Today MSN has an article about Forever Stamps being a good investment...
I had never thought of stamps this way. What do you think?
Here is a portion of the article
The humble stamp is now one of the best investments around, because you can't lose money on it. From now on, they're all "Forever Stamps" -- good no matter how much the United States Postal Service hikes rates. And trust me, postage rates are going to keep going up. A lot.
Over the past 10 years, first-class postage went up 29%, compared with a 0.1% gain for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX). Generous health care and retirement promises to postal workers, combined with weak revenue because fewer people use traditional mail, have created serious pressure to raise postage rates. It's almost a lock that postage rates will outpace inflation. Meanwhile, storing this physical investment is fairly simple, and there are no restrictions on resale. Think about it: When a stamp costs $1.25, today's 44-center will go for a buck on eBay, easily.
All this explains why Peter Schiff, the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, calls the first-class postage stamp the most attractive "federally guaranteed inflation-protected asset" around. "Forever Stamps are about as close to a sure thing as most people will ever get," he says.
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1 Comments:
Hi Tammillee,
Glad you posted this. I completely agree! When my husband purchased the Forever Stamps (FS) and began using them for first class mail when we already had 300 .44 centers in the other room, I thought "what the heck??" These FS are an investment.
Unless we never plan to mail a card to our mom, or a wedding announcement, or a photo of our newborn, then sure, who needs stamps right? But of course, it only made sense the minute the Forever Stamp came out that these were a price that was offered at today's value good for 20-30-50 years from now when the value of a first class mail stamp would be so much more.
When we purchased the bundles of FS I nearly wanted to lock them up until the face valued stamps were depleted. Although, who is the smarter one? The consumer? Or the government by pre-selling the stamps now to obtain consumer dollars for a guarantee of the future?
Susan from http://www.theshowerdiva.blogspot.com
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