Before you sell coins to pay down debt… I’m a coin collector. My HONEST (and very PERSONAL) experience might help you!
RELATED VIDEO: Rare Coins
In debt? Trying to decide if you should sell your coin collection or bullion? Financial expert Dave Ramsey had a caller on his show with this EXACT same question — and Ramsey told the caller to sell coins to get out of debt! As a coin collector for over 30 years, I have some very HONEST and very PERSONAL experience to share on this topic!
Yes, I sold MY valuable coins to get out of debt. Should YOU sell coins to pay down debt too? (See WHICH coins I sold, and WHY I sold them.)
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⚡TIMESTAMPS FROM THE VIDEO⚡
00:00 – Should You Sell Coins To Pay Down Debt Fast?
02:05 – The Coins I Sold To Get Out Of Debt
06:00 – Lessons Learned After Buying My 1st House
06:56 – I’m A Freelance Writer Taking On More Side Hustles
07:33 – The 1955 Doubled Die Penny I Sold For Cash
08:08 – The Best Gold & Silver Coins For Investing
09:08 – How And Where To Sell Your Coins
09:48 – Summary Of Selling Coins To Get Out Of Debt
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TRANSCRIPT:
Did financial guru Dave Ramsey give a caller on his show the right advice when he informed them that they should sell their silver to pay off debt?
Well, I’ll tell you my story… What I did. And WHY. As well as MY answer to all of this… and more. Coming up next…
[How can we help?… “So my question for you is… We made what we know now to be a bad investment about 10 years ago on Silver Coins. We thought it was a good idea at the time. But we… well, the investment we made in those is worth about HALF of what… of the money that we put into it at this time. But we’re not sure if it’s going to go back up. So my question is should we go ahead and sell it now and use that to pay towards paying our debt? Or wait and see if the value might go back up? I know sometimes historically when the economy is down, usually the…” The precious metals go up — yeah. You’re right. The Silver and Gold goes up when… When people are afraid, Silver and Gold goes up generally. That’s true. Now… what’s this investment worth today? “Between $12,000 and $14,000.” Okay… alright. If you had $14,000 in cash sitting in the middle of your kitchen table, would you BUY Silver Coins with it today? “No.” Then you wouldn’t KEEP it in Silver Coins for the exact same reason. In your situation Kelly… really good question… But I’d cash them out tomorrow. Today! Either one. Get it done.]
WOW! I think that advice that Dave Ramsey gave hits home for a LOT of people. And I know it does for my wife and for me. Why is that? Well… We’re in debt! Now we’re getting out of debt. And we’re doing so by working a lot of crazy hours… re-shifting our priorities on finances… and selling off assets. And some of those include parts of my Coin Collection. Here’s a few examples of coins I sold to pay down debt from a previous video…
[Now, the next coin that is worth a lot of money that you want to look for that I no longer have… I had to sell… to pay the mortgage! But it’s the 1955 doubled die obverse penny. I wish I had that in my collection still to show you. I will someday repurchase one. But if you find one — and I hope you do — it’s worth over $1,000 even in well worn condition! The next coin worth looking for… the next penny worth looking for… I don’t have anymore. Again, I sold it for the house I’m trying to pay the mortgage off. Me & my wife… we’re almost there. But the 1972-D penny which would be… Now, there’s not actually a spot for it in this album, but I had a slabbed example. That is worth roughly $250 bucks and up in ANY condition. The 1984 doubled die penny. Again, another double die that I sold. I wouldn’t say regrettably — because I could always buy it back. And it has helped pay down debt. But because it did pay down debt you might surmise that it’s worth some money… and indeed it is. About $150 bucks or more.]
And as a coin collector now for over 30 years, that’s not an easy choice to make. But I’ll tell you why it was worth it for us. But before I do that, let me give you some backstory first — so you know WHY this means so much to me. And why I’m here talking to you about this.
I grew up in a house of debt. It was not intentional — as it isn’t for so many people. It’s just sometimes that’s what happens. My dad worked all kinds of crazy hours to take care of my mom and my sister and me. And he did an amazing job. But it wasn’t always enough money. And so, if we had an emergency pop up (like a tire blow on our van), we would use a credit card to replace that tire. If my sister or I outgrew some clothes, we would go to the department store and use a credit card to buy new clothes. During tight times, if things got a little bit “iffy” financially, we would use a credit card to pay for groceries. And all of that eventually mounted into a five-figure debt. It got tougher when my mom at the age of 53 was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer. And she fought that battle really really hard. She underwent almost 70 rounds of chemotherapy, receptive surgeries, different kinds of medical interventions. And eventually we relocated to Delaware for a short time to partake in a very promising clinical trial that unfortunately didn’t help my mom all that much. After 44 months, my mom succumbed to the colon cancer. And my family and I… we found ourselves in a HIGHER five-figure debt load.
My dad didn’t know what to do. He looked for answers, and eventually he came across Dave Ramsey and his Financial Peace University course — which he took! In that course, in a nutshell… Basically, the philosophies are that you save money for emergencies. So that instead of using credit cards to pay for tires and clothes you have cash on hand ready to go for that. You shift your priorities on how you SPEND money and how you SAVE money. And you pay off your debt! And you do so by starting off with the small debts first. You pay those off and then take that money from paying off the small debts (the amount that you’d typically apply each month toward that) and put it toward bigger and bigger debts. Until eventually, you’re out of debt. And my dad did that. He followed that plan religiously. And within a few years, we were out of debt!
Meanwhile, MY life’s going on… You know, I’m dating. Getting married. My now wife, she was going to school to become an Occupational Therapy Assistant. She graduated. But that wasn’t a cheap adventure for her! Meanwhile, she’s going to school… I’m buying this house… That wasn’t cheap either. And as we’re about to get married, we find ourselves collectively in a six-figure debt! My dad saw that. He had been there… Not quite to 6 figures, but he’d been there and done that. And he remembered how helpful Dave Ramsey’s course was to him. So he gifted us Financial Peace University. He gave us the course.
We took the course. And my wife and I… we had to shift our perspective on spending money, on saving money, on how we’d get out of debt. And one of the ways we did that, along with working all kinds of crazy hours… My wife was working at the local hospital — working during the C*vid P*ndemic on C*vid floors and C*vid units to help, you know, make money that way. And she worked a lot of overtime hours, a lot of weekends, a lot of very long shifts. Meanwhile, I’m a Writer and Editor, taking on more freelance work. We’re putting our pennies together — trying to pay off the debt. Eventually, we paid off her school debt. And then we looked at paying off the mortgage! Again, we kept up all kinds of weird crazy hours. I sold a car that was paid off, but was worth a little bit of money. We put that money toward the mortgage debt.
And I sold off a large part of my Coin Collection! I’ll tell you there are times that I have Seller’s Remorse. I wish I had my 1955 doubled die Lincoln cent back… that I had sold to put toward the mortgage debt. I wish I had some Gold Coins back… and Silver Coins back. But you know what?… Selling off those coins to help pay off our mortgage debt has been worth it! We’re now less than 1 year out from paying off our mortgage and living rent free! Okay? And that FREEDOM… the sense that we’re so close to not owing all the hours at work and all the money coming into a bank… is worth it! Okay?
I know a lot of folks… they buy Gold, and they buy Silver, and they buy this and that Investment… with the hopes that it’ll help them get ahead of inflation. Or, you know, stay one step ahead of where the economy is. And I’m all for that! Believe me, I’m NOT saying don’t invest your money in Gold or Silver or Mutual Funds or whatever. I have done it, and I DO that. But at the same time, there’s the current reality. No matter what the future may hold, the reality is… If you’re in debt, you’re in debt. Okay? That car you’re paying off, you know, each month… is not really your car until you pay that car off. It’s still your bank’s car. Okay? If you live in a house with a mortgage… like we are at this moment right now. It’s not really our house. It’s the bank’s house! The idea that we don’t have to owe everything to a bank is pretty freeing. Okay?
And so therefore, doing everything we can… working all kinds of crazy hours… changing our mindset on how we spend and save money… and yes Selling Coins has been worth it. Now what does it mean for YOU?… Well, that’s for you to decide. You have to figure out what is more valuable to you. Is it, you know, your assets that you hope will get you maybe one step ahead of the game down the road? And again, I’m all for that! I’m not saying, you know, you shouldn’t invest in this or that. That’s NOT what I’m saying here.
What I’m asking YOU to do is figure out what YOUR priorities are. If you are in debt or you have a lot of bills to pay, and you have assets that might help you get one step closer to getting out of debt or paying off your bills… think about that. Weigh your options. All I’ll say is that when it comes to my wife and to me and OUR situation… selling off our Rare Coins and some Gold Coins and Silver Coins and bullion has been worth it. Because it’s helping us find freedom from debt. And for what it’s worth to YOU…
Whatever your decision may be, I wish you the best. I hope that whatever you do, you are well informed. If you decide to sell your coins and your bullion, know what your items are worth. Sell them to reputable coin dealers and bullion brokers who will pay you a fair amount. And make sure you can find peace with your decision. And more importantly, what I hope for you is that you find peace in your life. And if getting out of debt helps you get one step closer to that peace, then think about the options that you might have at your fingertips or in your vault… and do what you need to do to help you find that peace in life.
