Celebrate Dow 23,000 by buying coins

Who will make the popcorn?

Sit back. Relax. Let’s watch the current greatest show on earth: the American stock markets.

They are going relentlessly higher.

We might say they are partying like it was 1999.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has broken through 23,000.

Wow. I can remember back in the broken year of 1974 when it was 579.

Nothing like a market being up by a factor of almost 40.

Taking gains when they come is of critical importance for every successful investor.

I hope there are many coin collectors out there who are enjoying a renewed personal prosperity.

It is time for them to jump back into the coin market with both feet.

While the impulse to simply watch the financial spectacle as it unfolds is powerful, it is a good idea to plan for the time the uptrend stops.

It will. I just don’t know when.

But this is not an all-or-nothing proposition.

Enjoy the gains.

You’ve earned them.

Secure your family’s future.

But buy that 1909-S VDB you’ve always dreamed of.

Finish the Mercury dime set you never quite got around to doing as family responsibilities took over your life.

Last week, I wrote about the opportunity to purchase many modern commemorative silver dollars cheaply.

Just because you’ve made a little money with your investments doesn’t mean you should overpay for coins or anything else you want.

The key is to do something.

Take your spouse to dinner.

Plan a dream vacation on a cruise ship.

But add a stop at the Florida United Numismatists convention Jan. 4-7 in Tampa before you embark.

Coin collecting is a lifetime’s work.

There are good times.

There are bad times.

Plan for both.

We have endured bad economic times recently.

Time to enjoy life a little more.

But don’t party like it is 1999.

Supposedly, we are older and wiser now.

We need to act like it.

Fortunately, that does include adding to our coin collections.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017 . He is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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