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To: john jansen who wrote (13010)	3/22/1998 12:05:00 PM
From: Joe Bilich	Respond to of 31646

Sorry-don't know of a way to buy hard gold and silver in an IRA. Also I would note that having gold and silver in an IRA won't be much of an insurance policy against social chaos arising from Y2K fallout (or any other crisis). You would need hard physical assets in hand, not financial assets. That being said, there are a couple of almost-like-bullion financial instruments that one might hold if you intended either to profit from the chaos or preserve wealth through it. Freeport (FCX on the NYSE) has several complicated convertible preferreds that have the rather unique feature of being convertible into bullion (or common stock). The B and C series preferred are tied to gold and the D series is tied to silver. Essentially, each such share is convertible into some amount of bullion, and pays a dividend that is tied to the spot prce of the bullion. What this means is you get interest (not high yield, but not too shabby--easly better than a savings account) for holding a long-term call on the underlying metal. These are still financial instruments, but they do have a direct tie to the bullion price through the convertability to bullion. I would not look at them as social insurance. Not sure what kinds of machinations you would need to go through to actually convert and take possession of the bullion, let alone if there were an IRA involved.

To: john jansen who wrote (13010)	3/22/1998 12:39:00 PM
From: E	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 31646

Thanks for reminding me to print out Cheryl's links. I'll paste here a few excerpts from the many pages that make it not seem so very outlandish to have conjectured that y2k (with the euro conversion thrown in) considerations might have played a part in Buffett's decision to buy hard silver: From Westergaard Year 2000 Y2K Tip of the Week, Feb. 16, 98, by Jim Lord: What if Y2K turns into an economic Chernobyl? For many, this prospect is so unpleasant to contemplate they refuse to even consider protective measures. This attitude is mystifying to me. As a society, we hold very dear the idea of insurance... I would propose that insurance against a Y2K-ignited economic catastrophe falls into the same category... ...Fortunately, there is a single prescriptive measure you can take...and that is to own gold and silver coins... First, purchase coins for their precious metal content only and not for their numismatic value. The pre-65 coins are the ones I recommend. These coins are called "Junk Silver," because they are simply a form of silver...Take full possession of your coins...Don't store your coins in a bank safe deposit box. You might have a difficult time retrieving them if there are banking problems. Either keep them at home or in a private safe deposit facility. .