Monetary Choice

Better than a gold standard. Your standard.


Choices

What would you accept in exchange for work if your local government currency, such as dollars or euros, didn’t exist

Something with a primary use in society. Something that won’t decompose, is divisible, and is light compared to its value. For these reasons, many people have chosen gold and silver when available. With the internet and digital media, heavier products become practical. Review what people have chosen in the past so you can decide what you might accept now or in the future.

Note that governments any gains from using other products as money. Also, value is subjective and changes. 

Spices once traded as money but as they became accessible, the value decreased, and people chose new products to use as money. The evolution of money should continue.

All products on this page would be normally be traded with money substitutes such as credit cards, paper notes, token and coins, or digital media. People wouldn’t carry around silver, stock certificates, or cacao beans. They would trade notes or swipe credit cards to transfer a ton of steel or a bushel of wheat for dinner at a restaurant or for a new computer.

Current  |  Future  |  Past  |  Within Unstable Economies

Current

Anything can be used for exchange. However you want to choose something that is easy to trade, at the current market price and at any time. That excludes an HD TV, which loses value immediately after you buy it and requires extra effort to find someone who wants it.  Here are some common contemporary money products.

  1. Gold, Silver, Platinum (Note: precious metals have a higher capital gains tax)
    1. Coin dealers such as Kitco
    2. Gold futures via exchange traded funds such as GLD or SLV
    3. Banks: Goldmoney.com, Bullionvault.com
  2. Raw materials via “Futures” - purchase “futures” (promises to buy) easily via exchange traded funds (ETFs). If you are worried about food prices, store your wealth in an agriculture ETF fund. If you’re worried about energy prices, choose an energy ETF.
  3. Singapore Dollar – This is a central bank currency but the country does not have a deficit, often the main reason for central monopoly banks to issue new currency. The Singapore dollar might be more acceptable to people new to the idea of choosing one’s money. Learn more
  4. Permanent Portfolio – A mutual fund that divides money into four quadrants: stocks, gold, US 30-year bonds, and US short-term debt. When one quadrant reaches 35%, the fund automatically re-balances. If the government is increasing the amount of Fed Reserve dollars (inflation), decreasing the amount (deflation), or meddling in any other way, one area of the fund will do well. Learn more.

Future

The internet and digital commerce might lead to people use these options as money, as long as they have monetary choice:

  1. A basket of minerals (gold, silver, platinum). All stored in different locations, likely near the sources, and digitally collected as a basket. If you wanted to take possession of your money, you  would need to convert the basket into one of the products, otherwise you’ll have substantial shipping charges.
  2. A basket of minerals and non-mineral products, such as oil.
  3. Shares of a mutual fund
  4. A basket of shares from many mutual funds
  5. A basket of mutual fund shares and minerals and oil

Past

Monies fall out of fashion or are outlawed. Each product below could return to being used as money, if people had monetary choice.

  1. Salt slabs (the word “salary” comes from “salt”)
  2. Beaver pelts (the word “buck” comes from using animal hides)
  3. Chia seeds
  4. Cocoa beans
  5. Copper
  6. Tea bricks
  7. Tobacco
  8. Beads
  9. Vadmal (cloth)
  10. Cigarettes (the old faithful!)
  11. Livestock
  12. Conch shells
  13. Barley
  14. Spear heads
  15. Gold
  16. Silver — You’ve probably heard of the silver dollar. At one point, quarters, dimes, and nickels were made of silver, until the silver became more valuable than the “face value” of the coins, so the government switched to inexpensive metals.
  17. Copper — pennies are made of copper b/c copper has a value. At some point, maybe even now, the copper in the penny will be worth more than the value of a penny and, though it’s likely illegal, some will melt them down to get the copper value.

Read about money in prisoner-of-war camps (long article) and the book, The History of Money, by Jack Weatherford

Within Unstable Economies and Prisons

Money choices where people are not restrained by central banks can help you understand how money organically comes into existence. Fundamentally, people choose a product that is valued at that time, in that area.

  • Unstable Economies
  • Prisons
    • Cans of mackerel fish (currently used informally in some U.S. prisons; cigarettes are no longer money b/c inmates can’t smoke)
    • Books of stamps
    • Instant coffee
    • See Wired.com article and WSJ.com article