I'm in a real debacle here. I'm currently trying to fill out my wheat penny book (which has taken me longer than I would have liked, but what can ya do?) but I really want to get started into bigger better coins (e.g. Peace Dollars, Standing Liberty Quarters, other slabbed pieces). I realize that these will likely be very hard for me to finish, but getting started and having these coins is really what I want ATM. However, Ive also started to get into PM stacking and have been hitting that pretty hard for the past month or so. So like I said, I'm not sure how to balance the two. Do I alternate between 1 month of buying PM's and 1 of buying numismatic coins? Do I go hard PM's for a month or 2 then focus on numismatic coins for a month or two with PM's taking the back seat and only buying them when I cash left over? I'm really not sure. What would y'alls opinion be on this be? Thanks
You could build up your PMs by collecting series for which the premium on 90% silver is reasonable. As a good example, you could buy roll quantities of SLQs or Peace Dollars, pick out the coins you want in your collection, and then either save the rest as 90% silver, or sell it back into the market to generate cash for another purchase of more SLQs to search. Of course, you'll come up against the inevitable wall, where you cannot find the last few key and semi-key coins, but that would be the case if you were building the collection coin-by-coin. You'll have to spend the big money on those last few coins at some point. Still, in collecting this way, you'd be able to devote all of your funds to expansion of your collection, while never really being out of the metals market.
You have countless options, but what is your ultimate goal? For me, I try to buy PMs for the lowest cost. If prices seem elevated, I hold off buying until they come down. Setting quotas or buying schedules for PMs could end up costing more than it needs to, depending on where the market sits. The numismatic items, with some exceptions, probably have less of a market influence on them. So they can probably wait for times that the PM market seems inflated.
The one thing to resist is the temptation to "trade" 90% silver, "buy-low, sell-high, repeat." One look at the chart for the past ten or twenty years shows the futility and prospective loss using that strategy. This doesn't mean you shouldn't be keenly aware of overall trends. The whole point of stacking is to "hold," pending unexpected developments in the marketplace, many of which derive from inflation, the bond market, and/or the value of the dollar. It is insurance (for your purchasing power), not working capital.
PMs and numismatic coins are two entirely separate issues for me. Numismatic coins are a hobby. I treat my gold purchases (AGEs) as a small diversification for my investments. One has no effect on the other.
I got into numismatic coins and PM's last year (Silver). The PM thing has totally sidetracked me from buying coins. I did want to do some soul searching on what coins I really wanted and have a good idea now. That is a good thing that I didn't make any impulsive buys on expensive coins. My coin collection is very modest but figuring out what I really want is the key and advice I have gotten from this board.
"PMs and numismatic coins...entirely separate issues for me." Agreed, but I do NOT agree that one has no effect on the other. If you pay a sizeable premium to get certain PM bullion coins, you are at risk of losing all the premium when PM prices rise; that is indisputable. Period. At some point, that proof ASE will just be another hunk of silver, and your breakeven point rises proportionally to the premium (or worse, slabbing) you initially paid for.
Same here. I keep a modest stash of bullion solely for the purpose of investment portfolio protection against catastrophic events. The PMs and my coin collection are two completely separate issues. I even store the two in separate locations. The fact that many of my coins have PM value is comforting, I suppose, but that's the extent of it.
My ultimate goal is to build a comprehensive set of all the US coins and major redbook varieties to come out of the mint. However that's very unreasonable... If I could build set of all my favorite coin series dating back to the Morgan dollar in AU-55 or better, that would be great. If I ever got there obviously I'd move further back in time, but this goal seems a buit more obtainable than the other does.
I understand that and that coin collecting shouldnt be considered an investment and that sort of stuff. It's just balancing what I spend my limited cash on.
I did that with all German silver coins denominated in marks. Started with modern W. Germany, moved back to the Nazi era when that was done. Now I am working on Weimar, but as most of those are expensive I am also working on the Empire period simultaneously. I will never finish as there are too many 2, 3 and 5 mark coins, many hard to find for less than $1000. But it is an enjoyable goal. My goal is MS for modern ones, XF or better for older ones. At the same time I buy PMs when an if I have spare FRNs.
Yeah, I'm not looking to sell right now. If silver gets high enough (back up the the high $30-$40) then I'd sell some, but not all of my silver. I'd be dumb not to. But as of now I'm not looking to sell, just to accumulate.
A good plan. I have now sold off about 50 foreign silvers with considerable premiums over spot, but still only $5 to $15 coins, and bought four rolls of 90% dimes at 12x. I call that progress.
This question really depends upon your objective. Do you want to flip PMs for short term profit? Do you want to use PMs to build wealth (park your cash until some future time). Do you just enjoy the PMs coin/medal/etc ? Do you want to collect coins because you like coins, or to flip? Do you want to collect PM based coinage ? What is your definition of "comprehensive"? Is your timeframe (a) Right now; (b) in the next couple years or (c) longer? Personally, I have a nice collection of coins - copper and PM based. I also park cash into PM base coinage for wealth building. I do *not* do any short term flipping. I also do *not* buy any 40/90% junk silver. But I think I have a nice "comprehensive" (for my purposes) coin collection, and PMs in the form of ASEs/ AGEs and PM based commemoratives & coins. It all depends upon what you want to do in the time frame you have set aside for it and how much $$$ you have during that time frame.
I just do what the current muse tells me to. I keep doing that until I get bored, then move to the next thing the muse pushes me toward. Given reasonable information about PMs, this has worked for me. And when PMs get boring, I go roll searching again. Then onto something else when that tires me. In this way I am always happy.
No one can tell you exactly what route to go because there's no right answer. If putting together that AU-55 set is most important to you maybe budget X amount for that each month to chip away at it with a little cushion in case you see a PM opportunity you don't want to pass on. Can also get the best of both worlds with some common date older coins. I just grabbed a 1905 half eagle (just under a quarter ounce of gold) in MS61 for about what 1/4 ounce AGEs are selling for right now. Admittedly I was lucky with this but if you're patient enough sales like this happen from time to time.
That is the key. I bid on lots of items on Ebay, but I mostly bid low. I win fewer than 10% of what I bid on, often much less than that, but when I do win something then I get a great deal. Only a couple of time have I won more than expected and been stuck with a larger invoice than expect, but I just float that to the next month's bids.