Disclaimer: I understand that this isn’t the same as getting advice from a professional, however I figured that many members on this board had experience with buying precious metals and could point me in the right direction on some of these questions.
I am very seriously considering finally taking the plunge and buying some physical silver and/or gold. I’ve been putting if off because I’ve been reluctant to tie up a bunch of my savings, but now I have enough extra where I’d feel comfortable committing some of it to precious metals. This would be in the under $2k-5k range so take that into consideration.
So, a few questions:
1.) What’s the best place to buy physical PMs? I’ve been looking around and http://www.bulliondirect.com/ seems to have some of the lowest premiums. Anyone have experience with them, or can suggest a better source where I can get closer to spot price?
2.) What’s the compartive advantages to buying American Eagle bullion vs. other stuff? The premium for the Eagles is quite a bit more than other stuff, is the US Gov’s guarantee of purity really worth that extra cost?
3.) Bars vs. coins/rounds. Bars seem to have lower premiums, I assume this would be the way to go? This is what I’ve read elsewhere. Looking at Bullion Directs catalog I see a variety of bars with various premiums. Is there that much difference between them or should I just go for the lowest premium?
4.) Given that I’m not investing a huge sum, would it be good to simply stick to silver? I’m slightly wary of buying only one or two ounces of gold and having it all tied up in two peices. Silver would seem to offer more flexibility given my budget. Would it be a good idea to get, say, an ounce of gold and a bunch of silver, or just all silver at this stage? I’m assuming buying anything in volumes less than an ounce is a bad idea because of the very high premiums on those pieces.
5.) Any thoughs on the current run up in silver? Are we really looking at a large increase in price, or would I be buying at a peak?
Again, not looking for rock solid financial advice (although if you can provide that all the better), but what’s your experience with this? Thanks guys.
I also have been looking at buying some gold.Haven’t done so yet,so will be watching this thread closely.I haven’t got shed loads of money but have been thinking about investing in a little gold,maybe an ounce every couple of months.My thinking is that is probably better than keeping money in the bank?
I had thought silver was probably my price range at first with a little gold here and there if i had a good month.But i am from the UK and over here we have to pay 17.5% VAT on most purchases,and that includes silver.The VAT is also going to rise to 20% in the new year,so silver is out of the question over here.With gold we don’t have to pay VAT.
From what I understand a good option is to buy non-numismatic coins. It’s just like buying bullion, you’re only buying the gold. You should only pay a small percentage above the spot price, like 3%. I’ve never done it but I think I’d probably buy some canadian maple leafs. Something really common that everyone recognizes.
You guys saw silver was at 30 bucks right? Gold 1420…
Yeah, I’ve been following the prices for several months now. Are you implying that it’s peaked or what? I’ve been watching the price go up and down, slowly creeping higher and higher. At one time the price of silver was $19, and I said that I’d consider buying when it went back down to $17 or so. Of course that didn’t happen, and repeat that scenerio over a few times. If it’s going to keep creeping higher I’m not super-concerned about buying at the absolute lowest price. This is why I’m seeking advice.
You might consider going to some coin shop and buying junk silver.
The rule is never tell anyone where you hid it. Never tell anyone you bought it in the first place. Hold the stuff in your physical actual hand, meaning dont buy “shares” and other stuff like that.
The govt guarentee of purity? That really brought a smile to my face.
Silver coins have a huge premiums compared to gold coins even for small purchases.
For example, say you have 5k USD, on apmex.com (a very reputable bullion dealer), you can buy 150 Silver American Eagles at 33.60$, which makes 5040$. This is when silver is 30.46 $/oz, so that makes a premium of 10.3%.
On the other hand, if you buy Gold American Eagles, you can buy 2 or 3 oz coin at 1498.39$ each, which makes a premium over spot of 4.97%.
So basically, granted that you can realistically get spot when you sell either coin, the transaction cost twice less when buying gold.
Plus, gold doesn’t tarnish, so your coin can stay in pristine conditions for decades or centuries.
Also, there’s a lot of advantages of buying gold over silver (besides price volatility, and investment prospects).
For instance, gold sales are tax free in many countries (Canada (24k only gold coins), Europe), etc, while for silver people have to pay sales tax, which can go as high as 20% in Europe.
Those are factors that are important when considering purchasing your first coins.
Silver coins have a huge premiums compared to gold coins even for small purchases.
For example, say you have 5k USD, on apmex.com (a very reputable bullion dealer), you can buy 150 Silver American Eagles at 33.60$, which makes 5040$. This is when silver is 30.46 $/oz, so that makes a premium of 10.3%.
On the other hand, if you buy Gold American Eagles, you can buy 2 or 3 oz coin at 1498.39$ each, which makes a premium over spot of 4.97%.
So basically, granted that you can realistically get spot when you sell either coin, the transaction cost twice less when buying gold.
The thing is though that those “huge premiums” for silver coins only seem to present themselves in the American Eagle bullion. If you’re just buying regular bars or rounds, that premium dissappears and you’re down to the 3% over spot range.
Anyway it’s a good thing I held off on my order last night, ha. Gold is down nearly 2% today and silver is tanking too.
I myself believe I should ditch my savings and convert them to gold, silver, or platinum.
It’s been sometime reading various analysis and basics about them, but still don’t feel I understand this market enough to take the risk. Most of the readings are from sources somehow related to the metal and seems to be somewhat biased.
Can somebody help and give opinion especially about:
1- the future trend of silver, gold and silver gold ratio
2- is the current price level for both right to buy now or it has already peaked?
3- what prices you expect when (lets say over a 5 years period)
As I have mentioned in few posts I have lost faith in fiat money in general, interest and shares at least for the coming 5 years.
Any Ideas?
P.S. I tend to favor buying physical backed gold and/or silver (SGOL, SIVR) because of ease of buying and selling, and storage/ guarding… etc.
Check out Kitco.com. You can buy several kinds of bullion and coins. Or you can purchase in a pool account. You don’t get physical possession of the bullion in a pool account until you wish to convert it.If you plan on buying and holding get the physical coins or bars. They list prices not only for sale but also for purchases. Pool accounts are more liquid than the physical bullion. Recently I converted all my palladium holdings to silver with a few clicks.
You can check out Northwest territorial mint also. A little higher but free shipping and insurance.
Suppose you plan to buy Eagles or junk silver. Before you buy, go on ebay and see how much you can sell them for on the open market. 90% silver is the same no matter where you buy it you may decide to buy on ebay. Gotta do the math shipping handling insurance it adds up.
“The thing is though that those “huge premiums” for silver coins only seem to present themselves in the American Eagle bullion. If you’re just buying regular bars or rounds, that premium dissappears and you’re down to the 3% over spot range.”
Note that I gave my examples using the same category of coins for both metals: Silver American Eagles, and Gold American Eagles.
You can’t compare apples and oranges: brand name gold coins with random silver rounds.
If you want to compare to random rounds, then you can get lower premiums in gold too. And gold premiums are still lower than silver.
It’s only been in the most recent history that the Silver Gold ratio hasn’t kept it’s traditional 16/15-1 average. Primarily since the advent of fiat currency and centralized banking. Right now they both need a major re-correction to fix the pricing ratio, as there’s actually more Gold above ground than Silver. Silver is extremely undervalued do to several factor’s, but primarily due to JP Morgan’s and a few other Investment Bank shorting it by quite a bit through ETF’s.
Buy, Now. Buy as much as you can, as they are already running out. They recently announced the discontinuation of the American Mint’s coining the Silver coin’s, as they simply do not have enough Silver. You can see where this is going obviously. Not enough Silver, and the cost to start Mining outweigh’s the current market spot…
We are expecting at least $50. Some have stated that over $100 is not outside the realm of possible with the current practice of QE, QE-2, and the chance of defaulting. Not sure how much I would gamble on it, but some have even stated $800+ per ounce. By then the fiat will be worthless though, so it wouldn’t matter.
It’s better to buy physical rather than representation’s, as the representation assure you that they are there, but if something were to happen and the the fiat defaults, do you really think the guy that holds the key is going to care that you gave him fiat money for real money? Buy it, buy some silica beads, ammo cans, and a shovel. Go bury it in the back yard, and forget about digging it up until it’s evident that you need it.
I buy mine from NWT.
Excuse my horrible grammar please. I haven’t slept yet. LOL!