealthiest Man in the World" 
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Hoard now and hold on!
http://coppermillions.blogspot.com/
http://wherewillyoubein2012.blogspot.com/ |
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thogey
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1617 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2010 : 21:36:32
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I'd go to the horse races and clean out every track in the world.
After I destroyed horse racing. I would wait for xerox, wal-mart, and microsoft.
1000 shares of wal-mart ($750), bought in 1977 would be worth millions today.
After all that I would just routinely pick the powerball when I needed some pocket change |
Come to the new and improved realcent: http://realcent.org
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beauanderos
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2408 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2010 : 22:09:17
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quote:
Originally posted by thogey
I'd go to the horse races and clean out every track in the world.
After I destroyed horse racing. I would wait for xerox, wal-mart, and microsoft.
1000 shares of wal-mart ($750), bought in 1977 would be worth millions today.
After all that I would just routinely pick the powerball when I needed some pocket change
Uhmm, yeah, well right. You'd be putting Bill and Carlos and Warren to shame, we'd even probably see you emerging from the Bilderberg Hotel and getting into a black stretch limo..... but the point of the question is what you could have done in 1932, not later  |
Hoard now and hold on!
http://coppermillions.blogspot.com/
http://wherewillyoubein2012.blogspot.com/ |
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thogey
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1617 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2010 : 22:17:54
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1932?
That's where the horse racing part of my answer came in...you old fart. |
Come to the new and improved realcent: http://realcent.org
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Market Harmony
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1274 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2010 : 22:46:51
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This is a really great question. But, I'm going to look at it in a different perspective. Looking back to the past is a really good way to help you guide your current decisions. Perhaps by exploring what was a great investment then will help some to determine what they should do today. In 2100, someone will ask, "If you could go back to 2010, what investment would you have made?" What do you think their answer will be?
My answer for 1932 is this:
People, i.e. labor. Back then, $5000 could get you a lot of man hours. I would have created a company which supplied common goods. Something like a grocery store or clothing department. Or, I would have created a company to supply or manufacture common goods. I would have used the labor to grow the business. I would pay top wages for the best salesmen. Any of this was certainly possible then. But, like today, getting the funds to do this was tough.
And for 2010:
Using the gold standard of $20 = 1 oz of gold in 1932, and calculating that out with today's spot price, that $5000 in 1932 would be equivalent to $295,250 today. That buys a good amount of labor in today's market. My answer for 2010 is similar to mine for 1932, given that I get to start with $295,250 and not $5000. I would still invest in good labor, but I would specialize rather than generalize. An industrial supply company, a property management firm, or a commodities trading outfit come to mind. I would have less labor, employ the best specialists, and treat them well in order to retain their talents. Talented labor is the cheapest thing on Earth. |
goto the new and improved realcent: http://realcent.org |
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thogey
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1617 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2010 : 22:57:15
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Oh this thread is going to take a interesting turn.
My guys get 12-14 per hour. My cost for that is about 17-19 per hour, and I can't let them have ot because the fed demands payment of 1.5X.
I'll bet an investment in labor was a better deal in 1932. Maybe that's our problem.
I don't know how that relates to gold or the value of paper frn vs gold. |
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Sheikh_yer_BuTay
Penny Pincher Member
USA
232 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2010 : 00:32:05
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Easy.
Stocks: General Electric. GE was to 1932 what Micro Soft has been for the last 30 yrs.
Commodities: copper... for the same reason! The electric motor industry was set to skyrocket!
Mutual funds: State Street Capitol Growth Fund out of Boston, Mass. That very old man became a millionaire before 1938.
Gold... Common currency then is numismatic riches today. would have hidden it well.
And in my backward little state: MOONSHINE WHISKEY! It made the best ROI of all up until about 1970! |
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Sheikh_yer_BuTay
Penny Pincher Member
USA
232 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2010 : 00:36:31
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quote:
Originally posted by thogey
Oh this thread is going to take a interesting turn.
My guys get 12-14 per hour. My cost for that is about 17-19 per hour, and I can't let them have ot because the fed demands payment of 1.5X.
I'll bet an investment in labor was a better deal in 1932. Maybe that's our problem.
I don't know how that relates to gold or the value of paper frn vs gold.
Yeah, ditto.
If the common man only knew how much of his money was being sent to governments in the form of hidden payroll taxes (FUTA, FICA, etc.) there would be a revolution before morning! |
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wolvesdad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2164 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2010 : 02:19:51
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thogey,
you have the 1932 and 1933 horse racing results all memorized?
This question isn't Back to the Future III. He is saying... from what you KNOW today, not "if you could go to the library for one week, copy down loads of info and the go back in time with it....."
I would swallow up rolls of BU coins, get as many key dates as possible for as cheap as possible. I would go to all the Mint vaults with wheelbarrows of silver certificates, sort for the key dates and turn the silver dollars back over into silver certificates, do it again.
But especially buy BU rolls of US and Canadian cents, nickels, dimes and quarters AND a couple proofs/proof sets just for fun!
And maybe a couple dollars for some nice bubble gum baseball cards!!! |
"May your percentages ever increase!" |
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Sheikh_yer_BuTay
Penny Pincher Member
USA
232 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2010 : 08:17:22
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Oh, yeah... one more thing.
I would heavily invest into the aspiring career of a young "B" movie actor by the name of Randolph Scott. He laughed at everybody all the way to the bank! He took his B movie money and invested into the oil industry. Became a multi-millionaire and lived well into his 90's.
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cptindy
Penny Hoarding Member
572 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2010 : 09:13:32
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I don't know exactly this morning what I would do other than buy prime real estate around major cities.(Las Vegas for one and also my new home Sarasota county along with other beach front locations)
Which to go along with Market's concept I see as a great future opportunity once the true bottom is hit in real estate. I don't believe prices will ever be as low as they will in the next 3-5 years.
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"It is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting"
" The average man doesn't want to be free. He wants to be safe."
H.L. Mencken
http://silver-news-today.com/ |
Edited by - cptindy on 07/31/2010 09:21:55 |
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Kurr
1000+ Penny Miser Member
2906 Posts |
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rainsonme
Penny Pincher Member
USA
183 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2010 : 10:40:19
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This is a great question. And terribly relevant.
If I could go back, I would not buy any stocks. GE was a terrible buy. Took it unitl 1965 to get back to its 1928 level. (I know 1932 is the hypotheticla year) But stocks took decades to recover. (as they may this time too). And generally gold and silver coins would have been a poor investment. In the 1960's uncirculated silver dollars sold at a tiny premium; if you had put your 5,000 into silver dollars in 1932, by 1965 you would have felt foolish. And I don't think gold in general did that well from 1932 until 1965. Key date coins may be entirely different; they did have a nice premium by the mid 60's, but they might have been tough to feel good about during the 40's and 50's. (IF we are comparing the prior depression to the current depression, a major difference this time is the fiat currency's, and the explosion of money supply; I have looked at comparison charts, and we have expanded the money supply in the first 2 years of this depression at an astounding rate)
First thing I would have done with that money was pay off my mortgage, and any other debt, so I could survive the next 10 years of depression. IF I were gutsy enough to start a business in the early stages of a depression, I would have bought up a failing one cheap rather than start a new one. Or perhaps found 2 struggling competitors, and partnered with one to give it the finances to kill its competitor. Buying land just outside growth boundaries would have been ideal, depending on the demographics to ensure future wealth. I think pay off all debts, and then invest in land near urban centers. And by the way, interest rates never fell as low in the prior depression as they are today, so in 1932 it would have been very benneficial to get rid of 3 or 4% debt in an environment of falling prices and earnings. |
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wolvesdad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2164 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2010 : 12:58:03
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Again,
Seems people are getting off topic or I am taking Beau's proposal too literal.
He said with $5000.
Obviously, if we had unlimited funds and unlimited knowledge we could make unlimited land, stock, and coin purchases back in the day. That is easy.
But if you only had $5000(which WAS still a huge chunk of change) back in 1932, what would you do with it, given the knowledge you possess in your brain right now??? |
"May your percentages ever increase!" |
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keys
Penny Collector Member
383 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2010 : 19:38:29
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Me, myself, I would buy things I know and understand, such as going to coin dealers and buying all of the following,
all of the coins the coin dealers could get their hands on-
1909S VDB cents
1922 cents with no mintmark
1908 S and 1909 S indian head pennies they had
any 1877 Indian Head Pennies they had
any 1856 flying eagle cents they might have
1913 buffalo nickels
1916 doubled die nickels
all of the 1916 D mercury dimes they had in stock
1880 and 1881 nickels in stock
1896 S Barber Quarters
1916 quarters
any non gold-colonial or early federal non-gold coins available.
I decided to leave gold off of the list due to the gold grab of 1933, but the coins mentioned, bought in AU condition or better, would be ignored by confiscation and would sell for a very good price looong down he road.
Granted, hig prices for coins didn't take off until the late 60's early 70's, but as I said,I would buy what I knew and understood. |
I change with the times-
but like silver coins found in your change
I stay the same.
*****************
The United States of America started out as the new Republic of Rome.
Will The United States of America end up as the New Imperial Rome? |
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Roadrunner
Penny Collector Member
USA
413 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2010 : 21:08:44
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Diversify!
Land
Coins
Land
Patents
Land
Guns |
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Delawhere Jack
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1680 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2010 : 22:15:31
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$5,000FRN in 1932 would buy one very nice, or two run of the mill homes.
$295,000FRN in 2010 will buy one very nice or two run of the mill homes.
I'd have invested in oil and the military industrial complex. There's been a lot of killin' going on for oil these past 78 years.
Then today, I'd be the guy at "the top", (but probably too senile and impotent to get much joy out of it...).
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"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." Thomas Jefferson
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beauanderos
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2408 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2010 : 00:25:49
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| You guys are all coming up with some great ideas, things I hadn't even considered. Heck, I was just licking my chops thinking how cool it would have been to sock away several rolls of BU 1931-S cents. I probably would have picked up some mint stamps (oh, heresy) from that era as well. And then maybe picked up some cheap orange grove acreage on the outskirts of Los Angeles. So... speaking of land, does anyone think that now would be a good time to buy beachfront property on the Gulf? |
Hoard now and hold on!
http://coppermillions.blogspot.com/
http://wherewillyoubein2012.blogspot.com/ |
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misteroman
Administrator
USA
2565 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2010 : 00:44:16
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| a buddy and myself talked about this before and like stated above he would buy BU rolls of mercs and buffs. |
Buying CU cents!!!! Paying 1.2 unlimited amounts wanted. Can pick up if near Ohio area. |
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Sheikh_yer_BuTay
Penny Pincher Member
USA
232 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2010 : 07:23:01
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quote:
Originally posted by beauanderos
So... speaking of land, does anyone think that now would be a good time to buy beachfront property on the Gulf?
Nah, according to Al Gore, it will soon be under water! |
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