Looking at investing some money in sliver

Well, a buddy and I are looking at spending a few thousand bucks on silver as an investment, does anyone have any pointers, or should we just go buy some 10oz bars and 1oz coins?

Thanks.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

At the moment, silver is just a tad over $39. How high do you think it will go?

Chris

 

Assuming you have investigated silver, are comfortable with the high risk, have reason to believe it will go up, can afford the loss if it goes down, have enough savings so that this isn't an investment that will break you if it fails, then American Silver Eagles are good. So are Maple Leafs from Canada. Most bars are good if they are a brand name. Don't buy anything from China. Compare prices with several sources so you don't overpay. If this is your initial silver investment, avoid Ebay and buy from a reputable dealer [online or local dealer]. Don't buy anything unusual or exotic because it may turn out to be difficult to resell without a discount.

I'm sure others can think of other suggestions.

 

For us its mostly investing money we'll be trying to save for life after the corps, so its money thats going to be used for 3-4 years. I dont trust keeping money in a bank account for later with the way our dollar and country is going, it may be worthless by the time i need it.

 

So its better to buy new silver rather then pre 65?

 

Welcome to CT! I like American Silver Eagles as close to spot as you can get them. Here is a decent site:

http://www.providentmetals.com/bullion/silver/us-slv/ase.html

:smile TC

 

I'm a fan of American Eagles and AE proofs for most of my bullion investing.

As for overall investing though, I would put that money into qaulity rare coins made of silver. You can then cover yourself if silver goes down by selling them to numismatists. Look at Barber series and older to see what I mean.

 

That's exactly what I did when starting out (bought some 10 oz bars and 1oz .999 coins).
Then I got into pre 1965 90% US silver coins.
Now I've gotten interested in modern US silver proofs and old foreign silver coins.
I think it's all good.

 

Inflation should not devalue the money in that time frame Marine. If you know you need this money in a few years, I would keep it in the bank drawing a tiny bit of interest. Its much safer than speculating on a precious metal, especially considering the high fees PM have.

You have to always remember this. Dealers charge a premium buying silver, and charge a fee to sell it back to them. On average you will probably lose $1 an ounce if you are lucky to these fees. Short term investing in any metals is very risky, and silver is riskier than many others.

Just an opinion. Unfortunately from an Army vet, so you may choose to disregard.

Chris

 

I think Chris is right, although I understand your concerns. I personally don't worry about it being worthless in a few years, I think the chance that we will all die 12/21/2012 is the same. Both are ill founded theories. If it help, consider putting a small amount 5-10% into silver. I may be early, but I bought into GE today as I feel it is well oversold, and their connection to nuclear power plants seem to have died down , and they will probably profit from China's intent to increase nukes. Unfortunately, I do not know the future either, and if anyone says they do, they are lying unless they have a halo over their head. I am not a military vet, just a vet of many market years , IMO.

Jim

 

Yeah, its not as if this is an ill concieved sentiment, or its not a good thought for longer term money, its just short term these things are risky. I would hate to have your future compromised by investing money that is needed short term.

It is the exact same reason why you should always draw down your stock market exposure the closer you get to requirement. You cannot risk short term money in a long term bet.

 

Today's YouTube video from BrotherJohnF just went over this topic (this guy is a wealth of info BTW) and he suggested 1 oz coins from the Perth mint, which I completely agree with having bought some last weekend. Although you can get them cheaper from APMEX or Gainesville Coins than the Perth Mint.

His reasons are as follows:
1) Counterfeitability - 1 oz coins are much harder to counterfeit. They have an easy weight test and a ring test. The designs are also difficult to fake as compared to bars. He says he was around in the 70's, and that counterfeiting was a real concern when silver hit $50 back then, with silver coated molybdenum bars much like gold coated tungsten.
2) Premium - Premiums tend to grow in percentage due to #3, which he illustrated with his 2009 purchase of lunar silver Tigers. So even though you pay a little more now, you will get a lot more later. This however is under the assumption that demand remains high.
3) Rarity - This goes in tandem with #2, but specifically with the Perth Mint coins they are only created if someone orders them. So they are especially good on the rarity factor.
4) Strong Hands - Having something with rarity and a premium means that when the market dips you retain a lot more of your value than generic silver, and you won't get scared out of the market so easily. Makes it easier to hold through the bumps.
5) Confiscation - Not sure I totally agree with this one, but he indicated a 1 oz coin is a lot less likely to be confiscated than a larger bar if that came to pass. 6) Liquidity - This was not on his list like #'s 1-5, but I am adding this one because I also like 1 oz bars for the reason it's easier to do an exact trade than if you have larger bars. This is also a good reason to have some junk silver.

His primary recommendation was the 2011 Koalas because of the affordability for how rare they are, and the detailed design.

I would add though, that had I not already had other silver I probably wouldn't have been as inclined to pay such premiums for coins which were more for the collector in me than the investor.

Ultimately what I prefer is a very diverse holding of silver to cover all angles. When I first got into silver I went for mostly generic bars and rounds because no premium paid means no premium to lose, but his case is a compelling one.

 

I like 1 oz. rounds and pre-65 coins about the same. If you go to a nearby dealer, they may have off-quality ASEs for generic prices. My dealer often has oddly colored, scratched, etc. ASEs in the generic bin, and it's great, since I'm buying them mostly as bullion.
You may want to think about platinum, since you have a few thousand dollars to put into it. Or gold, if the spot price drops heavily.

 

If you could get a set of these for under $1300 including shipping you may be on to something- it is not a pure bullion buy but you will be paying a pretty small premium for a decent numismatic item.
http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw=(a...udhi=&_sop=12&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=

 

I have preferred and bought tubes of ASEs, Maple Leafs, and Libertads as opposed to Kaolas, Kooks, Pandas, or others that have higher premiums but no greater bullion value. I also like 1oz and 10oz bars (Silvertown). Larger bars would be more convenient but harder to liquidate quickly. I haven't bought recently with the high prices because I can't see silver going much higher, but I thought the same thing when it hit $20. I don't care much for pre-65 coins-- no good reason.

 

Thanks for the help, its not something i'm hoping to make a lot of money on, more just to keep it safe till i need it, and to keep it safe from the rate the dollar is falling.

 

I also dont have enough money right now for gold, i dont want just one or two oz of something, rather a bunch, in case i ever need them as a trade item...

 

I have a 1877 indian head penny i'd be trying to sell, or trade for silver, how do i post a for sale post?

 

For Sale Forum

http://www.cointalk.com/f61/

 

I'm a fan of buying circulated, common date Morgan and Peace dollars. You can often pick up rolls of these for close to melt, maybe a buck or two over per oz. So you're basically buying silver bullion, but Morgan and Peace dollars also have some history and a certain amount of numismatic value as well. I've found them to be easier to unload than silver bullion, like ASEs or 90% silver in smaller denominations. There's some mythic appeal to a real silver dollar that translates well into selling them.

There are 20 coins in a roll, and each coin has .778 oz of silver in it. So each roll has around 15.56 oz of silver in it. So if you're getting them for under $650 per roll right now, you're doing OK.


Good luck and Semper Fi.