In Jim Cook's Archive


Being a rather impatient person, I came up with a quotation years ago to justify my impatience. “Impatience has one virtue; it gets things done.” That, however, is the only virtue I can think of. Impatience in investing, for example, can lead to serious losses. Most short-term trading comes from people impatient to make a big score. It hardly ever works out that way. For the most part, trading in and out fritters away money.

If you look at the record of those who built up fortunes, they often held an asset for twenty years or more. I personally think you have the chance to make a fortune in silver. The one requirement is to hold for the long term. That means avoiding all types of silver investments that lend themselves to selling too soon. That includes silver stocks, futures, options, and funds. When you buy actual physical silver and take it into your possession, you will find that you hang on to it. Even if you store it in your name and get the serial numbers on your bars, you will hold it longer. Knowing you own the actual physical metal works to make you want to keep it.

When should you sell? It’s impossible to give that advice now. One thing for certain, you should hang on until the short position that Ted Butler so often writes about is resolved. If we could truly comprehend the implications of the huge short position, we would never consider selling. In fact, we would likely pile into silver. The price dynamics of this short position promises, potentially, astronomical gains. Yes, we have great industrial demand for silver, yes we appear to be running low and, yes investors are taking down a lot of silver. Nevertheless, it is the resolution of this astonishing short position that promises the greatest fireworks. As Mr. Butler has often said, “They will be writing about how this unfolds for decades to come.”

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