That statement tells me they are not very smart preppers. Wasting all their money, tieing it up in bling-bling speculation when they could have used it to buy something that would actually be useful. Gold and silver might be worthwhile investments (might!) if you were in a functional society, that had currency, that was based on the gold and silver standards. Or if you expected such a society to re-emerge out of the ashes quickly after the SHTF.

But I thought they were prepping for when that society had collapsed and was no longer in place. They might as well have invested all their money in Barbie clothes and accessories.