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There has been a lot of talk about tariff $2,000 rebate checks. If they materialize, you should consider using them to buy gold or silver.

It appears the Trump administration is serious about this proposal, although there are plenty of question marks.  On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is “committed to making it happen.”

“We are currently exploring all legal options to get that done,” she said, reiterating that “the president made it clear that he wants to make it happen.”

The rebate would likely be subject to an income cap. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent floated sending checks to families with incomes below $100,000 per year.

The rebate would likely require congressional approval.

The tariffs aren’t generating enough revenue to pay for the rebate. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that if the rebate is structured similarly to the pandemic stimulus, it would cost around $600 billion. That is close to double the projected annual tariff revenue. However, that doesn’t mean the government won’t send out the checks. It would be a politically popular move, and the federal government has shown no hesitation in borrowing more money when it wants to do something.

What to Do With $2,000?
 

If the checks come through, what should you do with the money?

One thing is certain – you don’t want to hold onto those dollars for very long because they will lose purchasing power every day!

Of course, a lot of people will probably need it to cover bills and pay off debt. However, if you have the option of saving your windfall, you might want to consider putting it in gold or silver.

Just think about where you would be today if you had bought gold or silver with your COVID stimulus.

There were three rounds of pandemic stimulus totaling $3,200 for an individual. You got more if you had kids, but we’ll just stick with the simple number.

The average gold price in 2021 was $1,800 an ounce. (The first round of stimulus was in the spring of 2020, the second in December 2020/January 2021, and the third in March 2021. I’m going to use the 2021 price averages for the sake of simplicity.)

At that gold price, you could have bought 1.7 ounces of gold with your stimmy money.  

And how much would that 1.7 ounces of gold be worth today, with gold now at $4,248.30 per ounce?

$7,223.30 

That represents a 125.7 percent gain in just four years.

The average silver price in 2021 was $25 an ounce. At that price, your COVID stimmy money would have bought 128 ounces of silver. At today’s price of $54.09, your silver would be worth $6.923.52, a 116.3 percent gain.

Now you understand why I’m suggesting gold and silver might not be a bad way to invest your tariff rebate, should it come to pass.

Of course, gold and silver may not go up that much in the next four years, but odds are it will go up because inflation is rampant, and it appears the Federal Reserve is intent on cranking up the inflation machine.

If the government does gift you with a check, don’t let them steal it back through inflation.

Save it in real money – gold and silver.

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