When did you start stacking and why?

[GoldElliott]

Hi all

just wondered when and why you got into stacking PMs. For me I inherited a bunch of old pre-decimals and when googling them discovered that some had silver in them... that's how I got into it.

I'm still quite new to stacking (and young) so purchased my first gold oz for £973 in November 2018 and first sovereign for about £230 or so...

Just discovered the old Chard website archived since '99 and makes me jealous to think that some people were picking up sovs at £50!!

[Tn21]

I started stacking in 2017. I was a delivery driver listening to Jim Rickards with my aux cable connected to the van. I always had the thought but never bothered to research it and find out the various ways to "invest" in Au and Ag. I took the plunge and bought my first bit of gold and silver from Bullion by Post. The silver I bought looking back is shockingly expensive compared to what you can buy silver from the forum @ now.

 

Main reason behind it was i thought it would be a solid investment for the medium to long term. 3 years on and now I don't buy it as a form of investment but instead as a form of savings. 

 

Prior to getting into Au and Ag I had no real savings or money to my name. ( Spunked it all on nonsense)

Really pleased to have come across Au and Ag and also tsf. 

 

[GoldElliott]

3 minutes ago, Tn21 said:

I started stacking in 2017. I was a delivery driver listening to Jim Rickards with my aux cable connected to the van. I always had the thought but never bothered to research it and find out the various ways to "invest" in Au and Ag. I took the plunge and bought my first bit of gold and silver from Bullion by Post. The silver I bought looking back is shockingly expensive compared to what you can buy silver from the forum @ now.

 

Main reason behind it was i thought it would be a solid investment for the medium to long term. 3 years on and now I don't buy it as a form of investment but instead as a form of savings. 

 

Prior to getting into Au and Ag I had no real savings or money to my name. ( Spunked it all on nonsense)

Really pleased to have come across Au and Ag and also tsf. 

 

Theres a reason why I quoted my first few gold purchases only I think like many on here I purchased Ag from the mainstream dealers and got stung a bit!

It really is a great hobby.. that you can spend ridiculous amounts of money and collect gold and silver and yet you are never really spending money at all. In a few years I intend to cash out to contribute towards a first property, after which I shall resume again.

[blindguy]

i started in the late 1960's as a kid. i would go to the banks and buy rolls of half dollars and pull the silver out that was fun back then. in the 70's you could buy gold for way under $100 and later i bought silver bars at up to $4 an ounce. people including some family members thought i was nuts, and i am still nuts for gold and silver. both my kids think i am stupid for buying PM's. they are in their early 40's and put all their money in stocks and bonds. Jim

[jares50]

I had a small collection of silver coins that I have received in pocket change over the years but really didn't know anything about stacking until late last year. I, just by chance, ran across a stacker on Youtube and began watching his videos. Started watching others on there and the bug bit me. Really just started at the beginning of this year taking it more seriously. Its been fun and a great learning experience so far.

[Oldun]

Early 2000s here. It was entirely because I stumbled upon this video and it got me thinking.

 

 

 

[GoldElliott]

8 hours ago, blindguy said:

i started in the late 1960's as a kid. i would go to the banks and buy rolls of half dollars and pull the silver out that was fun back then. in the 70's you could buy gold for way under $100 and later i bought silver bars at up to $4 an ounce. people including some family members thought i was nuts, and i am still nuts for gold and silver. both my kids think i am stupid for buying PM's. they are in their early 40's and put all their money in stocks and bonds. Jim

 

4 hours ago, jares50 said:

I had a small collection of silver coins that I have received in pocket change over the years but really didn't know anything about stacking until late last year. I, just by chance, ran across a stacker on Youtube and began watching his videos. Started watching others on there and the bug bit me. Really just started at the beginning of this year taking it more seriously. Its been fun and a great learning experience so far.

the idea of finding silver in my change and having it as circulating money seems so alien to me and probably to my parents (who were about 9 or 10 when decimalisation happened)! I love the idea of having silver in coins and it would make you feel a lot more secure about your money, but for me it is a concept from the past but great to know that people remember it.

I also have money in shares and bonds but I have money in those for different reasons to why i have PMs. With my shares I target a % return and adjust my portfolio in pursuit of those rewards, however as recently I have learned.. there is no reward without risk! With PMs I 'invest' as a form of savings until I can afford to buy my first houseand for future uncertainty. In the mean time I have a great hobby and spend my money which I would otherwise waste and it gives me something to do and collect.

[Bxlsteve]

4 hours ago, Oldun said:

Early 2000s here. It was entirely because I stumbled upon this video and it got me thinking.

 

 

 

I would like to thank you. Very very much for this video! 

[Oldun]

Mate, you are very very welcome. It is nice to get thanks.That is what makes this TSF so special. Ultimately, people are looking out for each other  

[MLNCoins]

14 hours ago, Tn21 said:

I started stacking in 2017. I was a delivery driver listening to Jim Rickards with my aux cable connected to the van. I always had the thought but never bothered to research it and find out the various ways to "invest" in Au and Ag. I took the plunge and bought my first bit of gold and silver from Bullion by Post. The silver I bought looking back is shockingly expensive compared to what you can buy silver from the forum @ now.

 

Main reason behind it was i thought it would be a solid investment for the medium to long term. 3 years on and now I don't buy it as a form of investment but instead as a form of savings. 

 

Prior to getting into Au and Ag I had no real savings or money to my name. ( Spunked it all on nonsense)

Really pleased to have come across Au and Ag and also tsf. 

 

Although the silver you bought might have been shockingly expensive in pounds, it was worth the price in my mind. When you "invest" into things like PM's, it gauges your curiosity to want to learn more as to why you have done what you've done. This is why just starting is your best course of action with anything you want to do, as it sets your mind into motion of learning more about what you've just done.

I did the same, I bought from the royal mint direct because I knew nothing about PM's and thought they'd be the best place to buy from to reduce risk of fakes. Yes it was more expensive, but since then I've learned so much about the metals and couldn't be more thankful that I payed £20 (including VAT!) for a piece of silver.

[jares50]

22 hours ago, Oldun said:

Early 2000s here. It was entirely because I stumbled upon this video and it got me thinking.

 

 

 

Very interesting video. Thanks for posting.

[BullionBuyer]

I have been purchasing gold for a while without realising that there was a term for it (Gold Stacking) and I buy for multiple reasons:

1)Gold is a long term storage of value. It has never gone to zero and is 'real' money unlike fiat currency, all off which, without exception, have failed throughout history

2) There is no counterparty risk if you own physical gold. It's yours to do with as you please.

3)As part of any portfolio, gold is used to diversify your assets.

4)Gold has multiple functions  - Investment, Currency, Store of value, industrial metal. 

5)You can keep gold out of the government's sight (to a large extent) and out of the financial system. You have control over the information on how much gold you have and where it is located. 

6)There are no VAT (sales tax) or CGT (capital gains tax) to be paid on the purchase or sale of gold in the UK as long as your items are Brittanias and Sovereigns.

7)The Dow Jones to Gold ratio is telling you to buy gold.

8)It's amazing to look at as well as hold and touch, especially when you realise that the gold was created from an exploding star billions of years ago. Now that's holding on to piece of history!!!!

[adamthetaller]

Start of last year, mainly as a method of 'spending' any monthly surplus on something better than the variety of disposable junk I kept wasting it on. Got a couple of 10g gold bars to start with then dove right in with gold and silver coins of every variety like a magpie!

[Abyss]

2018 when I saw my that my bank offering me rate of interest 0.15% on their Gold account. Maybe it was better to put my money into Gold itself rather than their Gold account .

[SurreyStacker]

I have always loved coins and I watched a stacking videos on You tube the other week and thought it looked like such good fun and so many things to learn.

Also crappy interest rates, stock market carnage and pandemic may have come into it a bit. Oh and £12/oz!

 

Also stops me spending all my spare money on JaffaCakes and cookies

[KDave]

I started in 2014 buying 1 Oz Britannia in silver and gold from bullion by post, like @Tn21 I paid over odds for the silver but didn't know any better. The trigger was leaning to invest my savings, I started late at 25, had no knowledge of investing or the monetary system and started to read and learn. I found YouTube and a small channel called belangp, my profile picture is based on his ideas about gold. At some point I found the forum and European metals dealers and bought silver for a better premium but focused mostly on gold. The lowest I paid for an ounce was around £730 delivered if I remember right, I wish it was so cheap now!

Sold most of my metals in 2017 to buy the house I'm in now to give my wife and kids some stability and certainty growing up. I was almost at a kilo of gold, working on getting back to that number again but as gold has near doubled it will take much longer and is being done in smaller increments. £50 a sov yes please 👍

[BullionBuyer]

@KDave-  My friend if you started stacking PM at the ripe old age of 25 t and got to 1kg then you have no idea how far ahead of the curve you are when compared to your peer group. Congratulations and respect.

[GoldElliott]

23 minutes ago, KDave said:

I started in 2014 buying 1 Oz Britannia in silver and gold from bullion by post, like @Tn21 I paid over odds for the silver but didn't know any better. The trigger was leaning to invest my savings, I started late at 25, had no knowledge of investing or the monetary system and started to read and learn. I found YouTube and a small channel called belangp, my profile picture is based on his ideas about gold. At some point I found the forum and European metals dealers and bought silver for a better premium but focused mostly on gold. The lowest I paid for an ounce was around £730 delivered if I remember right, I wish it was so cheap now!

Sold most of my metals in 2017 to buy the house I'm in now to give my wife and kids some stability and certainty growing up. I was almost at a kilo of gold, working on getting back to that number again but as gold has near doubled it will take much longer and is being done in smaller increments. £50 a sov yes please 👍

Amazing that you were getting gold at £730 an oz. much better than my £970/oz when I first started... but then again maybe my grandkids one day will laugh that i got gold below £1000/oz when its £10,000/oz

[KDave]

33 minutes ago, BullionBuyer said:

@KDave-  My friend if you started stacking PM at the ripe old age of 25 t and got to 1kg then you have no idea how far ahead of the curve you are when compared to your peer group. Congratulations and respect.

That is very kind, even now I consider that had I known what I learned at 25 earlier, say at 18 instead, I would be in a much better place financially now at 32! 

[KDave]

21 minutes ago, GoldElliott said:

Amazing that you were getting gold at £730 an oz. much better than my £970/oz when I first started... but then again maybe my grandkids one day will laugh that i got gold below £1000/oz when its £10,000/oz

Yes no doubt the prices we see today will appear cheap in the middle of this decade and impossible at the end, at least if the reflation kicks in as expected. 

[cliveb13]

Hi. 
I started, and stayed the course, as a precious metal collector. Not silver to any significant extent but the rarity of the other non gold PMs was a great driver so I collected Pt, Pd, Rh and Au. Initially as bars, as lumps of a rare Element then I started w coins and have some of those now too. Over the course of a cycle in abt 2015 I bought my wife an ounce of each of the above & put them in a frame. Then I replicated for me & expanded. Of course Pd was £400 an ounce & Rh was £650-700. Conversely Pt was more than now. 
I remain a collector and now see the collection as a hedge against financial uncertainty. I more buy coins now but generally graded recently and quality. I have some nice 50p pieces but there seem less interest now than 2 years ago . 

for me it’s not a business. I love the Idea I have something rare & limited. 
I enjoy it and I display a little but mostly it’s safety deposit which is frustrating. 
 

good luck C 

[Stuntman]

Always loved coins, and won a few sovereigns in the mid 2000s but didn't start buying PMs properly until 2017.  I mostly buy modern bullion in its current year of release and I collect (in the sense that I almost always buy just one of each particular item), rather than stack (if I was stacking, I'd probably buy multiples of the same thing whenever I bought).

While these physical PMs are a store of value, I see them as a collection rather than an investment.  I hope to keep almost all of them unless I absolutely desparately need the money.

In 2018 I added Gold, Silver and Platinum ETFs to my investments, alongside normal equity funds.  Since 2018 most of my new investment money has gone into the ETFs rather than the equity funds.  However, this will probably change for the remainder of 2020 - I will drip-feed some new money back into the world stock markets as they (hopefully) continue to recover.

[Kman]

In 2014 I went down a rabbit hole of watching youtube videos about gold, not 100% sure what exactly got me started, whether it was from searching or it being suggested

I've always liked conspiracy theories (though not as much as some on here it turns out 😛)and alternative history, maybe it was watching The Money Masters documentary that first sparked my interest

I bought my first gold May 30th 2014, 1 oz Britannia for £785 

 

 

 

[TCC]

I am relatively young as well and only made my first purchases a little over 18 months ago.

There were two main reasons for me getting interested in PMs: the historical use of gold and silver as currency fascinates me and all the nonsense seen with monetary policies etc made me think that some form of insurance 'against the system' could be a good idea. 

I know some people believe if the system collapses, PMs could once again be used for bartering but just before this happens what is stopping the government from confiscating all PMs? 

[GoldElliott]

3 minutes ago, TCC said:

what is stopping the government from confiscating all PMs? 

they have to find it first...