Let’s face it: 2022 was a rough year for investors, and, so far, the outlook for 2023 doesn’t look too promising either.
It can be a confusing time for gold and silver investors, but Christian Hartch, the founder of Treasure Town, has this tip: “stay consistent.”
The avid precious metals investor and numismatics enthusiast spoke with us about his thoughts on owning metals in the new year and why he’s investing in metals at the young age of 22 (and even before).
Christian’s History
Christian had been interested in precious metals since he was young. His knowledge began with the teachings he learned from his father and grandfather. When he was 14, he started working at a coin dealership in the summertime and on weekends.
“From there, [I] sort of dove in and tried to get as good of an understanding as I could,” he said. “Then, a few years later, [I] started making fun videos and sharing that passion on YouTube.”
Now, he uses his channel as an educational and business tool, all while attending Princeton University, where he previously worked with the university’s numismatic collection.
What He’s Learned
Christian says he’s learned a lot over the years, but some of the more valuable lessons have been to stay consistent and stick with what you know.
“I like sticking with things that are pretty recognizable,” he said. “Again, recognizability, liquidity, and, ideally, pretty low premiums or even just having a strategy going into things. I think that’s a greater life lesson, but I think it applies well here in the sense that, you know, if you’re going to be investing, you want to stick to a plan. Come up with that, have that for specific reasons, and then, say your allocation is a certain percentage, want to stick to that whether it’s doing well, whether it’s, you know…We all sometimes see when precious metal prices fall, but sort of staying consistent with that is a recipe for success in my view, much like anything when you set your mind to something. Obviously, you can reevaluate a strategy, but I’ve tended to stick with things and think that’s the way to go with precious metals too.”
Why He’s Investing in Precious Metals Now
“It’s a long way away, but I think it’s still smart to have a plan for things, and I think there’s a lot of fun advantages in gold and silver,” he said. “I actually think it would be a bad idea to be 50% or 100% certainly in gold and silver, but I think that things like commodities and things that are recognized stores of value are smart to transact with.”
“We’re seeing a lot of inflation right now. I don’t think that we’ve seen prices catch up again. Like my economic analysis is not super technical or I don’t have too many charts to point to, but I think that there’s still something to be said for having also a physical store of value that you can fit $2,000 of gold, or whatever $1,700 these days, in your pocket in the form of a small one-ounce coin. So, I think all of those sort of come together. On one hand, it’s like that’s been the oldest store value, and then on the other hand, they’re sort of fun to understand and then transact. I sort of have a soft spot for some of the numismatic coin-type items…”
Investing Now
For those who want to invest in metals now, Christian says they’ll need a strategy.
“I think the thing is going back to coming up with a strategy,” he said. “The dollar cost averaging method is one that I really like thinking through. I remember when I was 9; I think the silver price was like at 40-50 bucks. I thought that, you know, it’s going up, I’m going to dump a bunch of money into it. We’re not at that price level today, but at the same time, you know, when silver was down in the $14-15 range, this was pre-COVID, with not too much in the way of premiums or maybe a little bit higher, that was a time that I did invest some and held on to it. Same thing with gold when that had dipped down…We see that there’s been some good appreciation there. So, I always think you know if prices are falling, as long as the price you’re paying, in the sense that there’s not way high premiums. If that’s going down, then effectively those ounces of silver or gold or whatever precious metal you’re looking at are on sale, and you know you’re just buying the ounce because, I mean, everybody thinks about it in dollar terms, but at the same time, I think it’s also nice to consider it as being a little bit outside the system. So, I always think like staying consistent and making sure you know it’s not being overly emotional in terms of how people are buying precious metals that will generally tend to lead to the best [success] in the long term.”
Investing in 2023
And for 2023, he suggests staying consistent with that strategy.
“Staying consistent with their strategy is sort of the first thing to do, but then also understanding and thinking through really what people’s strategy is. ‘Do I have a gold price target or a silver price target?’ I feel like, you know, you see headlines, ‘silver is going to a thousand dollars an ounce’ or something like that. I don’t really know exactly what the future holds, but I think that the reasons that I am invested in it [precious metals] haven’t really changed. So, I think that continuing to stick with my strategy, you know…stocks go way up, and, you know, gold stays the same, maybe gold is looking more attractive. If gold skyrockets and equities are cheap and there’s good earnings multiples, maybe it makes sense to sell a little bit of gold.”
“I think that’s also like one thing that people…it can be smart to understand is that it’s not like if gold went up 10 times in value tomorrow, you know, maybe the actual underlying thesis to why you should own gold will have changed, but there’s also maybe a good argument that maybe it’s time to take some profits and continue to own some of the gold. So, you know, keeping an eye for what really is going on on a larger scale, being willing to reevaluate strategies but then also sticking to the ones as long as why you got there in the first place…don’t get too emotional if there’s a few big swings in the price over a small few days period.”
If you’re interested in investing in precious metals, let us provide you with a free one-on-one consultation.
The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Red Rock Secured LLC or the official policies of Red Rock Secured LLC. Red Rock Secured LLC is not a financial advisor, is not licensed to provide investment advice and neither provides investment nor financial advice. Red Rock is a product specialist that can help evaluate your precious metals purchase options.
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