Bullion for the kids

About 6 months ago I got the idea to start giving my 9-year old a silver coin each week along with her allowance. The silver is not to be spent, rather saved. I purposefully have not given her anything that has a face-value to it (such as junk silver, etc) because I'd be worried she'd wind up spending it at Wal-Mart or something like that. Most of what I've given her has been generic 1/10 ounce silver bullion coins, which I'll typically buy 10 or so at a time and wind up paying $6 to $7 a piece. I try to get different designs to keep her somewhat interested. I was spending about $25 per month for this.

The problem we ran into was when we adopted another child a few months ago. I suddenly found myself spending twice as much and the budget became very thin due to a variety of other new expenses that comes with a second child. So I had to scale back and started giving the kids 1-gram silver coins. Those cost me about $2.50 a piece, or roughly half what the 1/10 ounce coins cost. Even then, I'm having a bit of difficulty fitting that into the budget, especially since my wife is complaining about it. So the last few weeks I've just had to give them things out of my existing collection and I even went so low as to give them $1 esienhower coins and even some of those cheap copper bullion coins. Now to be honest, the kids don't even seem to notice the lowering of value as long as they look interesting.

My original goal was that by the time my daughter became grown she'd have a few thousand dollars in silver. But that is looking less likely after the cut back.

So I'm writing here looking for ideas of what to give them. I need to stay within $2 per child for the time being. I can alternate and do $1 one week and maybe $2.50 the next week. So I can still fit a 1 gram silver coin in there every other week. What are best suggestions for a coin that is approx $1 that does not have any face value? Any thoughts?

 

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Somehow convince them not to spend war nickels or silver dimes. You can always get them for a good price.

 

Just give them each a ASE on their birthday

 

what rocky said or at least buy the 1/10 ozers from Provident, they sell them for 3.77 a piece, and maybe just buy them once every 3 months, put them away, and then give them to the kids every week. You'd save on shipping doing it that way.

 

They wont spend proof coins.

 

The problem your running into is the fact your buying fractional bullion, which carries high premiums. $7 for a 1/10 oz of silver might sound cheap, but consider your paying $70 for an ounce of silver in the long run, that's twice as much.

Now think 10 years ahead, when your daughter goes to cash it in, maybe to get a car, or to go to college, she is going to take a major loss on it. Although she didn't pay for it, she personally is not going to get a good return for your investment.

You worry about your daughter spending face value...well what would keep her from taking the silver and selling it to her friends? I was 9 years old once, and I would of gladly coughed up a dollar for a real silver coin.

Here is my advice.

Buy rolls of mercury dimes, they can be had often for close to melt. Keep them somewhere where she can't get to them. However keep in mind in a couple years she will be 11, and although I don't know your child, an 11 year old should know not to spend/sell something when told not to do so. Do this for the other kid, I can't give any input because I don't know the age.

Not only are you giving your child silver coins, they also have history behind them. To a 9 year old, silver coins from WWII and before sounds a heck of a lot cooler than just silver coins.

Also, buy your kid a red book, if you haven't yet. Teach them the importance of mintage figures, and how the condition of the coin relates to value. Who knows, maybe after a few rolls you may get a 16-D in your findings.

 

Get some cheap copper bullion coins in bulk enough to last a for a few weeks. Then get yourself some silver of whatever type that you prefer. Give the kids a copper piece per week and after they have so many say 3/4 weeks allow them to exchange the copper bullion pieces for a silver piece. You could even set up a chart based system with pictures to show them something like the following
1 copper round = 1 war nickel
2 copper rounds = silver dime
4 copper rounds = silver quarter
etc , etc

 

Last person I would ever take financial advice from on this board he says that an 11 year old shouldn't spend something when told not too; yet he himself posts about spending money he doesn't have and then complains about the ramifications that arose from doing so.

 

Was it really necessary to bring this up?

 

It's the truth, sorry if the truth upsets you.

 

I like the idea about the roll of Mercs. Also they don't look like regular dimes so maybe they'll be less inclined to spend them.

 

I think so. One that can/will not heed advice should not be offering it.

 

I think this is the ticket..

 

I agree. It feels like I am watching an anti-bullying video.

If Tim asks for advice, its one thing. To jump on him in an unrelated thread I simply feel is cyber bullying, and I am extremely unhappy to see such things on CT.

 

Or even barbers which can be bought for bullion nowdays. Excellent idea. I know it may be tougher to get the kids to not spend them, but it will save you a ton.

Sit them down, show them how to put them in 2x2's and label them, maybe even get binders and sheets for them to hold their collections.

 

I was thinking the same thing, but if he is tight on cash he could get Roosevelts a bit cheaper, however the kids may spend those.

 

How 'bout some 'modern' commemorative dollars? You can usually gettem at a 'steal'.......

 

Especially when Deteco's post is the best by far as of now on this thread
Sad indeed

 

Yep..I got 6 barber quarters for $33 (22x face) today at my LCS. Melt for a 90% quarter is $5.45 right now...making 6 of them worth $32.70 in silver... a 1% markup. Sure beats paying so much for the 10th oz or grams. A dime weighs 2.5 grams and is 90% silver so you're getting 2.25 grams of silver for less than it would cost you for 1 gram at the price you mentioned.

As an added bonus, a couple of the quarters I got were mid-range as far as being better dates too, and would probably sell for 15 or 20 dollars at some other shops in the condition they were in.

The different designs on the mercs/Barbers would keep their interest too. And if they're extra good, you can give them a Barber quarter or maybe a standing lib!

 

Another bonus is the recognition...90% silver is known everywhere and sells easily. And you can figure out the price simply using a face value multiple like the 22x I mentioned.

10 years from now, what kind of reception and price are they gonna get when they bring a box full of silver grams to the coin store? People buy and sell 90% junk cause it is easy. How many people do you see going into the shop and asking for silver grams? Conversely, how many shops have bins or cases full of grams of silver? They all have 90% junk bins though, and people are always asking to buy it too.