Well, since I am still very much a newbie on TNet I won't quote anybody's post ,but I will elaborate on just a few things. I'm sure everyone has heard of these old cliches': Bulls make money,Bears make money,Pigs get slaughtered! Not to say anyone on here is greedy, only saying that a realistic exit price should be part of everyone's long and/or short term plan when/if you do sell.
Back at the end of 2008 and into early 2009 when one could literally buy many quality stocks for pennies on the dollar, I would generally buy say 1000 shares of stock XYZ @ $5.00 and if/when it doubled I would sell half to recoup my initial investment then let the other half ride for free! Those plays are pretty much risk free. Some examples were General Electric(GE)low of $5.50,Goodyear Tire(GT)low of $3.25,Ford(F)low of $1.00, etc. Preservation of capital is all important whether you purchase/trade stocks or PM's!!
Another common old cliche' is don't put all your eggs in one basket. Personally, I think owning some gold along with silver makes sense too. Sure gold doesn't have the industrial uses of silver, but for thousands of years the allure of owning gold still survives the test of time. It has just always possessed a certain mystique in terms of ownership(i.e. wealth). My opinion on silver is don't wait until the demand slows down to sell because you may have already missed the run-up and are essentially trying to "catch a falling knife"! Someone else on here mentioned incremental selling(i.e. dollar cost averaging)which works well to limit risk also.
In closing,I will say that most of what I have read says that the doubling of the stock market in 2 years has no real fundamentals to justify the meteoric rise other than the government subsidized liquidity and low interest rates. People are still spending less,gas and groceries are up,unemployment is still flirting with 10%,etc.etc. PM's are still nice hedges against inflation and do possess some monetary value, but I would just use some common sense when it comes to their ownership. There is nothing wrong with taking some $ off the table when the prices rise and holding onto some as well.
I understand most everybody's stashes were probably obtained at face value but don't fall in love with the idea that silver may never go down again. I can remember leaving a $130,000 profit on the table back in the mid 1990's because I thought a stock I bought had room to go in price. It was a risky tech play and I became too greedy by holding it all. General consensus was this stock could hit $50.00 in under 2 years! My 7000 shares at a cost of $1.00 per hit $20.00 and change and I held against my Wife's urging to sell. I still have a bad aftertaste from that dish of crow. Anyway,I hope prices stay up on PM's and good luck to you guys with your holdings!! Jim
