Silver Investing Tips

[Innes]

Hello everyone,

I just started working at my second job and I wanted to invest in silver bars/coins with the excess money I make.  I just had some questions;

 

1. Bars, coins, or is a variety better?

2. Is investing in silver production/mining stock, such as First Majestic Silver and Impact Silver, also a good idea?

3. As a Canadian, where should I get my silver from, (Royal Canadian Mint, banks, etc)?

4. When silver prices DO rise sometime in the future, how would I go about selling them, (to banks, private buyers, on the internet, etc)?

 

Thank you for your time; I'm new at this and would appreciate the help.

[DoubleEagle]

Welcome to Forum!
1. You can buy whatever meets your fancy. You seem to be asking about getting a bunch of silver, and not about rarities. Therefore, you would benefit by being economical in your purchases by getting the lowest price per ounce. However, you may just prefer, for example, Maple Leaf coins from the Canadian Mint, and that would be fine.

2. The mines are speculative, always promising future delivery of valuable metals. Meanwhile, they have expenses such as surveys, environmental impact studies, and so forth. They are almost always late in their delivery of metals when related to their plans! Something always comes up. When you buy silver instead, you get silver right now. When you buy a mining share, you get a plan, a lot of debt, and the promise of future riches.

3. Buy from Canadian bullion firms, or perhaps private individuals.

4. Sell to individuals and Canadian bullion firms. The people you deal with when you buy become the same people to deal with when you sell.

[Guest]

As suggested above, if your not interested in collectible coins then just buy the lowest price silver you can find, the more you buy the cheaper it gets so i try pick up 10oz at a time minimum.

I also found that keeping record of what you bought and how much you paid helps with figuring out your cost average. So take your total cost and divide it by as many ounces of silver you have, if your happy with the price then thats good, if not your next purchase will need to be cheaper than the last to lower your over all purchase cost.

Unless silver goes to the moon then i would be looking to sell to individuals who will expect to pay a premium for the metal, dealers will probably buy at spot price so unless the price has rose significantly since you were buying then you probably wont make alot of profit if sold at spot value.

Coins are easier to shift in my opinion, then your in the market for 2 potential buyers. You may end up holding some coins that a collector has interest in which would sell well, also if you find someone who has interest in just the metal alone they will happily buy in coin form.

If you only have bars then your market is restricted to the people who are only interested in the metal content.

Thats how i see it anyway 😃

[AgCoyote]

2 hours ago, Innes said:

Hello everyone,

I just started working at my second job and I wanted to invest in silver bars/coins with the excess money I make.  I just had some questions;

 

1. Bars, coins, or is a variety better?

2. Is investing in silver production/mining stock, such as First Majestic Silver and Impact Silver, also a good idea?

3. As a Canadian, where should I get my silver from, (Royal Canadian Mint, banks, etc)?

4. When silver prices DO rise sometime in the future, how would I go about selling them, (to banks, private buyers, on the internet, etc)?

 

Thank you for your time; I'm new at this and would appreciate the help.

1. Matter of preference. Bars will have lower premiums but they will almost never appreciate in price beyond spot. I think a mix is good. You don't want everything you have to be something you love and will have difficulty parting with.

2. I think so.

3. Again personal preference. I'm an American who strongly prefers Australian gold and silver. I also collect Canadian and British silver.

4. You've got the right idea. This forum can be a great place to buy and sell. I haven't done it yet but clearly this a place where people are interested in metals.

[Innes]

4 hours ago, DoubleEagle said:

Welcome to Forum!
1. You can buy whatever meets your fancy. You seem to be asking about getting a bunch of silver, and not about rarities. Therefore, you would benefit by being economical in your purchases by getting the lowest price per ounce. However, you may just prefer, for example, Maple Leaf coins from the Canadian Mint, and that would be fine.

2. The mines are speculative, always promising future delivery of valuable metals. Meanwhile, they have expenses such as surveys, environmental impact studies, and so forth. They are almost always late in their delivery of metals when related to their plans! Something always comes up. When you buy silver instead, you get silver right now. When you buy a mining share, you get a plan, a lot of debt, and the promise of future riches.

3. Buy from Canadian bullion firms, or perhaps private individuals.

4. Sell to individuals and Canadian bullion firms. The people you deal with when you buy become the same people to deal with when you sell.

With regards to Canadian bullion firms; any suggestions?

Furthermore, if silver value and demand go up, the speculation on the mining corporations would be justified. I think that with silver supply getting lower and lower, it would be smart to invest in those stocks as well, because their value perception would increase.

 

[DoubleEagle]

I was hoping a Canadian member would say something. Well you can go to KITCO to start looking around until you find out what are the best places. They have online store and also news that may interest you for the miners. They are based primarily in Canada, but also US. For silver government 1 oz coins, the Maple and Brits are well priced, but notice the 10 oz bars are cheaper per the ounce. I've dealt with Kitco before and they offer good service.

[KitboyE17]

16 hours ago, Innes said:

3. As a Canadian, where should I get my silver from, (Royal Canadian Mint, banks, etc)?

When I was in Canada recently I found it easy to just walk in to the bank and hand over cash for silver. I was in Vancouver and went first to Vancouver Bullion & Currency Exchange and later went to CIBC bank where the process was refreshingly simple. I did find buying 10oz RCM bars cheaper than buying 10x 1oz Maples and I’m a firm supporter of having a mix of both bars and coins. I stack for wealth, not numismatics and regularly buying closest to spot available - with the odd exception when I buy my ‘pirate treasure’ i.e. - something shiny for personal pleasure. 

[Bimetallic]

The best places in Canada are SilverGoldBull and online American dealers. The cheapest are Silver.com and SD Bullion.

Kitco is a rip-off, and you won't get the best prices from the RCM directly. Rather, SilverGoldBull, Silver.com and SD Bullion will have the best prices.

[Innes]

Thanks for the advice everyone; I appreciate it.