Scrap metal retirement

[hackberry jake]

When I finally get around to cleaning around the shop, I usually have about a half a truckload of scrap metal to haul off. I took in a pretty small load today and got $57. My company just quit matching anything on 401k and it makes me want to find another retirement plan. I figure the price of metal will usually keep up with the price of energy and I don't see energy getting any cheaper. For you smarter fellars out there; would saving scrap metal be a wise investment plan?

[red oaks lumber]

that depends on how much you want your place to look like sanford and son.

[hackberry jake]

If I can retire a few years earlier I wouldn't care if it looked like Armageddon. Plus I have a heavy stand of sweet gum trees I could hide it in. The ole lady may not agree...

[beenthere]

The ole lady may not agree...

Still living with Mom?

[red oaks lumber]

how are you going to collect this scrap? driving around looking for it? buying it? eevery way costs money and takes time. it might pay better working a p.t. job and invest the money into your retirement all the while keeping your place looking good and making your wife happy.just my few ounces of scrap
beenthere  thankyou :D

[hackberry jake]

I was thinking more like not hauling any off until I retire. I am the only one in my circle of friends and relatives that has a shop. I let whoever use it as long as they respect it. They always leave brake rotors and radiators and whatnot. Sometimes even whole vehicles that they bought for parts. Also have old dozer chains and whatnot.

[red oaks lumber]

sounds like you gotta a good start on the junk yard. still cashing it in and putting the money earning interest is still better that having your place condemned or needing a permit to operate as a junk yard but, hey your not my neibor so knock yourself out!

[loggah]

Every now and then i haul some scrap into my buddys scrapyard, but  i also cut oversized scrap with my cat 235 shear ,shes old but works good !!! ;D Don

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

that depends on how much you want your place to look like sanford and son.

:D :D :D

[hackberry jake]

I live out in the middle of the woods. Not worried about neighbors or being condemned. And if I sell it and put it in the bank to collect interest, I'll bet scrap metal prices go higher than the interest a bank will pay. Scrap is pretty much guaranteed to keep up with inflation.

[petefrom bearswamp]

At age 27, the "ole Lady" Wow.
I wouldn't collect scrap on purpose but it has accumulated around here over the years and is an unexpected bonus.
Pete

[Al_Smith]

Not neccessarily .The reason scrap is up and has been was the Chinese trying to corner the market on scrap steel .Besides that just try dealing with a scrap buyer some time .They aren't your buddy .

[Peter Drouin]

Every now and then i haul some scrap into my buddys scrapyard, but  i also cut oversized scrap with my cat 235 shear ,shes old but works good !!! ;D Don

thats nice , is the cat around 44,000 lb with out the head

[thecfarm]

You got the room,go at it. When people come see me they have no idea the junk,that's what my wife calls it,I have down back. My step son brought over his FIL and we took a walk out back. My wife had a fit that he would see all my "junk" The DIL said he will think he has died and gone to heaven.

[hackberry jake]

Never know when some of the "junk" will come in handy. I have used pieces of dozer chain for gate hinges, axle tubes as t-post drivers, angle iron for just about everything (including pineywoods log turner), round bar stock for re-I forcing broken frames. 1" round bar makes perfect horseshoe stakes. I used old I-beams and whatnot to make a frame to mount pallet forks on the tractor. It makes me cringe when I see the prices on new steel. Maybe I'm a hoarder  ;D I dont think ill run out of lumber or steel for a while.

[GAB]

Let's properly describe it.  It's a spare parts repository.  Not a junk or scrap pile.
It's also a good place to get ideas on how to fix something.  Gerald

[trapper]

I heard the rustier it gets the more it weighs. better interest than the bank.   ;D

[hackberry jake]

Inflation goes up over 3 percent a year. Whatever intrest the bank will give you has a hard time keeping up. Energy prices have easily doubled in the last 10 years. Energy prices are tied to metal prices because it takes diesel/propane/electricty to mine the ore, process it into iron, haul it to where it needs to go and melt it back down again. You save a lot of energy salvaging the steel thats already refined. (scrap) I think it sounds pretty feasable.

[brendonv]

I give my scrap away.  I figure by the time I drive there in my diesel pickup, on my time, I really wouldn't make that much.  Plus I hate messes in the yard,  I figure looking at a log pile, two trucks, two trailers, and equipment attachments is plenty.

[haywire woodlot]

After my old time logger neighbour passed on, his widow was able to sell over $80k worth of scrap metal of the property. Now whenever I drag another piece of old iron home, I like to say to my bride, I'm providing for your future! ;D

[coxy]

that a good way to look at it make your wife and her new friend rich :D :D ;D ;D   i save most all my scrap to  but the copper and brass  i sell every year helps fund my weekend at loggers fest in boonville    

[loggah]

I probably got 200 tons of old iron hanging around ,but i hate to send it to China !!!! i have cut a lot of tractors and trucks up in the scrapyard and i really wish it was being recycled in the U.S. and not sent over seas!!!! It would not bother me as much to provide jobs here in the good old USA !!! Peter the 235 with labounty MSD 220 shear weighs about 110,000 lbs. Don

[Corley5]

After my old time logger neighbour passed on, his widow was able to sell over $80k worth of scrap metal of the property. Now whenever I drag another piece of old iron home, I like to say to my bride, I'm providing for your future! ;D

And this brings up of the question of whether it's appropriate for the auction notice to appear in the same edition as the obituary  ;D

[thecfarm]

I bet my wife would just about do that.   ;D  She really has a fit about my "junk". As I said it's out back and can not be seen from the house.
Can you tell my wife is citifed???? Country folk have junk.

[breederman]

My stuff is not junk its "inventory "

[beenthere]

question of whether it's appropriate for the auction notice to appear in the same edition as the obituary

Better than the week before.... ;D

[Mooseherder]

After my old time logger neighbour passed on, his widow was able to sell over $80k worth of scrap metal of the property. Now whenever I drag another piece of old iron home, I like to say to my bride, I'm providing for your future! ;D

And this brings up of the question of whether it's appropriate for the auction notice to appear in the same edition as the obituary  ;D

Heck, why waste a good opportunity while you have everyone's attention. ;D

[loggah]

The "JUNKIES" will have a field day with my wife if i kick off suddenly !!!! ;D ;D Thats just a bit of the "OLD IRON" i got laying around!!  Don

[justallan1]

I'd definately keep it if you have the room. I find all sorts of peices for whatver my latest projects happens to be and the rest will be there to sell when you decide to or need to. I figure that I'd just waste the money anyway, so I may as well wait until I need it.
Allan

[ely]

thats some cool stuff don, now i have "inventory envy"
i have a fair amount of cool stuff myself, also have a cool wife....so far ;D

[Al_Smith]

If you hid the treasures in the woods nobody sees it .Of course if you have no woods to hid it in then it becomes a problem some what .

Now I have tonnage but it's no where near 200 .

[gspren]

  Whatever you do with the scrap keep on putting as much as you can in the 401K plan, the tax advantage while you are working is far more important than the interest!

[gunman63]

scrap is always a good retirement plan, but things to remember about it, first u could  die before u  get to use it. but mainly, scrap is a up and  down  market, u need to play it, watch the prices, copper and alum and  brass go up and  down as does  iron.  if u watch the  market u can sell high,   hide the money, or reinvest it  in more  scrap, a pile of  100's takes up a lot  less room  then a mountain of iron.

[hackberry jake]

If you would,ve taken that stack of hundreds ( say $12,000). 30 years ago it wouldve bought a new full size chevy. If you would,ve just burried it and dug it up today, you would need another $24,000 to buy a new Chevy. If you wouldve used the $12,000 to buy scrap metal 30 years ago, today you would be able to sell it and buy two new chevy trucks. Just an example of why cash isnt your friend.

[red oaks lumber]

you can do how ever you would like.the thing when you talk to investment people i've never had one even mention that buying scrap is a  retirement option.

[Al_Smith]

Oh there's people who made a ton of money in the scrap business but their family has been in the biz for generations .

I'll tell you this you're not going to beat them in a game they invented .

[gunman63]

If you would,ve taken that stack of hundreds ( say $12,000). 30 years ago it wouldve bought a new full size chevy. If you would,ve just burried it and dug it up today, you would need another $24,000 to buy a new Chevy. If you wouldve used the $12,000 to buy scrap metal 30 years ago, today you would be able to sell it and buy two new chevy trucks. Just an example of why cash isnt your friend.

If u  hid 12 grand 30 years back, u still have 12 grand, if u  bought a 12 grand  pickup 30 years ago, u  mite have scrap now $200 worth

[hackberry jake]

If you would,ve taken that stack of hundreds ( say $12,000). 30 years ago it wouldve bought a new full size chevy. If you would,ve just burried it and dug it up today, you would need another $24,000 to buy a new Chevy. If you wouldve used the $12,000 to buy scrap metal 30 years ago, today you would be able to sell it and buy two new chevy trucks. Just an example of why cash isnt your friend.

If u  hid 12 grand 30 years back, u still have 12 grand, if u  bought a 12 grand  pickup 30 years ago, u  mite have scrap now $200 worth

I said a Chevy truck, not ford   ;D

[trim4u2nv]

There was an old buzzard south of us who collected earthmoving equipment and dug a pond.  Was filling the pond after putting in a liner and promptly croaked.  His kids sold most of the machines and draglines.  This totalled around $400k and the wooded lot with pond went for more.   This guys woods looked like a hoarders episode though.  There is talk of mining some of the landfills here for scrap also.

[Jemclimber]

I said a Chevy truck, not ford   ;D

That really made me laugh...

[wwsjr]

I will find out what scrap prices are in the near future. With the shop and sawmill fire along with other junk, I have a 16' trailer load already and probably will have at least one more trailer load plus the LT40 Super sawmill with Cat engine. It is going to be gone whatever the price. I do not have room to store for the future.

[terry f]

     With that 12,000 put in the DOW 30 years ago (around 1200), you could buy a house today. I would lose more sleep in the metals market, than the stock market. Loggah, your junk (treasures) amaze me.

[Al_Smith]

Conventional wisdom with the stock market,long term is around 11-12 percent per year .If you don't have the nerve to weather the ups and downs don't go there .

Scrap can go up and down too so don't try to corner the market on rusty fence wire thinking you're going to turn it to gold .Now free,that's another story . ;)

[loggah]

scrap silver is the way to go !!! i buy some every now and then ,local machine shop uses a bunch of coin silver,sometimes they bring a bunch of turnings into the junkyard i buy some up and then resell them when the market  is up , sometimes silver goes up 30-40% in 6 months, you have to watch the market . Don

[never finished]

  The guy I work for doing demolition work burries all the scrap copper out behind the shop, for his retirement. We only bring in the bigger stuff. Probley over 2 ton of it by now. It keeps the theives out of it, and if it's not turned into cash it can't be spent. Or taxed.   

[saltydog]

Asking the wife if its ok to bring home junk? I dont ask i sneak. Besides men are the head of the house!We do what we want when we want. 

[Slabs]

Let's properly describe it.  It's a spare parts repository.  Not a junk or scrap pile.
It's also a good place to get ideas on how to fix something.  Gerald

Ahhhh!  You subscribed to Farm Journal back in the 60's too.  I remember Hutch and Ada.

 

[coxy]

slabs        thats funny :D :D

[muddstopper]

I have my own take on scrap laying around the house. Of course my wife doesnt agree with me on this one.
I will hual in a large piece of metal, flat plate, tubing, angle or whaever, If I run across it. This material will eventually get used in one project or the other. Being able to use it without having to buy it is probably a bigger return than saving it until I retire.

Now when it comes to old equipment, I love the stuff. I never go searching for it, but I wont pass it by without a least a look see if I run across something. My cryteria for buying a piece of equipment is 1. I must be able to use it , or at least parts of it, right away. 2. The price I pay for it cant exceed the cost of the salvaged parts I intend to use. And 3. If I see its at a real bargain price and I can flip it pretty easy and put a few untaxed dollars in my pocket, then that thing is going home with me.

Like my wife, i dont like seeing piles of junk laying around the house, good scrap is stacked in piles. Stuff that is to short, bent up, or rusted past worth, I make a small pile and when it gets big enough, it goes straight to the scrap yard. Of couse I usually bring home more than I take, but thats a whole nother story.

[GAB]

Dear Slabs:
No I did not subscribe as I was too young, however my dad did.  The Farm Journal, Successful Farming, and Hoards Dairyman were great library material.  Thanks for posting that old cartoon.  I was young back then, but that is the one I was thinking of when I wrote what I did.  It must have gotten your attention also.  Gerald

[mesquite buckeye]

Seems like the difference in opinions is hoarders vs throwers.

If you can use your junk for projects and still have scrap iron to sell, plus the mess doesn't bother you, why not?

At least it is something real if the currency collapses.

And they are less likely to declare it illegal to possess like they did with gold during the last Depression.

And if worse comes to worse, it can be beaten into either plowshares or swords, whichever you need more of.

[5quarter]

I love this thread! I have a hard time around here finding scrap...er inventory as no one around here gets rid of anything. stuff only becomes available when someone dies, or so it seems. every self respecting rancher, farmer or homesteader has their own little gold mine, and there are ALOT of self respecting folks around here. :D  and some really do have gold mines. My neighbor down the road has over 40 Chevy sedans ranging from 52' to 58'most covered and on blocks, some in a machine shed and others just out in the open. about half of them still run. Then he's got another building full of parts for the chevys and some other old stuff and that's just the cars! If that is a measure of respectability, then I am quite disreputable. ;)
   You guys have some awesome stuff