Why don't more preppers talk about financial stuff?

[Carl]

Even worse, you could be claiming a 12.53% increase in the S&P during a year where the dollar lost 11%. Add in inflation and you're negative. I guess it's a good thing we don't aggregate this data.

That is why I buy silver by the $1K bag and sell collector coins on Ebay etc. I have multiplied my 'investment' to well over what the market has done especially when $2.37 silver went to way over $74 when the Hunts were involved and 3 months later the price went back to $3.53 and I bought again...
do the math on that gain.

[David in MN]

I've never sold any metals. I don't really see them as an investment. Gold and silver are like the winnings I've taken off the table. It's a risk balance. Even my paper gold rarely moves.

I believe that you need some level of of securities to build a retirement. I tend to favor dividends over growth. I can come across like zerohedge (because we are both traders) but opportunities exist. My personal point of view is that the money needs to come out of the bankers and brokers who live on yachts by 'taking a little off the top'.

Plenty of people are going to say, "I bought the Fidelity Contrafund and did great". Yes, you did. And maybe I'm a little inside baseball for the average guy. Even my wife won't talk finance with me. I hear "you take care of it" a lot.

If I sound like we're getting screwed by our financial system it's because I do think it. But it might still be the best option around. I'd love to resurrect Ben Graham and have a chat about what he would say about these days.

[Carl]

  My situation was more luck than skill but I never was secure in the fluctuations of the stock market as they try to 'tax' you at every turn and stock value has so little to do with reality..

[FreeLancer]

So what's wrong with Average Joe buying and holding a broad stock index fund that will reap 10% returns over a 20-40 year period?  (Besides the unfortunate fact that most people lack the ability to actually buy and hold.)

Nothing. It's just really hard to know what that vehicle is. Past performance is not what matters. Many pension plans are underwater because they assumed 8% doing exactly this.

And I don't trust many of the funds that claim to do it. Many make the dividends disappear. Dividends represent 70% of realized gain on average. Many have load. If gaining 10% annum (I assume) makes you rich losing 1-2% is surely highway robbery.

Last, I worry that people feel diversified in buying a fund. The S&P 500 is generally the most diversified approach and we even call it "buying the market". Well, what about the Hang Seng? Nekkei? FTSE? If we're going to be prudent, surely we want some money out of dollars in case of a currency issue or some kind of natural disaster unique to North America.

You're still talking about actively managed, high-ish cost funds, though. 

I'm talking about passively managed, ultra-low cost, truly broad market index funds. 

Don't conflate the two.