choices at this point of my stacking

[lightjaw]

Morning all. Just been looking at my rather modest stack so far, and it crystallised some thoughts i had been recently having about silver.

 

When i started stacking, i liked the images of the coins, and pretty much bought them because i wanted one of everything, At the point i am at now however, i am thinking more of the endgame for my silver. I want to get the biggest bang for my buck when i come to sell, and looking at all these coins, i just dont think it will cut it.

 

I have all kinds of silver coins and bars, pamp suisse, coloured perth dragons etc, and really, will i be bothered to go to all the effort to try to get the maximum price for each coin when i come to sell? Each one will (in my mind) have a different selling price due to rarity etc, and i need to try to realise that.

 

When i am 60 years old, will i really be arsed to go to that kind of effort? At the point i come to sell, will people even care about rarity, and will be only buying on the silver content?

Its just starting to feel really risky, and a bit silly, to keep buying coins in the hope (because thats all it is really, a hope, its not guaranteed) that they will appreciate in value.

 

So, i am deciding to stack nothing but the cheapest silver in bar form and to ignore coins and their additional premium. When i am older, i dont want to have to try to convince someone that "this perth mint monkey in a treehouse coin  has a mintage of only 5000 and you need to buy it for £1000 even though its only 1/2oz of sterling silver!" I might be able to do it, but i would rather be drinking out of a coconut on a beach rather than arguing with someone through ebay emails.

 

Would appreciate your thoughts.

[HelpingHands]

How would you feel if silver goes down to say £7 per oz and your stack has no collector factor premium?

It's best to consider all scenarios.

[silversword]

It's all ifs and buts... and a bit of a gamble.

 

If you collect pure bullion then you are betting on the silver price to rise, to at least keep pace with inflation, if not better. It is all outside your control so you'd better hope you understand the market fundamentals and made the right bet. Oddly there are plenty of people saying "buy silver" at the moment which is somewhat suspicious. 

 

If you accumulate lots of "collectible" coins then you are hoping that they actually are collectible in future and don't turn out to be a bit of a "back-page-of-the-Sunday-supplement/Franklin Mint" type crap that nobody actually wants. I am no expert on the matter but it seems to me there are more and more collectible coins appearing all the time and at some point it may be too much. In "the old days" I understand that coin collecting involved acquiring actual circulating or previously circulated coins, now it appears to be getting something straight from the mint and wrapping it in a plastic slab, and god help you if there's a scratch on it. Whether these un-used, perfect little pieces of art (that are as far removed from real coinage as possible) continue to be in demand in future is another gamble. 

 

So, buy what you like. Buy what you think is best. Don't put every last one of your eggs in the same basket.

[Kman]

I don't stack silver, and I only know so much so take what I say with a pinch of salt, but this is what i would do:

 

I would go with the bulk of the stack being cheap close to spot silver

 

+ Mix in some numismatic you like the design of and can enjoy aesthetically + you think might appreciate in value over time. 

 

Maybe 90/10 split 

[lightjaw]

Thanks for the replies. I think i need to get a plan and stick to it. Over the past year i suddenly realised that i am in my late 30's and need to put something away for the future. I have been throwing money at everything, but with no real plan in mind, and thats what i need to do i think.

 

So.....

 

1000+ oz of generic/numismatic silver at retirement. I like the idea of 90% cheap and 10% numismatic thanks Kman

 

5-10 bitcoins--worth a punt

 

1/2-full sov for each month of retirement

 

£50-£100 a month into private pension as a safety net on top of (shit) work pension

 

£50 into premium bonds a month--safe bet

 

£100+ per month into safe (ish) shares for dividends

 

I will be skint, but seems a plan. If i can keep this up for 20 years should be a decent sum. Trust my luck i will croak a day before retirement and the wife goes off to live in florida with a buff guy call Todd on my money

[HighlandTiger]

Trust my luck i will croak a day before retirement and the wife goes off to live in florida with a buff guy call Todd on my money

 

When I had my pub in Scotland we had a regular who'd come in every evening after work. He 'd worked all his life, rarely got sick, and had accrued a very decent pension through his job as a Coach driver. He was really looking forward to his retirement. House paid off, nice car, plenty of time for the grandkids, (and the pub of course). We had a massive party at the pub on his retirement. A great time was had by all. 6 months later he was dead. Died of a heart attack.

 

Never take anything for granted. Life has a habit of kicking you in the nether regions just when you are not looking. 

[Pete]

Nice to have a plan but you also have to live.

Many people save all their life, invest, run tired old cars and deny themselves all sorts of treats only to croak when it's time to reap their hardearned gains.

At your age you need to be looking at a SIPP and UK equity income generating funds with dividends re-invested.

Take full advantage of NISAs and tax saving products then, if there is anything left, stack PMs.

[Keithoil]

Yes NISA, s are good. No tax and an income albeit not stable, that said you can get reasonable rates you just need to chase them a little bit. But in a few years when rates are 2 to 4 percent you will be laughing all the way to the bank. Just try to max it out. That will be a lot of cash.

[lightjaw]

Thanks for the replies. I took a look at nisa's this morning. The Max I can invest is 15k. Using BAE shares as an example 15k gets me about 3.3k shares which would pay a yearly divi of £666. Doesn't seem at that great having that tax free tbh but am I missing something?

Cheers for the help

[HighlandTiger]

 Using BAE shares as an example 15k gets me about 3.3k shares which would pay a yearly divi of £666. 

£666 is 4.44% of £15k. You won't find a bank giving out that sort of money in interest

[Fluttershy]

if it`ll help, the way i look at it is that if I can buy 1Kg of silver a year (your £600+ will easily do this too) then even if nothing wild or crazy happens to the monetary system or silver prices, when it comes to pension time, one bar will pay for all your winter heating costs for that year, so you have one less thing to worry about, and you`ll never be in that eat-or-heat dilema

[Pete]

if it`ll help, the way i look at it is that if I can buy 1Kg of silver a year (your £600+ will easily do this too) then even if nothing wild or crazy happens to the monetary system or silver prices, when it comes to pension time, one bar will pay for all your winter heating costs for that year, so you have one less thing to worry about, and you`ll never be in that eat-or-heat dilema

Relying on commodities like silver to heat or eat in the future would worry me.

Everyone has their own choices but if you bought solid UK Equity Fund(s) with low charges you would most likely see compound growth of 5%, possibly more, provided dividends were automatically re-invested and not left or taken as cash. Work out on your calculator 1.05 to the power 10 to see healthy growth over 10 years then compare to your silver bars. Having your investments in NISAs is even better as all the gains are tax free.

[Fluttershy]

your quite right, I guess i`m just not a lover of counter party risk or the idea of "too big to fail", silver to me is just a safer version of a savings account really.

 

I agree with you entirely though, and also invest my regular fiat in rare and Obsolete semiconductors that has some risk attatched to it, but also compounds over time, it`s just that with Silver I take a different view as it`s personal savings

[Cornishfarmer]

if it`ll help, the way i look at it is that if I can buy 1Kg of silver a year (your £600+ will easily do this too) then even if nothing wild or crazy happens to the monetary system or silver prices, when it comes to pension time, one bar will pay for all your winter heating costs for that year, so you have one less thing to worry about, and you`ll never be in that eat-or-heat dilema

Or plant a tree a year for £2, when you retire you should have enough wood to keep you heated

[Cointreau]

Or plant a tree a year for £2, when you retire you should have enough wood to keep you heated

You gotta have some land first! Would I be right in saying that this summer was perfect for farmers?

Wood has been a pretty good investment lately.

[Cornishfarmer]

You gotta have some land first! Would I be right in saying that this summer was perfect for farmers?

Wood has been a pretty good investment lately.

Good summer but took till mid may to dry up had 3 months in winter with over a foot of rain,

Land has been a great investment in last ten years but lot of non farming money buying it up. Plant trees and ruin land for 30 years, I try to plant 100 new trees in hedges every year