HerculeHolmes

1 hour ago, HerefordBullyun said:

I'm waiting for BP to go below 1.80 although it's great entry point now I think. But it's going to be a bumpy ride

I'd buy some more right now but I don't have a penny left to spare. I hope the price doesn't bump back up before pay day.

I've put £1,200 into Royal Dutch Shell because it sounds like a safe enough investment  (I at least don't expect to lose money on it) but really I have no idea how much it's going to be worth 5 or 10 or 15 years from now. Will it go back up to it's old 2018/2019 value, or will it NEVER return to that level?

Returning to normal is taking a lot longer that I'd hoped. 3 weeks they said... Now we're into a second wave (or so they claim, personally I am very suspicious about the numbers) and can't help but feel a conspiracy theory atmosphere in the air like it's all to do with stopping Brexit and replacing Donald Trump and desensitizing us into living in a less free world. This is not the same world we were living in 1 year ago.

But I am hopeful (if that's the right word) that oil is still going to be the big thing for decades to come. I've started putting some cash into Shell and BP on Trading 212 (about £700). Maybe I should be using a different platform.. I don't really know much but Trading 212 is the only one I've used so far. Gotta start somewhere though.

On 22/09/2020 at 20:49, KDave said:

 

I'm not a believer in electric cars, I think Governments will still get their fuel revenue by hook or by crook, I think ordinary ICE cars - especially secondhand - are often more economical in the short and long term,  I think distance range is a major issue on the "cheapest" electric cars and that they will become unusable for many people when the battery ages and range drops below the necessary commuting distance, I think they have relatively short life-spans - the value of the car being almost entirely in the battery, I think they are not green - I think it's just "green theatre", I think households will have no way to charge more than one vehicle at a time, I think that an all-electric fleet of cars will put huge pressure on power stations, and most of all I think they are simply far too expensive for 90%+ of people to buy.

But, if we are forced to buy them by our governments, then they WILL take over, and the value of petrol and diesel will crash through the floor. I don't know what is going to happen, but it seems to me that a lot of governments are very, very keen to push EV's on us whether we like them or not and whether we can afford them or not.

I can appreciate that GoldSilver.be are little more than a one-man-band company and reimbursing a customer on such a big order would cripple them, but their attitude STINKS. If the carrier has lost the shipment what harm can it do them? Why aren't they making any attempt to help? i think their name is mud now, at least for anyone who uses this website.

1 hour ago, KDave said:

Apple is now worth more than the entire FTSE 100 constituents combined (according to its share price), and Tesla has a price to earnings that would mean you would have to wait almost a thousand years to get your money back from said earnings if you bought the company at today's share valuation. Make of that what you will.

I swear, if people ever wise-up to Apple (Louis Rossmann anyone?) Apple will spontaneously combust. Brilliant, brilliant marketing, but their products are flaky.

On 31/08/2020 at 00:25, KDave said:

https://www.koamnewsnow.com/i/exxon-was-the-worlds-largest-company-in-2013-now-its-being-kicked-out-of-the-dow/

About as contrarian as it gets. 

https://www.livetradingnews.com/tesla-nasdaqtsla-stock-worth-more-than-exxonmobil-shell-and-bp-combined-193724.html

Or you could buy Tesla and be on the winning side. 👍

I think electric cars are a big fat scam. Right now is a Golden Age of used cars; ICE technology has matured and you can buy a car that is 10 or 20 years old - anything built since cars stopped being prone to rust - that works perfectly well and is just about as good as a brand new car, and old bangers are wonderful for people who only drive 50 miles a week; cheap to buy and fuel is a minor issue - you need to drive big distances to get value out of an electric car.

But the automotive industry is in the business of selling NEW cars, and when electric cars take over, who is going to buy an old electric car? EV's are only as good as their batteries. They are eye-wateringly expensive, but so what? FINANCE is the future; a very lucrative cash-extraction scheme in it' own right. People won't be able to buy cars to own and keep for 15 or 20 years, they'll finance their cars and when they can't make the monthly payment.. well then they are screwed if they can't get to work.

The car industry can sweep away the nuisance of old cars, the money-lenders will make a fortune on finance packages, the electricity companies will make out like bandits when they raise the price of electricity, and the Government will recoup the lost income from fuel by putting a super-tax on electricity and charging stations.

I'm not saying it's not a good investment, but it's a dirty business if you ask me.

5 minutes ago, KDave said:

If you don't know why you are investing then yes of course its a mistake. What as the reason for investing in them in the first place, because the price was low and it went lower? It could get a lot lower yet. 

What Peter Lynch observed is that the USA has gone from 5 million barrels of shale oil a day to 12 million barrels, and he doesn't believe demand is going to increase. I'm not nervous of the value of my portfolio going down, I'm sure even it goes down 50% (as Charlie Munger & Warren Buffet say) it'll go back up again over time. But I am worried about buying "cheap" stocks that aren't going anywhere but down. I've only got a small amount (£750) invested on Trading 212 to test the waters and get a sense of how investing works, but it's not the kind of mistake I want to make later on when I'm ready to make my first serious "all my eggs in one basket" investment.

That said, I know they say you're supposed to "strap in to the rollercoaster and stay in your seat" when it comes to equity investment but a crash is expected in October, so wouldn't it make sense to cash-in now and buy back in during the crash? I don't get it.

On 22/08/2020 at 11:17, Stacktastic said:

Let's keep things civil, we all have different opinions, but a common cause.
 

I went for a walk yesterday and I was surprised how many houses have sold. Combination I think of being cooped up at home for 3 months, no stamp duty, time to move as furlough is still on & a delay in the market peak buying season, leading to a sudden rush. 

All gonna stall after furlough i think Oct time. They will be kicking themselves in 3-4 years when/if property prices plummet. 

On topic. I purchase £400 of shell & bp yesterday in the second low dips around 1pm. Happy with that. Almost as cheap as March!!!!
Either I am making a colossal mistake here, or this is a deal of a lifetime. Cant decide 😛

I put the same amount into Shell and BP a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like a no-brainer until I heard Peter Lynch say this:

https://youtu.be/qQfe02XD2MQ?t=290

I might have made a boo-boo.

I put a small amount of money on Shell and BP using Trading 212. I was tempted to add more but Ramin over at PensionCraft rates the Trading 212 app as "gambling". Maybe I should stick with index funds.

On 14/08/2020 at 19:53, Robjw said:

As discussed investigation is yet to be raised by CRG team therefore, there is no claim yet.

That right there is weasel-speak. You already raised a claim when you contacted them 2 weeks prior to report the missing delivery. To say that "there is no claim yet" is a stalling tactic.

Okay, that pisses me off. I guess it's better than no protection at all, but putting - what, £2,000 retail - of platinum coins into a box and not sealing the bags and not padding the box.. That's a horrible lack of attention. They're just not competent to handle coins. I mean really, this is what they do for a LIVING. How can they not know how to properly package valuable coins? What the bloody hell are they doing?

I was annoyed at the little mark on my 10 ounce silver coin, which devalued it probably £30 - £40. Thank fudge I didn't buy a gold or platinum coin from them. Stuff that, I am not using Goldsilver.be again.

FFS.

4 hours ago, InvestInCoins888 said:

This is the beautiful wooden box my 2 x 1oz Royal Arms Platinum coins were rattling around in all the way from Belgium.

The Box is beautiful and if they hadn’t ruined my 2 pristine coins I’d be quite pleased with it.

Its pretty incompetent and not the shipping companies fault.

Personally I’m all for making PM parcels bigger than necessary as it deters casual postal theft. I’d never dream of leaving 2 coins to rattle around inside a box like this, would you?

 

 

That sounds bad, but I'm guessing they were at least bubble-wrapped?

On 05/08/2020 at 21:57, Robjw said:

Same here really, it would of been next day delivery internationally and if they had just raised a claim with UPS that day I likely would of used them again in the future. 

The customer service just destroys the entire trust, they are genuinely just unpleasant people, its not even a select person, every single person to reply is just horrible.

That's the big concern for me too. Goldsilver.be don't DO customer service; if my order went walkabout my only avenue of assistance would be the parcel delivery company. It seems to be much the same story with European Mint, but as someone pointed out, they don't actually offer shipping, only a third-party link (which would be fine, but they don't make it at all clear on their website that they don't guarantee delivery - and that's a big deal). Goldsilver.be IMO aren't worth the price saving, it's too much stress and hassle when things go wrong. I appreciate that they are a mom & pop store  and they haven't got the time or energy to be dealing with every little paranoid BS email, but I don't find their attitude "charming and eccentric", just rude.

Between the two, I'd rather go with European Mint, but I'm really starting to see the pros of dealing with UK based dealers like Chard's and Baird's and Bleyer.

Perhaps it's time The Silver Forum added Goldsilver.be to a "rogue trader" blacklist?

3 hours ago, Robjw said:

Update:

Goldsilver.be have tried to claim it was now delivered, told me to kalm down there are never losses with UPS and they will ask the driver to come back and see me face to face to say who they delivered it to.

Emailed again today for an update as no driver has been back but the email has been ignored it seems.

😔

 

My feeling about Goldsilver.be is that when something goes wrong, they just don't have the manpower to cope with more than one problem at a time. They might have two-dozen undelivered packages to chase-up and a stream of emails from customers who have goofed-up at their end and are blaming it on the seller - all part and parcel of running an online business. But I'd be feeling a bit nervous too when they say "talk to UPS". No, locating the parcel is the job of the vendor not the customer. That is the law in both the UK and in the EU.

Most likely the package will turn up all quite suddenly - maybe tomorrow - and your worries will evaporate. I'd call UPS to make sure they are seriously trying to locate the parcel - normally it will either be in the warehouse or in the driver's van. My guess is that it's in the van and the driver has buggered off somewhere (off sick/ holiday) and the supervisor at the depot can't get hold if him on his mobile.

It's GoldSilver.be's responsibility to get the package to you though.

 

 

58 minutes ago, Allroad said:

Managed to snatch the last one😀

I was thinking about it, but I'm not convinced 1 kilo bars are such a great idea. They must be a pain to sell on.

Rookie question: What's a good price to pay for a 1oz platinum coin? Is £870 too far above spot price?

22 minutes ago, Melon said:

A coin like this has the advantage of being capital gains tax free and is probably easier to sell. I'd only go for a platinum bar over a coin if I was making a saving on the premium. 

I'm definitely tempted. Only problem is that I just read something about goldsilver.be, and looking at the comments on TrustPilot I'm worried about the order I already placed with them.

I don't dare risk it unless I can get some sort of confirmation that the company is legit, not going bankrupt and not going to ignore my emails if something goes wrong. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/goldsilver.be

5 hours ago, PiK2K said:

I wish I had an option to buy in US without EU tax/custom punishment. Recently almost all good and most importantly available options to buy platinum are in US. I really envy them...

Anyway, Royal Arms are available now in gs.be:

https://goldsilver.be/en/home/3232-uk-1-oz-platinum-royal-arms-2020-100.html

I think I take a risk and buy one. I mean risk because like I asked before here I have no feeling that anyone here can definitely say that they're reliable now but in the past many bought from them. Moreover GS uses the language like "we send the items when we send the items and what can you possibly do to us"

I'm quite tempted, but being new at this I am wondering: Is buying a bar more sensible than buying a coin?

1 hour ago, Allroad said:

Silber-corner has a good deal on Queens Beasts at around 34 quid for 2 ounce shame they won't deliver outside Germany.

Link added anyway as it's a steal for some.

 

https://www.silber-corner.de/de/white-horse-of-hanover-2020-2-unzen-silber?c=53

 

 

 

Damn, that is cheap. It's €47.96 from Goldsilver.be
I've just emailed them to check that they don't offer international shipping. Seems strange if they don't; I would have expected them to ship anywhere in the EU and France is right next door.

On 20/04/2020 at 19:42, Silvs said:

That's fantastic info. What happens once we have left the EU? Do different VAT rules apply. If I buy silver from Estonia and get it shipped to UK, do I have to pay VAT then? 

Yes it was for storage - it just seemed a bit too good to be true that I could aviid VAT entirely at either selling or buying provided I avoided the UK. For example, would I have to pay taxes in ROI? 

I don't know how I missed this thread, I asked almost the exact same question myself. I'm very pleased to find that I can buy silver at low rates of VAT or no VAT from Europe, but I'm also now wondering about the pros and cons of pre-owned silver versus new. It seems to be an awful lot cheaper.