Wanted some advice on When to sell and how to do it. My silver stash is more than my Gold stash but I want to include it also. What are good spot prices to sell silver and gold? If they are trending upward should I try to sell in increments instead of all at once? The reason why I want to sell is because I have a wedding, reception and honeymoon to pay for! While I am excited to be with my future bride I am not excited about all those expenses. Not getting a lot of help from our families on this too. And on a side note I kind of want to get out of silver and gold as I believe I can find better places to put my money.
#1 you shouldn't be uncomfortable with the cost of your marriage. If you are, you two need to better compromise until you're both satisfied #2 Selling PMs to pay for an expense today is generally unwise. It's no different than cashing out a retirement account to pay for a nonretirement expense. Follow the same advise for selling your silver and gold as financial planners give for when cashing out retirement accounts is appropriate. A house may be a valid reason, a wedding not so much.
If you need this money in the short term, i.e. less than 1 year, I would take any upswing to sell. I would get in touch with a buyer and determine if there is any benefit in spread to selling large quantities. If you are in general looking to get out of this and into some other investment, then I would sell it now and buy the other investment, no point in timing the market, you are as likely to get it wrong as right...
I would make some money as I have done well on my purchasing. @jason A. Sound advice as to looking at is as a retirement account. @beef1020 I agree with what you say on trying to time the market, good point. I could hold on to my PM's despite the wedding but it would be tough. I guess I could limit the guests and make it a pretty basic honeymoon.
If you need the money for wedding expenses, then you'd better sell, sell, sell. Waiting to see if the spot price will rise may put your wedding at risk. Don't look back! Shoulda! Woulda! Coulda! Chris
I would think the first thing to do is find the best place/person to sell it to for the best prices. Believe me, not all places pay the same. In my experience, the smaller overhead the place has generally offer the best prices. You'll need to put in some time for this. Sometimes a simple phone call will work. Just ask what they are playing out at the current spot price, and go from there. Now for selling, you may want to sell off in batches instead of all at once, depending on what PMs are doing at the time. PMs seem to be on an upswing right now. It's all in the timing. Again, finding the best buyer in your area is the most important thing that's within your control, then timing your sales with upswing in prices to net you the best prices. IMHO. Congratulations, and good luck.
I don't think selling PMs is like a retirement account. If you don't pay off that retirement account loan or cash out, then you are hit with heavy taxes as you get a penalty and then have to pay taxes on that pre-tax retirement account (401k vs Roth & age differentiations). I don't see those heavy taxes with selling PMs. I do see buying into PMs are a mental thing for wealth storage though. You could technically buy back into PMs at a later date at or below your current selling cost. But I do disagree on selling valued assets to pay off types of debt unless you absolutely have to. Of course, if you bought *more* PMs instead of paying down debt with that extra $$ .. that's something else entirely. Or if you bought PMs using debt .... ugh.
Then you have already passed the first hurdle. Next is when to sell, and how much to sell at one time. Since I know you watch PM prices, it's your call. They seem to be on a bit of an upswing lately, I might hold off a bit to see where/if they continue to do so. It greatly depends on when you are going to need the money, and if you are willing to gamble on the market fluctuations. That is when selling in batches may be better for you. Although it's still a gamble. Again, good luck.
When you decide to sell, don't look back. Any one can say they sold at "the wrong time." And, in your case, you'll be making a profit. No one ever did badly by doing that!
It's probably none of my business, but you posted the subject, so I'm weighing in . . . I think you are playing with fire. Even before you are married, you may be unwittingly "teaching" your wife-to-be that it is okay to spend first, and figure out how to pay for it afterward. When I married, we already had money in the bank that we'd been saving, but my wife and I both decided what a reasonable budget would be for our wedding well before making any plans, and then saved for it apart from what we'd already saved for other purposes (retirement, a home, vacation, Christmas account, etc.) Committing yourself to expenses that are well within your collective control, and then figuring out how to dig out after the fact is a recipe for failure. Expecting patience of, and delivering patience to one another is a great lesson . . . especially early in your lives together. This is your first and best chance to pair up and figure out how to plan around debt, and not derail your other plans with impulsive spending. As for when to sell . . . buy low, sell high.
I'll have a talk with her and set a budget. We have not paid for anything yet. If I can flesh out the budget and a solid date I can plan ahead better. Figuring out some more ways to cut spending will help too. I would be nice to not have to dip into my PM's. I will stop buying them on a DCA basis and will have to limit my coin collecting to just business strike Ikes!
Haven't set a budget yet? Hopefully you've priced the big ticket items. Prepare to be shocked or amazed or stunned. Don't forget to add 20% to your estimate for all the small but expensive must haves. Don't go cheap, she'll never let you forget it. Selling out of necessity is often the worst time to sell. Good luck with the foray into marriage.
Losthomer, I don't mean to be captain obvious, but as long as you're making a profit, it's never a bad time to sell. With silver in particular, there are various avenues to sell. -On Ebay, be aware of a 10% fee they will take when you do sell the bullion. -At local dealers, they will probably offer you a couple bucks below spot so they can make some money. Personally, I would hold on to silver since it generally rises around the fall/winter time frame and prices tend to relax in the summer months. Of course any Geo-political issues or Trump talk could cause a big rise in a very short period of time. As a general rule, I invest in silver/gold very lightly and only 5% of my portfolio. As an avid investor for decades, the 500 Index has always came out on top and you don't earn any dividends from silver.