Just for Laughs - Why Silver is More Valuable Than Gold

Since I've been posting articles and little commentaries on the precious metals these last couple of days, I thought I'd slip this little light-hearted fable in as well which I stumbled across at this site.

Hope you enjoy it.

Cheers,

~K

Why Silver Is More Valuable Than Gold

There once lived a great mathematician in a village outside Ujjain. He was often called by the local king to advice on matters related to the economy. His reputation had spread as far as Taxila in the North and Kanchi in the South. So it hurt him very much when the village headman told him, "You may be a great mathematician who advises the king on economic matters but your son does not know the value of gold or silver."

The mathematician called his son and asked, "What is more valuable – gold or silver?" 

"Gold," said the son. 

"That is correct. Why is it then that the village headman makes fun of you, claims you do not know the value of gold or silver? He teases me every day. He mocks me before other village elders as a father who neglects his son. This hurts me. I feel everyone in the village is laughing behind my back because you do not know which is more valuable, gold or silver. Explain this to me, son."

So the son of the mathematician told his father the reason why the village headman carried this impression. 

He said, "Every day on my way to school, the village headman calls me to his house. There, in front of all village elders, he holds out a silver coin in one hand and a gold coin in other. He asks me to pick up the more valuable coin. I pick the silver coin. He laughs, the elders jeer, everyone makes fun of me. And then I go to school. This happens every day. That is why they tell you I do not know the value of gold or silver." 

The father was confused. His son knew the value of gold and silver, and yet when asked to choose between a gold coin and silver coin always picked the silver coin. 

"Why don't you pick up the gold coin?" he asked. 

In response, the son took the father to his room and showed him a box. In the box were at least a hundred silver coins. 

Turning to his father, the mathematician's son said, "The day I pick up the gold coin the game will stop. They will stop having fun and I will stop making money."

The bottom line is: Sometimes in life, we have to play the fool because our seniors and our peers, and sometimes even our juniors like it. That does not mean we lose in the game of life. It just means allowing others to win in one arena of the game, while we win in the other arena of the game. We have to choose which arena matters to us and which  arenas do not.

Jim Rogers on His Silver Preference

Jim Rogers: I Would Rather Own Silver Than Gold
by Forrest Jones
Tues 4th Jan 2011 09:23AM

Silver is becoming a better investment than the one of the hottest commodities of the past few years, gold, says investment guru Jim Rogers.

Rogers, a commodities champion, says silver prices have more room to grow than do gold prices.

“I would rather own silver than gold," Rogers tells India's ET Now.

“Silver is still 40 percent below its all-time high. So silver has not been any sort of great bubble compared to perhaps some other assets we know."

Other commodities make for good investments as well, including agriculture.

“Likewise for the rice, if rice goes down, I will buy more rice. So both the silver and rice have a great future for the next few years,” Rogers says.

Precious metals tend to rally when the world's reserve currency, the dollar, weakens.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has been printing money in an effort to spur economic recovery, sending the value of the greenback down in the process.

While the dollar has erased some losses in recent trading, concerns over expansionary monetary policy on top of deficit spending in Washington are fueling inflationary fears, which has investors rosy on the outlook for precious metals, gold especially.

"The majority of factors for gold are very positive," Credit Suisse precious metals analyst Tom Kendall tells Reuters.

"If you were looking for negatives, you would have to say the lack of any sizable de-hedging program this year from the miners would be one that you could pick up on, but from the investment community, sentiment is still very much bullish towards gold."

Source: Moneynews.com at Jim Rogers: I Would Rather Own Silver Than Gold.

Buying Your First Home - CPF Talk

The ache of home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

~ Maya Angelou

I totally agree with Maya. Been longing for a place of my own too.

Anyway, just doing my bit of free advertising. If anyone's interested in buying property, there'll be a talk held by CPF Board.

The details are as follows:

Title of Talk: Buying Our First Home

Date/Day: 15th Jan 2011, Sat

Time: 2.30pm - 5.30pm

Venue: 6 Shenton Way, DBS Building Tower 1, DBS Auditorium Level 3, Singapore 068809.

Cost:

1 person - $8.00

2 persons - $5.00 each

3 persons - $6.00 each

4 persons - $5.00 each

(In case you're wondering, I've no idea about the weird pricing.)

That said, you can register here for the talk and refer to it for more details.

Cheers,

~K