Can You Still Make Money Panning for Gold?

Gold's current high value and the ailing global job market has led to a surge in regular folks exploring the sometimes lucrative career of gold mining. It is believed that billion of dollars worth of gold are still hidden in the United States! Who wouldn't love a piece of that?

In fact, large amounts of gold have recently been found at the gold mines in North Carolina, Colorado and California. If you're interested in giving it a try, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. First, one needs to select a suitable area that is both potential for gold's existence and is legal for gold panning. National parks are off limits as they are usually restricted for public digging. However, there are many other public lands where minerals can be sought. Researching the records of mining and public land will give clues about where to fix the sweet spot for digging gold.

Stay away from hobby gold-mining sites that you see advertised in brochures and road side billboards. These locations are usually setup for tourists and thus offer little hope for serious gold miners.

After selecting the spot, one can stake a mineral claim to prevent others from intruding into the spot. For gold panning, you don't need to buy a lot of tools. Just a gold pan, a shovel, buckets, gloves, and camping supplies would be enough at the starting. A pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass will help to detect the tiniest pieces of gold. One can buy a metal detector and dredges too.

A fair forewarning - gold mining is a very hard work! One has to be willing to put in long hours and be patient enough to taste the fruit of success in gold panning. The best way would be to take it as a means of passing weekends and leisure periods than a fulltime job.

It can also be a good way to spend time with family and friends while having fun. It is a very tough job for the newcomers because knowledge and experience are the two important keys to get success in gold panning. It is also true that very few people can make their livelihood from gold mining.

While it is true that finding large amount of gold is quite difficult, the possibility of finding a little "color" in a gold pan is hard to resist.

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Is a Class Ring Investment a Good One?

It's a rite of passage some say. It's a way to remember high school say others. Next to a letter jacket, it's a status symbol for upperclassmen. What is it? A class ring, of course.

The tradition of class rings originated at the United States Military Academy at West Point with the class of 1835. Despite their venerable origins, high school rings seem to have a fleeting allure.

A trip around some online forums where class ring discussions are going on and, no surprise, many visitors report not wearing their high school class ring after high school ended. College rings seemed a bit different, more so for men than women.

I remember getting my class ring. It wasn't cheap, but it was cool. I remember picking the stone color, the embellishments that covered the sides of the ring based on my interests and the anticipation of its delivery. Then, like many of my peers, I wore it my senior year, then put it away in my jewelry box. Money my parents spent well? Probably not. It did make me happy at the time. But my jewelry box saw the ring way more than the ring saw the light of day once I was in college and beyond. It just didn't have the same importance that it once did.

Based on the forum conversations, I'm not alone in my abusive class ring treatment. And, given the large number of class rings I'm seeing come across my desk, I have to wonder if the tradition of getting a class ring is passe. Or is it that we just get wiser after high school?

Just for fun, I visited the Josten's website. Josten's is the place for class rings - high school, college, military, etc. They also offer a variety of other items you might find helpful, such as, graduation notices, spirit clothing, and so on. My interest was to determine how much I would have to pay today to buy the same ring I had in high school. I was surprised at all the choices available now! My ring, which looked like a smaller version of a men's ring, was fashioned in 18k gold and would cost $764.00 today. In hindsight, it was nothing special, really. And that's a lot of money to spend for something most people only wear for a year.

Don't get me wrong. I remember how badly I wanted a ring to signify I was nearly out of high school. I'm not down on class rings, but it seems like the investment is fleeting. I'm just wondering if, in the bigger scheme of things, it's really a good purchase.

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