With the current pandemic is it a good time to start buying?

[ARehmat]

Hi there. I am looking to purchase some silver. I currently have around £100 to invest. Never done this type of thing before and I was wondering if with the current fall in silver prices, would now be a good time to purchase some 1oz Britannia coins? Would love to hear your views? What's the best way to start out?

Thanks and stay safe!

[sixgun]

Being honest about it, this is not the best time to start buying - the best time would have been a few years ago or even a few months ago. A lot of the dealers don't have much in, there are waiting lists and private sales are more expensive than i have seen in quite a long time. On the other hand most people are not collecting precious metal, so starting now would put you ahead of most people. 

No-one knows if prices will fall or go up in the near term. i expect premiums to fall a bit, that is the difference between the spot price of metal and the price you have to pay to get the physical. Production of gold and silver is picking up as miners and refineries come from under the lock down. Generally i think the best policy is to buy bit-by-bit - if prices went up from here at least you would have picked up some but if they fall, at least you haven't gone all in at a higher price. At the end of the day, the price of gold and silver is going up - so get stuck in and swap out your fake money for the real stuff.

[ARehmat]

Thanks. That sounds like a good idea. With around £100 to invest would buying Britannia coins or mini bars be the better option? Coins seem cheaper at the moment.

[OriginalS]

Glad to see you took my advice on Reddit and popped over here, you'll get a lot of good advice 👍

[Tn21]

8 minutes ago, ARehmat said:

Thanks. That sounds like a good idea. With around £100 to invest would buying Britannia coins or mini bars be the better option? Coins seem cheaper at the moment.

For a £100 I would search the market and find the cheapest silver per ozt. Does not rely matter at this stage whether it's bars or coins, just get the cheapeat possible silver for the £100. 

After that you can go down specific avenue's.

[ARehmat]

9 minutes ago, Tn21 said:

For a £100 I would search the market and find the cheapest silver per ozt. Does not rely matter at this stage whether it's bars or coins, just get the cheapeat possible silver for the £100. 

After that you can go down specific avenue's.

Does it matter if it pre-owned or new? I presume that because I intend to hold for a period and the sell for a profit then all that matters is the price of purchase and the quantity 

[Tn21]

I personally don't think it matters if it's pre owned or brand new. Just get the cheapest possible silver that £100 will get you. 

If your going to hold and then sell for a profit be aware this is a medium to long term play. 

 

What's been the cheapest price you have been able to see so far? 

 

[ARehmat]

7 minutes ago, Tn21 said:

I personally don't think it matters if it's pre owned or brand new. Just get the cheapest possible silver that £100 will get you. 

If your going to hold and then sell for a profit be aware this is a medium to long term play. 

 

What's been the cheapest price you have been able to see so far? 

 

Cheapest so far has been £23.04 for a single 1oz Silver 2020 Britannia (lunar edge year of the day). VAT and delivery included. Seems like quite a few of the websites are out of stock of the cheaper silver coins and bars.

[Tn21]

£25 is a lot for an Oz of silver. 

This forum has a section where you can buy or sell, however you will have to wait 3 days before you can see the listings. Unless you buy the premium membership.

On this forum you can pick up an Oz of silver for roughly £19.00 onwards.

[ARehmat]

1 minute ago, Tn21 said:

£25 is a lot for an Oz of silver. 

This forum has a section where you can buy or sell, however you will have to wait 3 days before you can see the listings. Unless you buy the premium membership.

On this forum you can pick up an Oz of silver for roughly £19.00 onwards.

Thanks for the heads up on the three day wait. I was slightly confused. Will have a look.

[sixgun]

1 hour ago, ARehmat said:

Does it matter if it pre-owned or new? I presume that because I intend to hold for a period and the sell for a profit then all that matters is the price of purchase and the quantity 

The silver has all been around for billions of years already. £100 will not go very far so as mentioned already get the lowest price you can find. In the past i would have said get a half sovereign or 1/10th oz gold but the price of that is well north of your budget. In general gold is better value - you will find prices much nearer to the spot price. Do not be put off by gold being expensive. Gold is expensive because it is expensive. One of the plus points about gold is its concentrated value. 
Scanning down the sales thread - the latest entries you can't see i would suggest contacting @Derv for silver maples @£19 or @adamthetallerAustralian kangaroos at the same price. You will be able to get 5oz for your money. UK silver coins are CGT free but i don't think you need worry too much about that in this case.

[ARehmat]

8 hours ago, sixgun said:

The silver has all been around for billions of years already. £100 will not go very far so as mentioned already get the lowest price you can find. In the past i would have said get a half sovereign or 1/10th oz gold but the price of that is well north of your budget. In general gold is better value - you will find prices much nearer to the spot price. Do not be put off by gold being expensive. Gold is expensive because it is expensive. One of the plus points about gold is its concentrated value. 
Scanning down the sales thread - the latest entries you can't see i would suggest contacting @Derv for silver maples @£19 or @adamthetallerAustralian kangaroos at the same price. You will be able to get 5oz for your money. UK silver coins are CGT free but i don't think you need worry too much about that in this case.

Thanks. Will keep your advice about gold in mind. Thanks for the heads up on the silver maples.

[Bimetallic]

Not a good time to buy since premiums are so high. If £100 meets the minimum requirements I recommend you buy vaulted silver at OneGold, or shares in a silver ETF. That way you can profit from a rise in spot price without having to pay significant premiums. Vaulted silver and ETFs have much, much lower premiums and/or costs than retail physical bullion right now.

[ARehmat]

Just now, Bimetallic said:

Not a good time to buy since premiums are so high. If £100 meets the minimum requirements I recommend you buy vaulted silver at OneGold, or shares in a silver ETF. That way you can profit from a rise in spot without having to pay significant premiums. Vaulted silver and ETFs have much, much lower premiums and/or costs than retail physical bullion right now.

Yep, seems like premiums are high for sure! I might continue saving up in the meanwhile and get a gold sovereign. When buying gold coin should I just go for the cheapest with the lowest premium or does the coin itself matter? i.e a Sovereign vs a Maple Leaf? 

[sixgun]

52 minutes ago, ARehmat said:

Yep, seems like premiums are high for sure! I might continue saving up in the meanwhile and get a gold sovereign. When buying gold coin should I just go for the cheapest with the lowest premium or does the coin itself matter? i.e a Sovereign vs a Maple Leaf? 

There is no capital gain tax on UK coins - people will generally favour the coins from their own country. So they are easier to sell when the time comes.

i am confident most UK members would advise you to start with sovereigns - that means they would start there themselves. The first gold coins i bought were sovereigns.

[ARehmat]

16 minutes ago, sixgun said:

There is no capital gain tax on UK coins - people will generally favour the coins from their own country. So they are easier to sell when the time comes.

i am confident most UK members would advise you to start with sovereigns - that means they would start there themselves. The first gold coins i bought were sovereigns.

Thank you. This does make sense. Sovereigns it is then. Nice signature

[Cornishfarmer]

For £100 you should be able to get 5 or so 1oz coins.   As you are starting out I would want 5 different coins.   You could save £5/£10 by buying cheap bullion but it’s not about that at the beginning.    I’d go for Perth mint lunar/koala/panda/Ase/Brit or similar get caps so you can handle them without losing value.    
when you start out it’s about handling the beauty of the coins then later you can decide if to stack or collect.      The gold you can get with £100 would be small and not so easy to appreciate than 5oz of silver

id but a wanted on the trade section and see if you have anyone offer to sell a mix of silver.      Remember if you miss a deal or it isn’t right another will come along that will replace it

[Prophecy]

Silver premiums are a joke at the moment. You will potentially be waiting YEARS to DECADES to break even on any price rises.

[ARehmat]

11 minutes ago, Prophecy said:

Silver premiums are a joke at the moment. You will potentially be waiting YEARS to DECADES to break even on any price rises.

Yep I agree. I managed to snag some silver at a fairly low premium compared to the current rate. Even after delivery was factored in. What price would a silver Britannia have to be for you to buy? Without delivery factored in. What's a decent premium for silver?

[Prophecy]

1 minute ago, ARehmat said:

Yep I agree. I managed to snag some silver at a fairly low premium compared to the current rate. Even after delivery was factored in. What price would a silver Britannia have to be for you to buy? Without delivery factored in. What's a decent premium for silver?

10-15% seems to be a historical average over the last decade when things settled down after 2008 premium spike.

[ARehmat]

15 minutes ago, Prophecy said:

10-15% seems to be a historical average over the last decade when things settled down after 2008 premium spike.

Interesting. What do you think the remainder of 2020 will hold for silver prices?

[Prophecy]

4 minutes ago, ARehmat said:

Interesting. What do you think the remainder of 2020 will hold for silver prices?

Just found this online about silver eagles (out of date by 3 years), but you can extrapolate. I can't see premiums falling much this year TBH considering what we are in is more devastating than 2008

[ARehmat]

6 minutes ago, Prophecy said:

Just found this online about silver eagles (out of date by 3 years), but you can extrapolate. I can't see premiums falling much this year TBH considering what we are in is more devastating than 2008

From the few articles that I have read it's possible that it might increase by another 2-3% if panic buying continues. Nice time to sell for people who purchased a few years back

[Prophecy]

1 minute ago, ARehmat said:

From the few articles that I have read it's possible that it might increase by another 2-3% if panic buying continues. Nice time to sell for people who purchased a few years back

You'd want to sell in this forum where you can sell with your own premium. Dealers aren't buying back at the same premiums

[ARehmat]

23 minutes ago, Prophecy said:

You'd want to sell in this forum where you can sell with your own premium. Dealers aren't buying back at the same premiums

TBH all of my purchases have been from this forum so far. Right now my silver is more of a protection against inflation given Brexit. Going to look into getting some gold half sovs for long term money making.  when I do sell it will be here.