With everything going on I was wonder what ya'll think about gold and silver prices. Are they going to keep going up? Do ya'll think it's a good idea to invest in both? Could this become our new currency? Where is the best place to buy so I font get screwed over?
The prices are going up because of the recent bank failures. I think once the panic dies down so will prices on PM’s.
My answers to your questions: I think both silver and gold will keep going up . . . and down. If you buy both as opposed to just one, you're diversifying. I've heard that's supposed to be a good thing. I think you can get screwed no matter where you buy.
A couple of thoughts. It's rarely a good idea to buy in at the top of any market. The axiom is "buy low, sell high" not "buy high, hope for higher". During the run-up a decade ago, it was the little-guy late-comers who were hurt the worst when prices crashed. Also, be mindful of dealer premiums and sales taxes. In some cases, the spot price may need to increase by 20% or more for retail buyers to simply break even.
The following is part of a personal conversation when trying to support the continuing existence of eBay coin sales, being destroyed by seller over-pricing coins on their site, especially pre-1933 U.S. certified Gold: I'm in my eighties, and have been collecting coins since being offered a "helper" position at age 9 in a B&M facility, traveling with the owner and others to shows, so I can appreciate your position. My offer wasn't intended to offend, just to promote/support a relationship with sellers on eBay. I sold certified large quantities of pre-1933 Gold on eBay and other sites when in early 2000. $10 coins were selling for less than $200, $20 coins were less than $400, and buyers were trust-worthy! I was selling scarce coins collected in the years prior, which generally aren't offered today, except at outrageous prices. A 600% increase in ~20 years is a remarkable return on investment for those that "collected"! I made a less than 5% reduction offer to sellers of 3 different over-priced (i.e. ~30% above CDN "market" values) generic certified Gold coins, which were loudly rejected by 2 Sellers, and I purchased from the 3rd. Sellers are increasing Gold/Silver COIN prices in virtually all venues, and I don't expect a cessation! Here is a typical example of a generic coin that has a CDN Greysheet value of $3420: https://www.ebay.com/itm/354268418037?hash=item527c0b0ff5:g:hbIAAOSwtNBjGZ4v&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAA8CiHKeWEPJb41ShI2I4W3uwFNv8ZZAve7kiwSd/tJSoibHpSZ6hez17FKESWd7u/o+8xB/Vyqv/VW5NN/uJqCv+8Az22D3wXpKd4tgCCty/Lx2sR9uhBiyYR4yh48N9piYcej1COr79UiZCn8PSiZRp4dXpMi9uug63ggHhpV6IiGy+G3IQ6cd6GFRyYRK619enJ2gE/ZUwjjcKv111SacWIqSa/3PK5RmCC+J4nsJgRojjDKB2XbJ4NE0qLS8SRT/lsUF7rNc/E6y9mxy891w2QycA6a/zR3jfdBhLUcBgqYY6k44y/frFjPGBBmGGyCg==|tkp:Bk9SR9Lv65jpYQ&LH_BIN=1 + is not a grade increase! JMHO
You don't think the government is going through with the CBDC. If they do then that either make gold worthless or very expensive. I think it could go either way, but I don't want to be stand there holding nothing when the take our cash away.
I don't think buying at record highs (for gold anyway) is smart. But if you don't own any, sure, buy some gold and silver. It's good to keep a small part of your portfolio in physical precious metals, and hope that you don't ever need it.
As stated above, like every commodity, gold, silver and other pms will fluctuate in price. With their use in many facets of socieity; jewelry, electronics, coins, gold backs, government accumulations, I think prices will, generally, continue to go up. With states now getting involved in accumulating pms, I think it is a signal that the market is going through a paradigm shift that will cause more increases than decreases. States are even accepting it as legal tender. https://www.mintstategold.com/inves...ere-gold-and-silver-have-become-legal-tender/ I've heard China is stockpiling, but I trust nothing about them. I would buy at local shows and stores, from long standing dealers, and ask questions re: authenticity concerns and see how they deal with it.
I don't understand bullion investing/speculation. It's the sort of thing (like stocks) that is beyond me. So I don't buy bullion. But for those that do I hope it works out well for you.
I probably have not bought enough bullion because I keep buying collector coins. I have some American Gold Eagles that I bought as type coins in Proof and Uncirculated. I have quite a few modern U.S. commemorative gold coins. I bought a lot of them years ago. Despite the fact that they have little or no collector value, the bullion value has made them into winners. I looked at buying American Gold Eagles, but the high price of gold scares me. I've seen gold go has high as $800 + in years past and then go down to $300 +. I have some certified double eagles for which I paid $300 or less in MS-63 and 64. It's a hard time to know what is good with respect to metals because the country has gone a bit crazy. The high gold prices are due to that instability.
I totally agree with the buy low sell high approach. I like buying junk silver because the premium is usually a few percent over spot when you buy it from a credible dealer. That being said, when silver tanked under $10 an ounce during peak COVID 2020, dealers had a difficult time getting inventory and was charging $5 or more over spot.
There's a guy on youtube called yankee stacker that interviews a bullion dealer in New Hampshire. That guy made a bunch of videos having simple conversations with him over the years and now he's famous. Now people drive to his shop from all over the country to buy from him because they believe he's "trustworthy". If that's something you want to do for a vacation road trip to see the northeast, it's fine by me. But to make a trip there from the gulf coast seems completely idiotic to me. Go to a local show and use the gas money on more bullion. I think Apmex is a trustworthy source. They scan every piece that goes through their hands to ensure it's not a fake so if they inadvertently had a fake come in, they would catch it before re-selling it which could ruin their credibility. It's really smart to me as simple as the process is. If that's not enough to trust a company I don't know what is. You can test silver with rare earth magnets yourself. Pure silver is slightly magnetic. If you tip a bar up at a 45 and put a rare earth magnet on it, it will slowly creep/slide down the bar. If it sticks to it or doesn't have any pull at all, something is up. You can run the test at a dealers table before you buy if concerned. Also have the tissue test but silver plating would give a false positive.
My investments are in mutual funds and stock. I've also invested in real estate in the past, I will observe that being a landlord has it's own headaches, but it can be profitable. I buy coins for fun, but I will say that buying good quality and interesting coins when the opportunity arises at reasonable prices (which are always changing) is unlikely to lose you money. I'm an opportunistic buyer for the most part, though I do have a "want" list for my current collections (Colonial Copper & SLQs). I have bought a lot of "junk" silver (and old copper) over the years to sort through for interesting and undiscovered pieces which has not only been fun, but it's also yielded some great (and valuable) finds. I suppose the Cherry Pickers Guide is probably the way to go for investment purposes, but even if you buy lower grade / details stuff, the rare and unusual has consistently appreciated in value over the last 30 plus years while I've been doing it. Keep in mind that markets are typically cyclical - and we're due for a downturn. The Fed and market makers may be able to engineer a "soft landing" and this weird labor market is pretty interesting and unusual, but I expect that a lot of things will be cheaper in the next year or two. One of my kids is looking to buy a house (in Minnesota) - and I'll cosign for him, but I'm urging him to hold off until next Spring / Summer unless the market drops further before then.
