Every now and then I have a $1,000 or 2 that has built up that I would like to invest into something. I am looking for something that would sell in good and bad times and something that could be sold without the government having their noses in it. I have the traditional 401k, etc. but if we have a depression (or something of that nature) it could be gone. I have thought about gold and silver, but it seems that you loose so much on the front end and doesn’t seem to be a good way to sell it. I am stocking up on ammo and I am always buying guns, but you start running into storage problems after a while. What are your thoughts.

Online lending ?

Extremely small amounts of money like that, usually the best thing you can do to "invest" them is make a list of all household staples you know 100% you will use over time, and what price you're spending on them, and then find an opportunity to buy in bulk cheaper and cut those costs by maintaining a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars of inventory. Often times you can get a yield of > 50% per year on small amounts of money by doing this. You have to be careful not to buy stuff you wouldn't have bought otherwise though.

Seems to me silver would have to go up again at some point.

these days its tough to find anything on that scale that will appreciate much. one of my best investments over the past 20 years have been guns and ammo. i would suggest stashing a few thousand and keep an eye out for some bargains. hard to find now though.

Guns. How much room does something like pre lock S&W revolver or old Colt’s ect really take up storage wise?

As far as gold and silver there’s a large buyer with in 1.5 hrs of me that will verify purity and buy at spot gold or silver cash or check no questions asked. There’s probably stores like that everywhere. Smaller shops closer to me will buy it but sometimes have a hard time verifying it’s real if it isn’t an American or Canadian coin and have limited funds or will only pay by check purchases.

I’d find a reputable investment firm that will invest in in a balanced portfolio. The $1000 is not a lot for some firms, but if you can do that several times a year,, over time, you’ll have a significant amount.
If you panic and sell in market dips, you likely will lose money. If you ride out those dips, you’ll make good money over time, with a balanced portfolio. If you want to chase the latest flash in the pan, good luck.

Flipping.

It's a thing.

If you don't know anything about anything you can't do it.

Roll the dice on bitcoin.....

Or you can go on fidelity, TD Ameritrade ......and do it yourself and not pay a commission. Thinking a decent market correction especially in tech coming soon or just invest in commodities.

Yesterday was a good day to buy silver. However, metals have not kept up with inflation this year. The spot prices are manipulated somewhere and if they ever break loose we could see a big rise to catch up.

Premiums for real silver can be pretty high depending on what you buy. Silver eagles have about a $9 or more per once premium right now. I have however recently bought very nice silver rounds like Australian kangaroos or krugerrands for under $4 over spot. If you shop around there are some bargains and some silver can be had still for under $3 over spot.

Don't get into the limited run collector type stuff unless you get it at a low premium. The dealers are the only ones that make money on that stuff. I have some limited run one ounce coins that were going for over $70/ounce online. I called the dealer to see what they'd give me for mine and they said $25. The standard stuff with low premiums has lower spreads. They may cost you $4 over spot but you'll likely always be able to get spot or spot + $2 back from the dealer.

I have a local dealer that's good to work with and I order from different online vendors too. Sdbullion is a good online dealer and there are several others. Apmex has the best selection but their premiums are higher although sometimes they have good sales.

I started with silver but it eventually gets bulky and hard to store or carry so I've moved more towards gold. I don't view either as an investment I look at them more as insurance and a store of value. I use them as protection against a currency crisis and it also helps me save by converting my cash before I blow it on something else.

You could also get a Robinhood account and do some investing in stocks and stuff. I did well for a while doing that but found myself obssed with looking at it all the time and stressed out. Day trading wasn't for me. Since the powers installed puppet Biden I have had little interest in the stock market and have had a lot parked doing nothing. I feel like it's a house of cards with a bunch of big fascist big businesses I don't want to be a part of. I'm also having a hard time finding investments this year. The stock market seems long overdue for a correction and real-estate seems over price with no deals to be found.

If ammunition keeps coming down I'm going to back up the truck again and load up. I don't think we'll ever see 2019 prices but if 9mm comes down another $5/50 I'll probably buy a new pallet. If primers get cheaper and available again you can store a lot of them in the big plastic Tupperware bins but there may be limits on what you can have stored. I've been buying ammo as an investment for over 10 years. Sometimes it's paid off well but it can sometimes take 4 plus years for a panic. A lot I've just used to help friends get buy and haven't made any money on. I've found 22 ammo, 9mm, and 223 or 5.56 has always done well in a panic. This ones been so bad that even hunting ammo like 30-30 and 7-08 did well. I'll need to restock when the opportunity presents.

I'm assuming you're out of debt already. If not there is peace of mind in having your home and cars paid off.
Let me know if you come up with a good investment idea.

Bb

Open an account with vanguard for a Roth IRA (if you have an earned income, if not, a regular investment account).

Buy shares in their Total Stock Market index fund (VTSMX) You will own shares in every exchange listed company in America that way. You can expect to AVERAGE about 10% per year, which will double your money every 7 years. There WILL be downswings, but the downswings have ALWAYS been smaller than the upswings. Just buy and don’t look at it again until it’s time to draw from it.

The beauty of the Roth account is that you will pay NO taxes, EVER, on the gains made in the account. And you can take the money invested (but not the returns) back out before 59 1/2 without penalty.

If there is a collapse in America such that VTSMX goes to zero, that’ll be the least of your problems..... Buy. Hold. No taxes.....

"Most of ours has been in money market accounts for a year doing nothing. I've missed a year of market run ups but I'm convinced it's due for another big dip." That was a bad year to miss. I've had it happen in the past too. Learned from it, moved on.

Dollar cost average into stock funds and don't try to time the market. Assuming your time horizon is longer than 5 or so years. Index funds beat 85% of actively managed funds. Best of luck either way.

Dutch typed faster, good advice from him.

Thanks for the replies.

Set up an Ameritrade account. Do a little research. Wait for a dip and buy an undervalued stock.
Look at ET and TALO if you do it soon.

Or, buy Bitcoin or ethereum on the dip, or by dollar cost averaging method.