Re: Silver or Gold for investmet?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jayne</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Asking for investment advice here is nutty, but the 'buy ammo' rule isn't so bad.
If you do decide to buy some metals (which I would be leery of now, all those shysters with the TV ads makes me think metals have jumped the shark for new investors), stick with known coins or bars. US gold/silver eagles, canadian maples, J&M or Engelhard bars, etc. No-name bars and coins sell for less over spot, but they're harder to sell later and will sell for even less or not be trade worthy at all in a SHTF scenario. If you're just going to dabble, silver coins are easy to buy over time and easier to trade with later. 100oz bars are uber-fun to have and to hold, but make lousy currency.
Also, when picking what to buy figure out if you're buying bullion/metals or 'rare coins'. Rare coins are worth what their base metal is worth plus some random markup based on what collectors think it's worth. If you really think of a SHTF scenario where you're using your coins to buy stuff, a silver eagle you pay $17 for now will be readily identifiable as 1oz of silver later. The 1927 XYZ super-rare misprinted whatitz coin you pay $2500 for now may or may not be worth 1oz of silver to the guy you're trying to buy bread from. Sure, the 1927 XYZ may turn out to be worth $25k in 30 years and the eagle is worth $30, but that's a coin investment, not a bullion investment. They're both investments, just betting on different endings.
Also also, if you're buying from pawn shops or coin shops you can easily shop around. Some friends and I were buying 100oz bars a while back and we would go to the local shop, tell him what we were after and he would call around and see what he could get and negotiate the markup with us. If we didn't like it we could go to another shop who would call around to the same suppliers and again try to negotiate a markup. J&M bars is bars, so whoever marked them up the least won. No one (around here) really stocks anything in quantity so they're all just middlemen to those dealers we're not big enough to talk to. Don't let them trick you into thinking they've got the only bullion in town. Experience shows that doing this on the phone doesn't work as well. Show up in person with a stack of bills and they deal more.
My friend buys on-line from some of the _reputable_ web sites, and has had no problems. I've not done that myself but based on his history I wouldn't hesitate to do it if the markup is right.
Remember to diversify!
Disclaimer: I am not a bullion dealer, or even a trader. I'm not an investor, I'm a horder!
</div></div>
Excellent advice, and lovely portfolio. Thanks
An interesting site is Kitco.com. gives up to the minute spot rates on metals, Silver, gold, platinum, Rhodium with all kinds of historical charts. I bought a couple of gold liberty $1000 dollar coins last year, one at $950, and one at $1000, and gold is spotting at $1130 or so today. Down from a recent $1300. Like anything else do your homework, and buy from REPUTABLE dealers.
