LSUAdman
03-14-2012, 13:19
First let me start off with no, this is not a joke thread and no, I am not planning on buying a mountain of copper.
Okay, that said - I've been researching PM costs, trying to find a good angle to start picking up some silver (yeah, yeah too late, I get it) and other metals to hold on to as investment purposes, and something that kept popping up was copper!
So, googily I went to eBay to see what the pirates were selling. For between $15 - $30 you can get a .999 pure bar of...copper. One full kilo.
I've done a little research, and the basic consensus of PM collectors and investors is that this is totally a waste of money. Obviously the sellers are putting out the sales copy of "This is tomorrow's silver" and "Copper only has room to grow!"
That said, out of all the overly positive and completely negative, I did read a few interesting facts. Apparently the US government is hording copper and creating a "copper reserve." The article cited that certain people in the administration were concerned that India and China were developing more modern infrastructure projects and that copper mining was not keeping up with the demand.
Another article (which had nothing to do with copper investing) stated that by 2014 copper mining would have to double or triple to keep up with demand.
Finally, a third article and posts on a numismatic board (coin collectors) stated that current copper prices are based on industrial and "trash" copper, not pure copper. What this means is that while copper prices for investments that are traded are low but physical copper prices are much higher - not sure I really get that.
So, all of that said, what do you guys think about copper as a long term or legacy investment? For long term, I am talking about generational investment - something you pass on to your kids, etc.
What about SHTF? It seems that every time there is a hurricane here on the coast we have roving bands of people stripping wires, AC coils, etc.
It just seems to me that while gold and silver are "pretty" metals, and have use in high tech industry, copper and it's utilitarian nature could make it a useful comodity.
Or would it be like investing in lumber? :rofl:
Okay, that said - I've been researching PM costs, trying to find a good angle to start picking up some silver (yeah, yeah too late, I get it) and other metals to hold on to as investment purposes, and something that kept popping up was copper!
So, googily I went to eBay to see what the pirates were selling. For between $15 - $30 you can get a .999 pure bar of...copper. One full kilo.
I've done a little research, and the basic consensus of PM collectors and investors is that this is totally a waste of money. Obviously the sellers are putting out the sales copy of "This is tomorrow's silver" and "Copper only has room to grow!"
That said, out of all the overly positive and completely negative, I did read a few interesting facts. Apparently the US government is hording copper and creating a "copper reserve." The article cited that certain people in the administration were concerned that India and China were developing more modern infrastructure projects and that copper mining was not keeping up with the demand.
Another article (which had nothing to do with copper investing) stated that by 2014 copper mining would have to double or triple to keep up with demand.
Finally, a third article and posts on a numismatic board (coin collectors) stated that current copper prices are based on industrial and "trash" copper, not pure copper. What this means is that while copper prices for investments that are traded are low but physical copper prices are much higher - not sure I really get that.
So, all of that said, what do you guys think about copper as a long term or legacy investment? For long term, I am talking about generational investment - something you pass on to your kids, etc.
What about SHTF? It seems that every time there is a hurricane here on the coast we have roving bands of people stripping wires, AC coils, etc.
It just seems to me that while gold and silver are "pretty" metals, and have use in high tech industry, copper and it's utilitarian nature could make it a useful comodity.
Or would it be like investing in lumber? :rofl: