"What's with your name?" IF YOU'VE GOT AN HOUR OR SO I'LL BE HAPPY TO FILL YOU IN.

Well, if you made it this far, I guess you may be interested in why I chose Long Silver as my name for getting around in the #Silver #Bloggers community.
It's not as long as a story as suggested by the title, I was just trying to scare away the riff-raff.
I will try and tell a story that started back in 2010, to under five minutes of your time. So let's get to it and see how I do.

Let's start with #1 of this picmonkey collage I fashioned and go from there.

#1 - Cash will crash, it's only a matter of time.

#2 - Wow, I can save $$$.

#3 - Then suddenly you realize that time has passed by at lightning speed and those few bucks that you managed to start squirreling away years ago, have now turned into a nice little nest egg.

#4 - Then it may be time to celebrate a little, knowing that you have accomplished something you thought was impossible, save!

In crypto terms, the lingo of choice when investing in the market and then hanging onto your crypto for an extended period of time is to HODL.

https://pixabay.com/images/search/bitcoin/?pagi=2&

With precious metals, the term that many investors use when they plan on hodling rare minerals for a lengthy period of time is LONG.
When someone states that they are long this or that, they are stating that their plan is to covet what they have purchased, whether it's gold, silver, platinum, or palladium for the foreseeable future.
Now you have it, LONG SILVER, a #Sassy name I hope to have for a while.

@farm-mom and I are probably no different than most middle-class folks out there who thought having a family was more important than the God Almighty Buck, we were broke for the first 35 years of our blissful union.

Having four children, back, to back, to back, with a little breather in between our last boy and our precious little girl, will do that. To this day, we wouldn't have done it any other way.

There would be plenty of time down the road to become thousandaires.

I have to give credit to our son Ryan for getting us started on this journey of saving.
Back in 2010, after paying the bills every month, we were finally left with a little minuscule amount of fiat that was now ours to spend on whatever our hearts desired.
Ryan suggested that we start buying some metals with the extra fiat. You know the stuff that the government issues that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver, but rather by the government.
Back ten years ago this policy was shaky, now it's just completely insane.

We were all in with his idea of trading fiat for precious metals.
I even started making coffee at home and buttered up some toast every morning to save a few extra greenbacks to add to our stash. Like clockwork, we would buy a few ounces of silver at the end of every month.

We initially started purchasing 1-ounce silver bars. These bars are easy on the eye and they come in many different fashions.

Almost seven years ago a bombshell went off in my head as I watched our grandchildren open up their Christmas presents. After tearing off the colorful paper from the box and retrieving whatever was concealed within, after a very short period of time, it was as if the box was the gift.
I don't remember exactly where I read this, (most items bought at Walmart end up in a landfill within a year)
From that point on, silver bars have been the gifts we give for every special occasion. Whether it's for a christening, birthday, graduation, anniversary, or any other treasured event checked off on the calendar, Longsilver and @farm-mom will be gifting silver bars.

When we started this practice, my better half felt it was necessary to include a real gift with the silver, for the little ones.
That's why they have dollar stores. Spend a few extra bucks on some junk, that will end up broken before the end of the day, to keep even the very young hodlers happy, that works for me.

As for the grownups in the family, they love the idea, and as our grandchildren become of age, their appreciation for that small piece of shiny metal grows every day.

Another thing about silver is that it tends not to slip through your fingers like cash. It's a real currency that's a little harder to spend in its form.

These ten-ounce silver bars and the one-ounce silver bars pictured above are considered silver bullion, uncoined silver in bars. Usually, silver bars cost less per troy ounce than silver coins.
What you are paying for is strictly 1-ounce of .999 pure silver. This price fluctuates as the spot price of silver changes many times a day. You will pay the going price at the time of your investment for an ounce of silver, plus an additional % over the spot price.

In these very unsettled economic times, investing in metals can be a smart way to create financial security. The best news yet is that the price of silver is not dependent on the value of the dollar.

Here are some silver bullion coins that carry a premium due to their condition and rarity. These coins are graded by several different recognized outfits. Depending on the grade they receive, these coins can carry a hefty price tag.
Three graded Morgan Silver Dollars and an American Silver Eagle are shown here.

Here is a purchase we made of what is now called junk silver.
If you happen to get lucky, some unknowing soul may hand you some junk silver when they give you back your change after making a purchase.
Their value comes solely from their weight.
Back in the day, many coins were struck using 90% silver. With the demand for silver ever-increasing and its supply diminishing, this practice was halted during President Lyndon Johnson’s time in office. On July 23rd, 1965 he signed the Coinage Act into law, and from that time forward silver coins were no longer struck for the purpose of coinage used in everyday transactions.
The results of this new law ended up with the United States mints striking “clad coins,” composed of a copper core surrounded by a copper-nickel alloy.

I've got a feeling that I'm approaching that five-minute read mark I had told you that I would try to keep this blog under.
Well, after writing this last sentence, the read time just jumped to six minutes. What's a guy supposed to do now, edit out one minute, sorry no can do.
If you have hung with me thus far or you are a speed reader, what're another 30 seconds.

This next coin is called the Peace Dollar. I bought a tube of them just recently after reading about the reason for them being struck. If you enjoy history, look this one up.

Before signing off, I'll leave you with this hand-poured piece of art.

If anyone out there likes this piece, make your way over to @silversaver888, she is highlighting many of the pieces of hand-poured silver she has collected over the years.

I'm not sure whether she is over 40 or not, and if she is I would like to invite her to join in on the fun we are all having in the #silver #bloggers community.

If she is already a part of the community, I'm just glad she didn't choose LONG SILVER for her Sassy name. If you want to meet a gal that is passionate about silver, check her out.

Can you imagine the nest egg that could be accumulated if you were to replace those gifts you so loving bestow on the young ones in your life, with SILVER.
If you feel that they have not yet reached the age of reason, and you want them to feel and react as though you just bought them a pony, put that bedazzling little bar in a big box.

To all of those who feel like age is nothing more than a number, have a Rose smelling weekend!