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A Medium of Wealth vs. a Medium of Exchange – Time To Buy Precious Metals


May 20, 2015

A Medium of Wealth

A medium of wealth is an item that will hold its value no matter how good the times are or how bad the times are. That item will still maintain their value and solvency. The more the item is wanted, the more valuable and the higher that item retains its value.
If more people want said item and there just isn’t enough of the item to go around, then the value of that item goes up. Value is based on demand so items that maintain a medium of wealth will be items that will be continually in demand in one form or another.
Here is a quick example. Food is a small example of a medium of wealth.
Food is worth far more to starving people than to well fed ones.
If the starving man can save his life, there is value from both the person with the food and the person who needs the food.
Therefore a medium of wealth is established.
Other things that are mediums of wealth…

• Gold, silver, and other precious metals
  
• Land
  
• Livestock
  
• Consumable tangible assets / commodities
  

Just about anything that will not lose its barter and trade value is a safe medium of wealth.
If you are purchasing an item that will lose %50+ of its value the moment you take it with you, then it isn’t a good investment. This is why it is good to research any item that you may purchase to see if it will retain its value or not.
A great example of NOT retaining value is most new cars today. Now granted, once you get over the $50K mark for a car purchase, they tend to hold their value a little more. But your average car will lose close to 30% – 50% the moment you drive it off the lot.
No matter what, the average BRAND NEW car does not hold its value.
This is why I am a person who believes in purchasing good “newer” used car over that of a brand new car off the lot. This is called a “cash car” and in most cases is the better investment and might hold its value longer than the car that is driven off the car lot. To get an even better deal, I also believe in buying from another person, not from a used car lot. Lots have overhead that they must fulfill, a person usually just wants to sell the car. There is no overhead and in some cases you can get a great car for just a little bit of money.
Money saved is money earned.

Consumable Tangible Assets / Commodities

I want to touch a bit on what I call “Consumable Commodities”, these are items that we and others consume daily. When they are in short supply, we feel the pinch. Because of this, there is a certain amount of “value” that we place in these sorts of items.
Quick examples are toilet paper & feminine products, medicines, baby formula, toothpaste, soap, just about anything can be a consumable commodity.
So how do you figure out your consumable commodities? Look at the grocery receipts. If you track these over a couple of months, you will start seeing trends in items that you “cannot live without.” These items are your consumable commodities. When you do not have them, life is a little more difficult and you wish that you did have them.
Now, if you wish you had these items, I bet that there are other people out there that wished they had them.
Get the picture that I am painting here?
If you buy and stock up on your consumable commodities, you are creating value as well as saving money.
In a pinch you could use some of these items to barter with or even sell, and if you are going to sell them, I bet that you will be able to sell them for a nice little profit. Why? Because these consumable commodities have gone up in value and there is a higher demand for them. Remember, the higher the demand, higher the value.
Let’s say Crest Toothpaste is a consumable commodity. The SHTF and we are 90 days into the mess. Crest Toothpaste cannot be found on the shelves, but you have 20 tubes that you purchased on sale for $1.00 each. You take a few of these tubes to the open / farmers / flea market, which these will naturally start popping up all over when the SHTF and you are able to sell each tube for $8.00 – $10.00.
Those 20 tubes of Crest Toothpaste were a good investment and you made a great return on that investment.
You have preserved your wealth in the Crest Toothpaste and you increased your profits when you sold those tubes.
You can now take those profits and possibly “invest” them into another consumable commodity that you have had your eye on that will probably give you an even higher return on your “investment.”
I strongly believe that consumable commodities will be an excellent place to preserve some of your wealth.
More on this in later chapters where we will discuss many items that you may wish to consider to help you to preserve your wealth.

A Medium of Exchange

A medium of exchange is the stuff we use to exchange goods and services. It is commonly called money. Well let me correct that. What we have today, that paper stuff in your pocket is really just currency. It is an IOU from the Federal Reserve that we are to have faith in that it will hold its value so we can get the goods and services that we need today.
The problem is that for the last 30+ years, that piece of paper has been losing its value and it is taking more of those pieces of paper to buy goods and services today.
Now do not get me wrong. There is a place for this medium of exchange we call the dollar.
No matter what, cash is king.
You might need a wheel barrel full of it to buy a loaf of bread, but still YOU WILL NEED that medium of exchange to get goods and services.
All these ideas that once the dollar goes belly up everyone will be dealing in gold, silver and bullets are not quite correct.
In that picture we see a little girl holding a 100 Trillion dollar bill. I have a couple of these. In Zimbabwe, cash is king just like cash is king here. The paper is pretty worthless. It will buy a dozen eggs, some milk, some produce and that is about all. But no matter what, the people of Zimbabwe are using the worthless pieces of paper as the medium of exchange.
SO, ditch all these Hollywood ideas that the day the dollar dies is the day the dollar will no longer be used.
All it means is that it will take a whole lot more dollars with probably a lot more zeros behind it to buy your day to day goods and services.
You will need a lot of pieces of paper (medium of exchange) to buy the things you want. It will take even more of those pieces of paper (medium of exchange) to “buy” items that will retain their value (medium of wealth)
And what is important to remember is that in many cases the things that held their value (medium of wealth) will often go up in value, thus protecting your wealth; where it will take more and more dollars (medium of exchange) to gain those items that are mediums of wealth.
In times of financial hardship items that are Mediums of Wealth will almost always retain their value where the Medium of Exchange will almost always lose its value. This is a historical fact that dates back to 600 B.C. Greece when the first fiat currency was created.
WEALTH PRESERVING TIP #2 – IF YOU MUST BUY… buy things of value and high quality. If you need that item, look at how much value does it retain? If you had to sell it on eBay or craigslist could your get most of your money back or would you only get half to less than half back? These are items that can be considered “mediums of wealth.”

Coins / Precious Metals

How much is a penny worth? If it’s a 1943 bronze Lincoln penny then it’s worth $1.7 million. That’s what a southwestern businessman bought the coin for at auction in September 2010. The penny is so valuable because the U.S. Mint in Denver mistakenly struck the coin in bronze rather than zinc. The government needed copper — the metal of choice for pennies — for the war effort during World War II.
Still, before you break open the piggy bank or check behind the sofa for loose change, there are some things you ought to know. Numismatists, or coin collectors, look for rare coins that are in good condition, freshly minted or old.
Beware! Some coin dealers will often tell you something is rare, when it’s really not. This is why it is critical that you know your investment inside and out or at least as much as possible.
When it comes to coin collecting, price guides are indispensable. Buy and study multiple guides so that you have a broader knowledge. If you don’t take the time to educate yourself, you’ll pay more than the coin is worth.
Buying from the U.S. Mint is a good idea and this is where you can also get involved in buying precious metals.
Buying gold and silver produced by the US mint is a great means to protect your wealth.
No matter what, gold and silver retain their value. The key is that you have got to stop looking at them in dollars, but look at them in how they retain value.
Example…
1 ounce of gold has always purchased a good business suit, shirt, belt, shoes, & undergarments. This can be traced back to the roman days when a gold coin bought a good tunic, belt, sandles, and undergarments.
Half ounce of Gold has always bought a good dependable weapon, be it a gun or a sword.
5 ounces of Gold buys a car
40 ounces of gold buys a starter home
1 Ounce of Silver was a standard day’s wage
1 / 4 ounce of silver buys a gallon of gas
1 / 10 of an ounce of silver buys a loaf of bread
There are many more examples of how precious metals retain their value. But you have to look at them as means to maintain wealth and not look at them in currency worth. The value of currency goes up and down, inflates and deflates in light of precious metals. Stop looking at the currency and start looking at what gold and silver will purchase.
A really simple way to collect coins is by purchasing commemorative coin sets. Nearly all have increased in value. Best place to check these out is the US Mint – http://www. usmint.gov

Where to Buy Coins?

Well the easiest place is Amazon.
Here are some recommendations…
1 oz. Sunshine Mint Silver Bar .999 – Approx $23.00 per
Engelhard 10 Troy Ounce Silver Bar – Approx $225 per
1 oz American Silver Eagle .999 Fine Silver Dollar Uncirculated – Approx $23 per
$10.00 of pre 1964 face value coins – all the coins add up to $10, but made of 90% silver – Approx $180 per lot
$1.00 Face Value 90% Silver Washington Quarters – four 90% silver US quarters – Approx $18 per lot
$5 American Gold Eagle (1/10 oz) – Approx $160 per
$10 Gold American Eagle Coin 1/4 Ounce Approx $660 per
American Gold Eagle .999 Fine (1 oz) $50 Uncirculated – Approx $1390 per
Another place where I buy a lot of my precious metals is from American Precious Metals Exchange – They have GREAT customer service and their markup is very little.
APMEX – http://www. apmex.com

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Jump within page to:

• Introduction
  
  
• Four Factors That Effect Food Storage
  
  
  
  • Temperature
    
  • Moisture Content
    
  • Container Atmosphere
    
  • Storage Container
    
  
  
  
  
• Storage Life of Different Foods
  
  
  
  • The Soft Grains
    
  • Hard Grains
    
  • Beans
    
  • Dehydrated Vegetables
    
  • Dehydrated Dairy Products
    
  • Flours and Other Products Made From Cracked Seed
    
  • Pasta
    
  • Dehydrated Fruit
    
  • Honey, Salt and Sugar
    
  • Peanut Butter Powder
    
  • Brown and White Rice
    
  • Garden and Sprouting Seed
    
  • meat substitute
    
  • Yeast
    
  
  
  

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Determining the storage life of foods is at best an inexact science as there are so many variables. These range from the condition your food was in when you first purchased it and includes many other factors. This page was written with input by Mr. Stephen Portela who has over 30 years of professional food storage experience. This information should be used as a general guide only, and should not be followed "as the gospel truth" because your results may be different.

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Four Factors that effect food storage:
Factor #1: The Temperature:
Temperature has more to do with how long well dried foods store than anything else. The USDA states, "Each 5.6 C. (10.08F) drop in temperature doubles the storage life of the seeds." Obviously, there is a limit as to how far this statement can be taken. However I expect it basically holds true from room temperature down to freezing. No doubt, the inverse could also be considered true. "Each 5.6C. (10.08F) rise in temperature halves the storage life of seeds." This theory holds true for non-garden seeds as well.

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Constant Storage Storage life
Temp in degrees F In Years
---------------- ------------
39.76 - - - 40
49.84 - - - 30
59.92 - - - 20
70.00 - - - 10
80.08 - - - 5
90.16 - - - 2.5
100.24 - - 1.25

Note: the above chart is not for a specific food but shows the relationship between temperature and storage life.

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Lets look at a couple of real life examples of good and poor food storage practices:
About a year ago we got an unopened paper bag of white flour which had been stored at 70 degrees F, in a dry climate. It had been sitting for 3 years in a closet. It made fine looking bread but had such an 'old' and bad flavor that it was difficult to eat. For another example, a couple of years ago in the Puget Sound area we were given a 4 gallon can of wheat that had been stored up high in a garage for about 30 years. This part of the country is not as hot as some places, yet in the summers the average garage still gets up into the 90's. Even though wheat will store for 30+ years under good conditions, the bread from this particular wheat was very bad tasting and after a few batches we ended up throwing the wheat away (something I always dislike doing).
Counter these stories with several examples told by Mr. Stephen Portela, Walton Feed's manager: He stores his long term food storage in his basement where the temperature hovers around 60 degrees F. The experts give brown rice a 6 month storage life because of all the oils in it that go rancid. Yet, Mr. Portela has been eating from a supply of brown rice that has been in his basement over 10 years. It is still wholesome! In another example, there is a family living near him who purchased a supply of food in #10 cans 30 years ago. Their basement hovers around 58 degrees F. After 28 years, Mr. Portela took a sample of many of these items to the Benson Institute at BYU to have it tested. The results can be seen at the bottom of Mr. Portela's welcome page. You will see everything tested had a 'good' to 'satisfactory' rating except for the eggs which had a 'minimum passing' rating. After 28 years I think it is most interesting that it passed at all. Mr. Portela tells me as 30 years have now passed, their storage is still in very good condition.
The bottom line is even with the very best packaging methods, if you are planning on storing your food in a warm environment, it will only last a fraction of the time it would last if stored in a cool, dry place. You can expect good storage life if your storage temperature is at 60 degrees F or below. Optimum storage temperature is at 40 degrees F or less. It is important you also find a place where the temperature remains constant. Frequent temperature changes shorten storage life. If you don't have a cool place for your food storage, plan on rotating your storage quickly enough to prevent food loss. See ourunderground storage area pages for ideas.
Factor #2: Product moisture content:
By looking at the USDA nutritional tables, dry beans, grains, and flours contain an average of 10% moisture. Although it is very difficult and unnecessary to remove all moisture from dry foods, it is imperative that any food be stored as dry as possible. Foods with excess moisture can spoil right in their containers. This is an important consideration when packing food with dry ice as moisture condenses and freezes on the outer surface of the dry ice. For long term storage, grains should have a moisture content of 10% or less. It is difficult to accurately measure this without special equipment. See the misc.survivalism faqsfor a quick and easy way of getting a rough estimate of the water content in your foods. It is also important to know that you can not dehydrate foods at home that reach these levels. Food that is dried to a moisture level of 10% moisture crisply snap when bent. Those of you who dehydrate foods at home know dehydrated foods from your dehydrator are quite pliable when bent, especially fruits. These will not store well long term.
Factor #3: Atmosphere the product is stored in:
Foods packed in air don't store as well as in oxygen free gasses. This is because air contains oxygen which oxidizes many of the compounds in food. Bacteria, one of several agents which make food go rancid also needs oxygen to grow. Food storage companies have a couple of different processes for removing the oxygen:

• Displacing the oxygen: This is done by purging out all the air in the product with an inert gas. Nitrogen is almost always used because it is the most inert gas known. People doing their own packing occasionally use dry ice which gives off carbon dioxide gas, and probably works just about as well.
  
  
• Absorb the oxygen: Oxygen absorber packets do just that. Air contains about 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, leaving about 1% for the other gasses. If the oxygen is absorbed, what remains is 99% pure nitrogen in a partial vacuum.
  
  

If oxygen absorber packets are used, care must be taken to use a storage container that can stand some vacuum. If it's not air tight, air will be sucked into your container as the oxygen is absorbed, reintroducing more oxygen that must be absorbed. Before long, the oxygen absorbers will have absorbed all the oxygen they can. Obviously, your product won't be oxygen free under these circumstances.
Seeds store better in nitrogen. On the other hand, seeds you plan on sprouting, such as garden seed, or seeds set aside for growing your own sprouts store better in air. For this reason Walton cans their garden seed packs in air.
Oxygen absorbers also contain a minute amount of moisture to activate the absorber. Sometimes, with the heat generated by the absorber, they can cause sweating if you use glass bottles or tupperware type containers. Factor #4: The container the product is stored in:
To get the best storage life out of your product it must have a hermetic (air tight) seal. Containers that do this well are:

• #10 Cans (Use only cans that are enamel lined, otherwise your food flavor will be tainted by the steel it comes in contact with. An enamel lined can also prevents the inside of the can from rusting.)
  
  
• Sealable food storage buckets
  
  
• Sealable food quality metal (lined) or plastic drums.
  
  

Whatever container you use, be sure it is food grade as your product can be tainted with whatever the container is made from. Plastic sacks are not good air tight containers, for even if they are sealed, the relatively thin plastic 'breathes,' allowing air to pass through. Paper sacks are of course even worse.
There is some concern as to how good a seal is made by the lids on plastic buckets used by food storage companies. Manufacturer studies show an extremely small amount of air transfer. This amount is so small, however, that it can be considered a hermetic seal. It has also been found that the lids can be re-used several times without dramatically degrading the performance of the seal.
People who purchase products from food storage providers are often concerned about receiving their buckets bulging or with one side collapsed in. Collapsed buckets occasionally occur when ordering from Walton's as the elevation of their packing facility is above 6,000 feet. As the buckets are shipped to a lower elevation, the increased ambient air pressure can sometimes push in one side. If a side is popped in, it is a great indication that the bucket is indeed sealed. And this also holds true for buckets that might be under a slight amount of pressure. If either condition concerns you, crack the lid to equalize the air pressure. You can do this without seriously degrading the storageability of the product within the bucket. Remember to re-seal the lid after doing this.
Bulging cans: Some bulging cans have been returned to Waltons. In almost every case, these cans held mixes that contained baking powder or soda. It is believed that occasionally the extremely small amount of moisture found in the product interacts over time with the baking powder or soda and creates a small amount of carbon dioxide gas. Oxyten absorbers can also react with the baking powder causing the cans to buldge. These cans have been sent off for bacteria analysis and and in each case came back negative.

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Dehydrated Vegetables
Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Celery Onions Peppers Potatoes	Dehydrated vegetables store well if hermetically sealed in the absence of oxygen. Plan on a storage life of 8-10 years at a stable temperature of 70 degrees F. They should keep proportionately longer if stored at cooler temperatures.

Dehydrated Dairy Products

Cheese Powder Cocoa Powder Powder Eggs Butter/margarine pdr Powder Milk Morning Moo Whey Powder

Dehydrated Dairy Products generally store very well if stored dry in hermetically sealed containers with the oxygen removed. Plan on a storage life of 5 to 10 years if stored at a stable temperature of 70 degrees F. They should keep, probably 5 years longer, if stored at cooler temperatures. One exception is Morning Moo. As a new whey based product, it hasn't been tested for long term storage. Plan on rotating this product after 5 years. Our dairy powders (excluding our sour cream powder) contain no fat, an agent that markedly decreases the storage life of dairy products.

Pasta
Macaroni Noodles Ribbons Spaghetti	Pasta will store longer than flour if kept dry. Hermetically sealed in the absence of oxygen, plan on a storage life of 10 - 15 years at a stable temperature of 70 degrees F. Pasta should keep proportionately longer if stored at cooler temperatures.

Dehydrated Fruit

Fruit doesn't keep as well as many dehydrated items. Hermetically sealed in the absence of oxygen, plan on a storage life of 10-15 years at a stable temperature of 70 degrees F. They should keep proportionately longer if stored at cooler temperatures.

Honey, Salt and Sugar

Honey, Salt and Sugar should keep indefinitely if stored free of moisture. Watch out for additives in the honey. It is possible to buy honey with water and sugar added. This honey generally doesn't crystallize like pure 100% honey does when stored for a long time. If there are additives, there is no saying how long it will last.

Peanut Butter Powder

Peanut Butter Powder will not store as long as wheat flour. Hermetically sealed in the absence of oxygen, plan on a storage life of 4-5 years at a stable temperature of 70 degrees F. It should keep proportionately longer if stored at cooler temperatures.

Brown and White Rices

Brown and white rices store very differently. Brown rice is only expected to store for 6 months under average conditions. This is because of the essential fatty acids in brown rice. These oils quickly go rancid as they oxidize. It will store much longer if refrigerated. White rice has the outer shell removed along with those fats. Because of this, white rice isn't nearly as good for you, but will store longer. Hermetically sealed in the absence of oxygen, plan on a storage life for white rice of 8-10 years at a stable temperature of 70 degrees F. It should keep proportionately longer if stored at cooler temperatures. Stored in the absence of oxygen, brown rice will last longer than if it was stored in air. Plan on 1 to 2 years. It is very important to store brown rice as cool as possible, for if you can get the temperature down another ten degrees, it will double the storage life again.

Garden Seed or Sprouting Seed

All viable seeds are hibernating tiny living plants that only need moisture and warmth to sprout. And much like a chick in an egg, all the nutrients this little life needs to spring into existence is contained within it's shell. Like boiling an egg, heating a seed will kill that little life within it. However, unlike an egg, a seed can withstand cold temperatures. As seeds usually remain edible after the life within it dies, we must use different criteria when determining sproutable seed storage life. And again the big deciding factor is temperature. Plan on a storage life of 2 to 3 years at a stable temperature of 70 degrees F. They should keep proportionately longer if stored at cooler temperatures. And remember, you want to store all of these seeds in air. Packed in nitrogen, the viability of some seeds will last longer than others. This is still to a large degree an unexplored science, and therefore we recommend you store all the seeds you plan on sprouting in air. Alfalfa is a unique seed as it actually germinates better if the seed is 2 or 3 years old. Most any sample of alfalfa contains 'hard' seed and 'soft' seed. Soft seed germinates within two days while hard seed germinates in about a week. The problem is, by the time the soft seed sprouts are ready to harvest, the hard seed may not have germinated yet. As storage time draws on, the hard seed turns into soft seed. Older seed germinates closer together. Stored in cool conditions, alfalfa seed should have a good percentage of germination up until it is 8 years old.

Total Vegetable Protein

Total Vegetable Protein, made from soy beans, has an unusually long storage life. Hermetically sealed in the absence of oxygen, plan on a storage life of 15-20 years at a stable temperature of 70 degrees F. meat substitute should keep proportionately longer if stored at cooler temperatures.

Yeast

Yeast, a living organism, has a relatively short storage life. Keep yeast in the original metal foil storage containers. If the seal remains intact, yeast should last 2 years at 70 degrees F. However it is strongly recommended that you refrigerate it, which should give you a storage life of 5 years. Frozen yeast should store for a long time.

Tips and Advise!


Feb 20, 2012

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These are tips and advice-check with professionals regarding tax and investments in your area. Not all may apply to your situation.
 
 

 
 
If you have faith the size of a mustard seed-Nothing shall be impossible onto you.