krispy

I gotcha on that Ins. Co. reference, it was Northwestern Mutual. I recall that made a (brief) headline in all this gold hype recently...

Northwestern Mutual Makes First Gold Buy in 152 Years
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=ajf0L9wTPq6Y

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CentDime

If you are in your 20's then I think buying bullion is a big mistake, it will only go up or down with the price of bullion.

If you want to make a lot more money you need to look into rare coins which will do much better than bullion. I have known people who purchased bullion decades ago than barely broke even, or ones that purchased bullion in the 1920's have theirs only follow the price of bullion whereas had they purchased it in rare gold coins the amount it would have appreciated would have been 30 times what it did.

danisanub

What does it matter if he's 20 or 45, if you're saying you know people who haven't made much in bullion from the 1920s? If this was true, then most people wouldn't even be commenting in this bullion section, because they wouldn't be investing.

I need to disagree and say that bullion is a good investment, but I agree that rare coins are too. The difference, however, is assuming that there will always be a demand for rare coins, because people need extra money to buy these items. Meanwhile bullion retains value and will always be needed. So I vote for bullion

CentDime

Bullion is generally considered a hedge against inflation, and price tracking shows it has not outpaced the appreciation of rare gold coins.

The ones that bought bullion in the 20's made money to today, that is true, but not nearly as much had they purchased the rare gold coins by comparison.

So I just don't see someone with the potential of 4 decades of appreciation getting stuck holding bullion when he could own something that would be amazing in 40 to 50 years, or even more.

bama guy

Well I am in the pay you college debits , get established , be patient and learn all you can and put a little cash back for your rainy day fund group. When I was in college I acquired some debt and it was nice to see that amount shrink and also have a little cash to go out when I wanted to. I hated living on a budget. You have plenty of time to invest.

Just my opinion

andrew289

Exactly. There is nothing wrong with buying 1 or 2 ounces of gold every year to put away in the safe deposit box for a rainy day.

The rare coin vs bullion debate is interesting but it's one for someone a little more established with more disposable income. When someone is first getting started, putting some money aside every month for gold, in addition to building your emergency fund and paying down your debt is the smart way to do it.

Investing in rare coins also requires a lot of research and numismatic knowledge. Over the next 5-10 years, read up on the rarities, learn how to grade and by then you will have the monry to drop on a 1916 d merc, a 1916 SLQ, a 3 legged buff ..or any number of lofty goals.

Until then anyone off the street with $970 in his pocket can buy a 1 ounce gold eagle today with no knowlege what so ever. He just wants the metal.

elaine 1970

buy gold before it's too late.

CentDime

The mint is putting out some pretty low mintage gold, silver and platinum coins lately, I think getting those would be far better than regular bullion as well. When I said rare coins I didn't mean exclusively those that are old.

What will one of the 2008 w Buffalo gold coins that was purchased last year sell for in 40 to 50 years? It won't be bullion prices thats for sure.

I know a lot of people that bash the modern coins but all coins started out modern. The low mintage modern coins though will eventually become old and will probably become classics in their own way.

Anyway if I had to pick one modern coin today that has potential it would be the 2008 platinum proof coin fractionals. A 1/10 ounce can be had for less that $400 but has a mintage of 5650.

How many proof bullion coins from the mint can be had for that price with such a low mintage?

CentDime

Here is a list of some of the recent low mintage bullion coins the mint has blessed us with. All of these have made money to those that purchased at mint prices.

2006 gold reverse proof
2006 silver reverse proof
2006 w unc platinum coins

2008 buffalo W gold, all sizes
2008 platinum proof, fractionals
2008 fractional gold unc eagles
2008 silver eagle error coin

From the looks of things the mint could be adding some 2009 coins at the end of the year.

piratej 21

To Coinman_Ben: I already buy two ASE's a month. I tried to buy two silver art bars on ebay but at the last minute someone outbid me on one and I ended up paying $9 over spot for the single one I won after shipping was added. Since they were from the same person I would have saved on shipping when combining the two but it didnt happen. After this I think Ill stick to ASE's from Apmex or Mintproducts.

To CentDime: Ok you are getting me confused. While I do enjoy collecting coins I have been told numerous times that coin collecting should not be seen as an investment. Now heres what Im getting out of what your saying, please correct me if Im wrong. Your saying that if I go the gold route to save up for one of the gold coins from this year because of their lower mintages right? So a proof gold buffalo would fit this, would the first spouse gold coins fit as well? Because one of those will be easier to save up for.

What if the mint comes out with the High Relief Palladium coin? Would that be a good buy?

I also want to go ahead and thank everyone whos posted already, your combined knowledge is quite helpful.

CentDime

Hi piratej 21,

I think some people feel that coin collecting should not be seen as an investment, but I have to disagree because some coins have been great investments in the past. As I pointed out with some of the recent mint issues those have been great investments so far. It all depends on what you buy.

The recent spouse coins are very low mintage, at least the last two to be removed for sale have been. It is a difficult call on how well those will do over the next couple of years because the mint is still releasing the coins and will continue to release coins for another 6 years. Few people will be able to afford an entire set of the coins, so all of the coins may trade as a series.

Also the price of gold may continue to rise, if that happens sales and mintages may continue to fall. That is not good for past issues when sales are dropping as it means there is less demand that the earlier issues sold. If that happens then the prices of past issues tend to sell for mint issue price or spot gold prices which is what you don't want even if gold is rising.

I don't think the mint will issue a palladium coin this year so I doubt we get a chance at that.

The proof buffalo gold should do well but it depends on how many blanks they can acquire and mint. If the sales come in under the 2008 sales of about 19,500 then it should do very well. It sounds like the mint will continue to issue the proof for the future.

Also the W silver eagles will come out later this year, there is a chance those are low mintage. I like the W silver eagles that the mint sold as they have a fraction of the amount of the regular bullion coins. The 2008 error coin is still selling for high multiples.

Anyway I think the key is it depends on the sales and what the coin is as to how well it will do. That seems obvious but it is not easy to pick the right coins.

So if say the mint sold 100,000 2009 buffalo proofs at the end of this year I would say it won't do well in ten years compared to the price of gold.

If they sell 15,000 only then it will do amazing by next year.

It seems to be all about the sales and mintages, and how those compare to other coins in the series.

Pepperoni

If I were to look at buying gold from square one today, I would learn first, and buy second.
Good advice resides here on this forum. If you do your homework and create a means to be able to buy something every year it should be a positive experience.
Collectable gold,and bulllion both can make some headway.
You can also buy the Spyder tracking fund ( GLD ) that directly tracks gold. or ( SLV ) that tracks silver. The stocks can be bought and held or used to short a falling market.
Yes there are ways to make money in a falling market.
If one scenario were to come to pass that caused the dollar to take a strong dive I believe it would be the selective healthcare bill. It will take away free market medicine. The cost will be astonomical and a bureaucrat will be telling you what care you will get and when. That is a currency breaker for a fiat type currency.

Pep

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Cloudsweeper99

If you think your police officer and waiter have more influence on the gold market than institutional investors making portfolio changes, then good luck to you. What you see today isn't hype. Back in the late 70s people were pulling money out of banks and mortgaging their houses to buy gold [and Resorts International, the first casino to open in AC]. That was hype, but I guess you had to see it to understand how wild gold fever can get. Gold is still flying under the investment radar.

Cloudsweeper99

Thanks,that's the one. There's no such thing as a sure thing, but I believe others will follow this example, particularly if it begins to work. No Chief Investment Officer wants the Board asking them why they didn't own gold when it is outperforming most other asset classes.

Pepperoni

The only thing that is SURE is that nothing is SURE.

Pep

__________________
Luck is the result of superior planning.