Silver Wages

In ancient Rome, the Denarius currency started out as a 4.5 gram coin made of almost pure silver. But over time the amount of silver content in the coin was reduced to just 2%. The Denarius had become almost worthless thanks to inflation and had to be replaced by a new currency, the Argenteus.

In the 17th century the colonial currency suffered the same fate. The famous English economist Adam Smith criticized colonial currency in his work, The Wealth of Nations. The inflationary nature of the currency, he wrote, was a “violent injustice” to the creditor; “a scheme of fraudulent debtors to cheat their creditors.” A creditor is someone who lends money to someone else. In 1775, the colonial pounds were replaced by a Continental currency, which of course also failed.

In 1794 the first American dollar was minted 🙂 These were made from almost pure silver. But they are no longer produced today. And starting in 1965 American quarters were minted with a combination of copper and nickel, which replaced the original silver content.

History has repeated itself over and over again. Governments debase their currencies by replacing their coins with less valuable metals because it gives the State more power since they can create more money with the same costs, even though it hurts savers and creditors. But each currency cycle from start to bust takes a very long time so most people aren’t aware of how this cycle can affect their own lives. Gold and silver have always played an important role in the beginning of all historically significant currencies, including the present day U.S. dollar. To diversify currency risk, I propose making some silver wages.

We can’t earn silver coins directly from our employers today, but we can convert our money to silver after we get paid. Here’s how to do it.

• Decide what percentage of your income you want to be paid in silver. For example: 1%
• Calculate how much that is in dollars each year. For example: $300/yr, if our take home pay is $30K a year.
• Finally, use that money to buy silver. For example, $300 would buy about 15 ounces of silver today.

This is the equivalent of getting paid a wage 99% in dollars, and 1% in silver. What you do with the silver is up to you. Personally I plan to hold it until I retire. I will then begin to slowly sell my collection of silver and use the money to partly fund my retirement 😀

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Random Useless Fact: Scientific research into attractiveness suggests attraction boils down to how symmetrical one’s face is.