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Hello, 

I am still very much new to this forum and am still finding my feet. 
 

I was just wondering without digging into anyone’s personal life too much how have you been able to build up such a large stack of Gold/Silver?

I am sure much like myself many of you on here are from a working class background with an Honest very average paying job with little disposable income after kids,bills etc.

I am really curious as to how you came to have such a stack or how you could afford it. Obviously some have had luck with a bit of crypto,stocks etc something that I yet have to take anything other than a loss on 😂.

I am more interested in if you have saved for a long time, if you have flipped PM for profit or if you just bought at the right time. 

please do not answer this post if you feel it’s too personal please ignore it other than commenting about how rude and invasive my post is. I am asking to try and better myself and my knowledge and perhaps get a bit of advice.

any forum members from Emergency services or Military would probably be able to help me out with this a bit more if there are any on here.

 

if you are willing to answer or give advice but don’t want to post it publicly please send me a message. 
 

I appreciate any advice at all. 
 

Thank you.

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Hi,

It seems you are in a similar-ish position to what I was some 30 years ago.  Back then I started making very small and modest investments into the stock market via a Personal Equity Plan, the earlier version of what is now an ISA (individual Savings Account).

I just kept plugging away at that as my finances permitted and have done OK. 

I have only recently started to get into gold to divesify away from the stock market.

My advice to anyone starting out is make sure you have 3 to 6 months of cash saved in case of emergencies (for the garden fence, new boiler, roof problem, etc.) then start off investing slowly but surely in what you can when you can.  Don't go all in on anything and diverify.  @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer has some good advice about buying PM's at a low premium as an investment.  The 'monevator' website is a good source on investing, especially low cost tracker funds. 

Think long term and don't worry about price volatility in the short term, whatever you invest in.  Best of luck.  🐢🍀

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Hi mate. It’s all relative I would say. It is very surprising just how quickly a stack can grow when you put your mind to it. Set an amount each month that you can comfortably put aside to buy metals. Once your into it, you may decide not to purchase other discretionary items so you can buy more metals, be warned, it is addictive.

I kind of went all out and only stacked metals and cash initially for my future. (Late starter also) While it has done ok to date , I do regret not saving more into pension also over this period so try to work out a long term plan.

I am on an average wage but key is your savings rate. I try to save over 50% of income each month. Work up to this as much as possible and invest the difference. 17 years doing this consistently and you can become financially independent. Good luck. 

“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Oscillate Wildly

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55 minutes ago, Hendo said:

Hello, 

I am still very much new to this forum and am still finding my feet. 
 

I was just wondering without digging into anyone’s personal life too much how have you been able to build up such a large stack of Gold/Silver?

I am sure much like myself many of you on here are from a working class background with an Honest very average paying job with little disposable income after kids,bills etc.

I am really curious as to how you came to have such a stack or how you could afford it. Obviously some have had luck with a bit of crypto,stocks etc something that I yet have to take anything other than a loss on 😂.

I am more interested in if you have saved for a long time, if you have flipped PM for profit or if you just bought at the right time. 

please do not answer this post if you feel it’s too personal please ignore it other than commenting about how rude and invasive my post is. I am asking to try and better myself and my knowledge and perhaps get a bit of advice.

any forum members from Emergency services or Military would probably be able to help me out with this a bit more if there are any on here.

 

if you are willing to answer or give advice but don’t want to post it publicly please send me a message. 
 

I appreciate any advice at all. 
 

Thank you.

One thing puzzles me with this post Hendo, why would emergency services or military be able to help more than others? Just asking as i fit that category that's all. 

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.

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3 minutes ago, Gordy said:

One thing puzzles me with this post Hendo, why would emergency services or military be able to help more than others? Just asking as i fit that category that's all. 

Because someone from that background would be in the most similar situation to myself

Just now, Hendo said:

Because someone from that background would be in the most similar situation to myself

Send me a mail please Gordy 

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6 minutes ago, Hendo said:

Because someone from that background would be in the most similar situation to myself

Send me a mail please Gordy 

Ah with you, but we are all different on leaving the service or even when still in

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.

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My PM collection/stack (mostly Au, some Pt & Ag and a few Pd) started in my 30s as a hobby that doubled as a savings (in addition to my 401K) with a plan for augmenting my future retirement. Now that I am retired and have not been able to add to it like before, I have changed my original plan to now leave them (or most of them) as a legacy to my two kids and grandkids. I am glad to have squirreled away something (a small amount at a time) not tracked by big brother that I can use or pass on as a legacy, free and clear.

Edited by trozau
expand a bit more
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I started back in 2017ish after hearing gold going to £10k by Jim Rickards🎣. I am glad I got into PM's as it allows me to save as I was and still am terrible at saving.

As Stu mentioned earlier you will be surprised at how a stack can quickly grow just with small purchases a month. Key is to stay in your lane and buy what you can whenever you can. 

I bought a standard bullion Sov at £360 which is at a loss ATM but also have bought a standard bullion Sov and £240. My point here is to pay little attention to the daily fluctuations and allow the bigger picture to take over. 

Gold and silver are long term plays and if your happy about that sort of time scale I believe in the metals. 

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I’m pretty new to the world of gold and silver. Only started a couple months back. I’m in my mid 30’s and rent in London, so it’s a bit of a struggle trying to save up a deposit. During the pandemic my mrs got made redundant and so therefore had to find any job that she could get. Luckily she found a job round the corner but it was a minimum wage job working at the local bakery. Prior to this she was actually earning much more than me and had saved up quite a bit. Me on the other hand, I’ve managed to carry on working but I was only on an modest wage in comparison with a credit card to pay off so was unable to save. Due to working from home I was able to pay off this debt and start saving properly. Although I’m debt free I don’t have the 3-6 month cash reserves, I think I will defo have this as a priority now tho 🤙
 

Anyway in the past I had looked at stocks and shares, Isa’s, crypto etc and do regularly put towards them. I was wondering if there were other ways of saving for a potential deposit. Then randomly whilst on youtube a video by @backyardbullion popped up on silver. Found myself watching that and got hooked watching a few vids by him. It was then I took the plunge and just bought a couple of oz of silver off gold.co.uk. Just wanted to test the water a bit and then I thought I’ll get a bit of gold so thought I’d go easy and get a half sov. Since then I’m pretty hooked but I’ve really got to make sure I stick to a plan now as I know when you first get into it, it can get quite addictive and the shiny stuff does look good too 😉

I think reading this thread is pretty fascinating as everyone is doing it for different reasons. I’m doing it as another form of saving with my main focus on CGT coins in case I ever need to sell them in future. But whatever peoples journeys are, I’m glad I’ve joined this forum as I’ve managed to get some great tips and bag some great deals that I would never have found prior. Just wish I got my first coins off here! Live and learn I suppose, hopefully one day I’ll have a good looking stack 🤙

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Many years ago I use to work abroad, it always amazed me that bullion was readily available to buy from banks, airport and pretty much most jewelry shops. I spent a couple of years collecting random bits not even knowing of the term stacker. I slowly went from buying 999 to pre decimal, I felt this was a better way of accumulating some weight at close to spot as far as my budget allowed. After doing this for ten years alone, I found the silver forum and Yes I probably am a stacker.

My budget... When work decided to sort the pension out, I had a option. Basically if I put 5% in they will put 10%. I could put 10% in but they will still only put 10% in. A lot of lads put the full 10% but I decided that every payslip I would match the 5% and put it into a separate account (metals account). So that's my budget, very low and ultimately a kind of long winded exercise to tell a story down the pub when I retire.

Metals account... This is linked to PayPal, eBay and Etsy. The money doesn't go directly to metals, it ends up as metals. It's the only way a could achieve any kind of weight. I have a missus's who works days, I work nights, I have two kids under 4 and one is disabled and money is tight, we have a massive mortgage on a house. My missus is a Amazon addict, every day some guy comes to the door delivering some piece of useless plastic cr*p. We came to a agreement that once it's not being used that I could recycle it all through eBay and turn it into gold and silver. I basically sell the clutter. I carboot regularly and flip a few bits, and do a bit of upcycling (when time allows). All of these things top up my metals account. 

I've tried many things over the years to save or invest and usually end up getting burnt. Recently I've started regularly putting into crypto and you can imagine how that's going. I'm going to persist with it but only small amounts of money every month (cost of a Friday night out). 

To sum up, I treat all my bits as a hobby, not a investment, this way there is no expectations. It all depends on what you want out of it? Money? Security? Hobby? Or just a story to tell down the pub.

 

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I would say slow and steady. Regular investment of what you can afford. 

I don’t get too drawn into consumerism. I drive a  Skoda Fabia - 6 year old because I would rather spend on PM’s than buy a New car.  Often it’s simple things to switch spending.

Some might flip and sell, this is something that I haven’t seen as attractive or worthwhile.  

Best

Dicker

Not my circus, not my monkeys

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17 minutes ago, dicker said:

I would say slow and steady. Regular investment of what you can afford. 

I don’t get too drawn into consumerism. I drive a  Skoda Fabia - 6 year old because I would rather spend on PM’s than buy a New car.  Often it’s simple things to switch spending.

Some might flip and sell, this is something that I haven’t seen as attractive or worthwhile.  

Best

Dicker

I also drive a Skoda Fabia! Mines coming up to 5 years old. Great car compared to my previous ones (Ford Mondeos, Peugeot 405, Hyundai Matrix, Rover 400)

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I am pretty useless at saving . I used to buy all sorts of rubbish. About 10 years ago i threw all the rubbish out and bought my first sovereign . This meant that i could still collect stuff , but that stuff would always have a value. I have a very modest wage but not a flash lifestyle . So i just kept buying Sovereigns to the point where i now have a vast collection. If that was money in the bank i would have wasted it. Collecting gold is perfect for the likes of me. I now collect silver to add a bit of diversity but it's sovereigns i love.  

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