In the past, I’ve had a few of you lovely readers ask me questions about myself. While I’ve shared a few of my interests, I have mostly kept an air of anonymity. Today, however, I’m going to tell you a little bit about myself and why I love what I do.
Since I was a wee lass, I dreamed of working in the sports industry. I wanted to be a journalist. I was obsessed with college football (specifically, Aggie football, whoop!). Throughout school, I tried to take every opportunity I could find to be involved in athletics. I was the manager of the football team in high school. I did color commentary for the football program in college, and I worked for ESPNU and Aggie Athletics in graduate school. I was living the dream.
Although sports and writing have always been passions of mine, I’ve always had a distinct fondness for history and politics, as well, which I believe was passed on by my parents. I’m convinced my mother knows everything about the world of politics. I remember her spending hours on the treadmill during the 2004 election, glued to coverage of the Florida recount as if each mile she walked would will the end of the controversy. My father is a history guru. Trust me, if you play that man in a game of Trivial Pursuit, you will lose.
While I imagined myself writing about football for years to come, a series of events redirected my life into a position where I have been able to pair my love of writing with the intermingling worlds of history, politics, and investing.
What is so odd is that, while I actually was able to achieve my dream of reporting for ESPN, the most rewarding career opportunity I have had is where I am now- working as a copywriter at Provident Metals. Here, I have been able to learn about the world around me and continually research geopolitical events that shape our American economy.
Working in the precious metals industry affords me unique opportunities to study the economy, market trends, environmental occurrences, history, art, etc. A myriad of thrilling topics collide to create what I am privileged to write, daily. While some precious metals dealers might focus on strictly selling investment products, Provident Metals is a full service company looking to educate readers on how and why they should invest, what mints offer valuable products, how many iconic coins came to fruition, and where the mythology on modern numismatic coins was originated.
Before Provident, if you said the word “hedge,” I just thought of bushes. Now, I know a properly prepared portfolio (say that 5 times fast), should contain 5-15% precious metals to fight possible inflation. If you asked me to tell you the pros and cons of private and sovereign bullion, I would have stared blankly and asked to use a lifeline. Now, I know sovereign coins are a great way to buy government guaranteed bullion to diversify your investments. Private bullion provides a lower premium, wider variety of uniquely designed bullion for collectors who are also investors. Before Provident, I could not use the weekly market reports to guesstimate where precious metals prices would go. Now, I can.
To work at a company focused on fiscal responsibility and integrity has been a blessing- and I don’t just say that because they pay my salary. It is an honor to work alongside truly knowledgeable people who are dedicated to providing exemplary products to meet the investing and collecting desires of so many. Personally, I’m thankful my life looks differently than I imagined it. I hope to continue writing about these crazy coins for years to come. And, luckily, I have phenomenal leadership that utilizes the passions of its employees, allowing me to cover those instances where precious metals and football meet; (hint- check out my recent 49ers’ blog).
I always like to get feedback from y’all; so, this week, I’d like to know if anyone else has a similar story. Did you dream of being an astronaut, and now you’re an educator/engineer/business owner, etc? How does your fondness for precious metals fit into your life? Let me know, below!
While you’re here, check out one of my own personal favorite coins: the 2016 1 oz Canadian Silver Maple Bigfoot Privy– on sale now!
Happy Stacking!
-J
MintErrors.org says
I’ve been in the coins and collectibles market for over four decades. I started out collecting higher end Morgan dollars in the mid 70’s. The Hunt Bothers came along and I sold most of those silver dollars for insane prices, even if it wasn’t for full price. I quickly told myself, this was easy and very lucrative and I could get used to doing this full time.
I switched over to memorabilia in the 1990’s to about 2012. It was about 2010 or so when I noticed the customer’s “mad money” – the extra cash flow was drying up and sports memorabilia sales were falling quickly. I decided to liquidate everything and turn around and buy back into precious metals and coins.
Sports and the memorabilia craze is not the same as it used to be. Now a days, a player can change teams quicker than you can blink. It people have an autograph of that player on the “old team” it quickly drops in price and it will usually sell if it is deeply discounted, usually resulting in a loss.
Fortunately, the precious metals market does not have that sort of marketing, agents and team swapping agenda. Typically what you get is a product that will stay pretty stable over many years. if precious metals are bought at a legitimate site you know your product is genuine and authentic.
I can say from practical experience that forgeries exist in both the sports industry and precious metals. An autograph or memorabilia product can be produced a lot easier than a faked precious metal product, and there are tried and true tests that can be performed on questionable precious metals to confirm they are legitimate. Or – just buy direct from a reputable place like provident Metals or Elemetal and there are no worries.
One can fork out hundreds to thousands of dollars for a piece of fabric that may or may not have an autograph. one can hope that the value of this product will increase in time, offering the investor a decent profit. With all the drama that’s surrounds sports, its simply easier to stack precious metals or rare coins now, and years down the road, when your ready to liquidate some of that, you can buy that piece of memorabilia you always wanted – probably at a bargain.
ProvidentMetals.com says
Wow, what great insight! It sounds like you’ve had quite the collector/investor life. I love sports memorabilia; I don’t have much aside from ticket stubs, but I buy more for sentimentality versus investing.
-J
will martin says
I have been trying out for Jeopardy! for 20 years.
ProvidentMetals.com says
Well good luck! I’m pulling for ya!
-J
will martin says
Thank you.