Greetings Regular Joes,
It’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to share my thoughts in any sort of comprehensive fashion. I miss being able to more often. But, as I’ve mentioned before, my work situation currently demands my attention too much. And it’s certainly not a matter of me being greedy. My current income level is at all time lows. The busyness is due to my pursuit to bring that up to a more sustainable level while maintaining the ability to move about freely.
Those of you who’ve been with me for a while know that I have great concern over what the future holds for western society. It’s not just in the west, but since we’re so much more in touch with western ideology, it’s easy to recognize from our particular perspective. And what we’re recognizing is the eradication of the freedoms that built this country and protected her citizens for over a century and a half. But in the last 100 years that’s eroded to the point that Teddy Roosevelt wouldn’t even recognize the country he loved, fought for and led as president.
With this in mind, we’ve been looking for a means to move abroad, perhaps to South America. Not all countries there have more freedom, but a couple seem to. Furthermore, it seems that almost all countries are more friendly to immigrants than their own citizenry. An American living in France gets more tax breaks than he would at home. But he also gets more breaks than a Frenchman in France. However, the opposite is true as well; the Frenchman enjoys greater tax advantages in the U.S. than the American.
This is far from the only reason we’re seeking to leave. Some of the major reasons are more concerned with personal freedom. From the invasive scanning techniques of so called airport security to check points to the oxymoronic Patriot Act, we simply are no longer free. It has become apparent that our government is now an aggressor, casting aside the protection granted by the Constitution as though it were some worn out useless relic.
But it’s a challenge to move away without a sustainable income. So, with this in mind, I started writing this blog, sharing my thoughts, educating others and seeking a means by which I could provide outside the confines of the U.S. borders.
A few months ago I made a little headway with some writing opportunities. But the pay was less than ideal. While I enjoy writing, it’s not something I care to do all day, every day. An hour or two a day would be plenty. But I haven’t figured out a way to make my writing complement other efforts that would provide greater income.
I should back up a little though. There are opportunities out there. but i have to believe in it. I’m not willing to sell something just to make a buck. I want to offer something that really helps people, and get compensated accordingly.
I don’t want much, do I?
As I pursued my writing, I realized that there’s a problem in the precious metals industry. Actually, I’ve been aware of this problem for years. But I’ve not been able to come up with a viable solution.
You see, for the average Joe to be able to make a profit on his precious metals, he generally needs to realize at least a 12% gain in value. That means that the coin he paid $1000 will need to increase to $1120 in value before he can sell it back to the dealer for what he paid for it. And that’s just for low end coins. Coins with high premiums take much greater movements to realize appreciable gains. In fact, I have one collectible coin that hasn’t increased in value one penny in the past decade. And we haven’t even touched on inflation yet.
These spreads between wholesale and retail are necessary for the dealer. He has to cover his own expenses and come out with at least enough to make a profit. So the entire industry is set up in such a fashion that most of us have a hard time making profits.
So, as I contemplated these challenges, I came up with an idea that would allow people to trade freely between themselves, with dealers and wholesalers entering the fray at their convenience. It would be sort of like an eBay, but with storage abilities built in so that metals wouldn’t need to be shipped unless someone desired to receive them. The vaults would need to be secure and located in various places around the world, further facilitating trade.
Just as I started discussing my idea with a successful businessman, someone beat me to the punch. A new way of trading has been developed and will launch on Monday at 9am EST. I can’t say much about it. But I can tell you this:
- It allows investors to enter the wholesale market from the comfort of their homes, as easily as making a simple order online.
- It allows investors to take delivery of their purchases, or take delivery, whatever they prefer.
- It provides for selling at fair market rates.
- And it only has about a 3% margin, depending upon the quantity and particular item.
Kind regards,
Another Joe