Exit strategies?

[Orpster]

You're supposed to sell it as well???, I knew there was something I was missing........

Edited January 4, 2023 by Orpster

[ShineyMagpie]

It does seem more common these days both through posts on this forum and YouTube videos that people are using silver as a way of trading up to gold. This makes sense especially for lower disposable income, or people new to the hobby. I think VAT free plays a big attraction to gold these days also compared to other PM. Uk based Sovereign, britannia seem to be quite liquid for get out if/when needed. But hay I'm still learning 😆

[Anteater]

22 minutes ago, ShineyMagpie said:

Uk based Sovereign, britannia seem to be quite liquid for get out if/when needed. But hay I'm still learning 😆

In terms of gold I have some Sovereigns and am mostly focussing on 2021+ Brits (1/4 and full) now. I feel that the security features could help make them easier to sell/trade on the secondary market. (Even, if necessary, to someone who isn't familiar with them, if they can research them online first.)

I do also have a couple of Krugs which I'm planning to sell/trade in favour of Brits at some point - though right now everyone seems to be selling Krugs

Edited January 4, 2023 by Anteater

[Silverlocks]

2 hours ago, Orpster said:

You're supposed to sell it as well???, I knew there was something I was missing........

Well, it's not strictly necessary . . . 

Sell my precioussss . . . nasssty hooversses. 

[JamesH]

No defined exit strategy other than to pass on as much as possible to my children when I no longer want/need the safety net that gold provides. My strategy will be far more about keeping them informed on their best next steps once I move it on to them (a couple of decent contacts that will help them and their best interests - something akin to the BYB service offered, that would allow them to get the best return for a small fee without feeling obliged to shift it all to a dealer etc)

The above plan aside, intentionally sticking to sovereigns and quarter oz coins in the main, so that if gold does steadily increase over time, they remain highly liquid and ‘affordable’ to a wider audience than maybe their 1oz cousins that could be at 2/2.5k each in years to come. This way I can offload a few at a time as and when needed in later life

I must say though, in my relatively short time collecting PM’s I feel incredibly fortunate to be having these types of discussions. Talk of an exit strategy simply means we’re in a very privileged (not in a bad/negative way) position to hold wealth in gold etc in the first place 👍🏼

Edited January 4, 2023 by JamesH

[Faiz]

I think there is an element of the "grass being greener on the other side". For those not in PMs, see silver as a gateway. This is how I saw it anyway. Once in Silver, the sights are firmly set on Gold. Human nature. I agree with @James32, one monster box of silver is enough. There is a very good chance of silver seeing its ATH (~30 squid spot) in the next year or two. Of course, physical being a lot higher. I can't see spot going to triple digits though. Saying that, it all depends on whether we see a new monitory system in the coming year or two. If so, then there could be a real flight to commodities and silver spot could end up seeing prices north of 50 squid. As for exit strategy, not sure of that yet. Although, I have sold on Ebay before. Not had any issues thankfully, but not ideal either. Like @James32, my aim is to trade/sell/transition from silver into gold. 

[Orpster]

15 minutes ago, Faiz said:

I think there is an element of the "grass being greener on the other side". For those not in PMs, see silver as a gateway. This is how I saw it anyway. Once in Silver, the sights are firmly set on Gold. Human nature. I agree with @James32, one monster box of silver is enough. There is a very good chance of silver seeing its ATH (~30 squid spot) in the next year or two. Of course, physical being a lot higher. I can't see spot going to triple digits though. Saying that, it all depends on whether we see a new monitory system in the coming year or two. If so, then there could be a real flight to commodities and silver spot could end up seeing prices north of 50 squid. As for exit strategy, not sure of that yet. Although, I have sold on Ebay before. Not had any issues thankfully, but not ideal either. Like @James32, my aim is to trade/sell/transition from silver into gold. 

I did all but exit silver last year, selling all except my favourite pieces either pored stuff or collectables, and some 10oz coins I could not bring myself to part with

I then bought a few tubes of Britannia's when spot dropped down to £16.50 and forum members were doing tubes at £600.  I will likely swop those out for the yellow peril at some point so there is certainly a theme.  I am a bit opposite though having bought gold since the 90's (I was gifted a sovereign ring on my 21st which gave me the bug) and only really buying silver in the last few years and only in low(ish) quantities.  I am currently only at 150oz of silver and have offered to a couple of people who wanted to swop their gold for silver on the forum but never been able to agree an exchange rate.

[Faiz]

3 minutes ago, Orpster said:

I did all but exit silver last year, selling all except my favourite pieces either pored stuff or collectables, and some 10oz coins I could not bring myself to part with

I then bought a few tubes of Britannia's when spot dropped down to £16.50 and forum members were doing tubes at £600.  I will likely swop those out for the yellow peril at some point so there is certainly a theme.  I am a bit opposite though having bought gold since the 90's (I was gifted a sovereign ring on my 21st which gave me the bug) and only really buying silver in the last few years and only in low(ish) quantities.  I am currently only at 150oz of silver and have offered to a couple of people who wanted to swop their gold for silver on the forum but never been able to agree an exchange rate.

Thanks @Orpster, its good to know that your entry into PMs was via gold. Just goes to show the varied experiences of forum members when it comes to the shiny stuff.

[Pete]

Gold is trading at a historic high and silver is bumping along with hopefully much more upside potential but how long a wait for £30 per ounce spot ?
Prices for American Silver Eagles are crazy and especially attractive for sellers in the USA.

I am surprised that people are currently selling silver and buying gold.
Personally I feel that as long as you hold PMs you are kind of protecting purchasing power in fiat, so unless you need the cash, don't get rid of your PMs.
Is gold a better buy than silver ?
Only time will tell and half will get it wrong so go with your gut and not what you read as no-one knows and there are no guarantees.

 

 

[CANV]

I like the so called ‘vintage’ American silver .  That always has a market but you have to pay up to get in.  If it it maintains that extra premium should silver hit 25 quid an ounce remains to be seen.. Certainly not initially ..

otherwise ima sucker for the odd weight bars . Love a few kilo bars and of course the holy grail. The 100 ouncer.   
will any of these make me rich .

…

.

…

.

   No ….

[Bigmarc]

19 hours ago, ZRPMs said:

I don't have a defined exit plan as such. I'm still in my accumulation phase. I have however moved more on to the gold side than silver, I currently have about 12 times more silver than gold in weight, but I'm aiming for only about 10 times.

Neither did I, I have been doing this for 20 plus years (in my early 20s) and have only sold on two other occasions. Not sure if this is the right move or not but I can see a possible mortgage pay off in my cross hairs, I will be going against all my beliefs as I see gold and silver an asset outside the system but I also believe in market cycles. I plan to filter the money into alphabet, apple and some in Ethereum. If all return to their previous all time highs then I am there. 

 

[Bigmarc]

18 hours ago, Roy said:

don't want to spoil Marc's thread, but I really wish I hadn't bothered with it. My advice is to start/stick with gold

One of the best things about this forum is learning from others experience. I am hoping not to touch my gold. 

[Bigmarc]

18 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

I'm buying mostly gold with a preference for items that can be resold easily on the secondary market - here and FB groups mainly.  That means building up a track record of some sales here and other forums.  Plan B is to sell back to a dealer, which means that one has to be careful about premiums over spot.  That makes my stack appetite look like:

• Sovereigns - because they have relatively low premiums and are very liquid on the secondary market.  My preference is for the better end of bullion sovs with a bit of nice visual appeal, but not worried too much about rarity.  I can afford to buy a small portion of items with some premium, working on the assumption that they will still be liquid as long as the premium isn't overpaid.  I'm not convinced that the premiums on high value items like slabbed proofs are all that stable in the face of a recession; stuff like that has significant downside risk unless you get it at a very attractive price.  Also, exempt from capital gains tax.
• 1oz gold Brits and suchlike - Relatively low premiums mean the dealer spreads are relatively modest if I have to go down that route.  However, 1oz coins are still somewhat liquid on the secondary market.
• Bars - maybe some gold in the 1oz-50g range.  These have fairly low premiums but are still small enough to be reasonably liquid on the secondary market.  I've seen 50g bars trade here a few times but I don't think I've ever seen a 100g bar make a sale, at least not one I could find in the history of the UK ungraded board.

 I think these items give the best flexibility in exit strategy.  Small enough to be liquid on the secondary market but low enough premiums for the option of selling back to a dealer to be viable without losing too much on the spreads.  Conspicuous by its absence is physical silver.  Because of the VAT component, dealer sales are really inefficient, which means your market is limited to other stackers who are also likely to be short of cash in a recession, just the time you might want to offload a bunch of precious metals.  Buying some silver ETFs or a BullionVault account might work but isn't in my Q1-2 budget.

Most of what I have is predecimal and will be sold by weight on eBay. I have a few nice bit that will sell on here and stack only sovereigns at the moment.

[Bigmarc]

18 hours ago, Roy said:

A lot of my silver was bought £11-13 oz

Most of mine is around the £12 range. When I started I paid a little more for the 999 as was working in Germany and took a while to work out where not to get screwed, banks were the worst.

[ZigZag]

My exit strategy was defined by Brexit. Have a few silver bars and core of Brit tubes for each of my kids. These will stay sticky unless Mike Maloney one day gets it right. Can’t kick the Kookaburras so I’ll collect them until I pop me clogs, otherwise the tax disadvantage we Brits have, feels too punitive on anything else. So it’s gold bullion (mainly sovereigns) or nothing going forward.

[KevinFlynn]

I'll sell when silver went to the moon and shift the sum into gold, maybe part into another asset class.

Selling for cash makes sense for me when I either

need money (shouldn't be),

reach my endgame, which is essentially needing money during retirement,

or can realize and reinvest a solid profit.

[SidS]

What's an exit strategy? Is that when you're buried with it? 😉

I sometimes consider selling some of my cigarette cases, Latin Monetary Union and Swiss Silver. But it's just a passing phase. I'm really rather fond of it all.

I certainly won't be selling my pre-1920 or USA pre-1965 silver, that's going to the grave with me.

There's never enough pre-1920.

I can't say I'm whelmed by my pre-1947 though, it might only be £31 face, but it sure takes up a lot of space for what it is!

I'd consider getting back into sovereigns but they'd all have to be Vicky Shields, I don't really care much for the St. George design.

[KitboyE17]

Many stack/collect for that time when the zombie apocalypse comes or the world ends as the 5h1t hits the fan! Well it did, didn’t it, when we had the pandemic. So I am curious  - with lockdown, furlough, no postal services — how many actually panicked and tried to sell-up but found they couldn’t due to the pandemic logistics? Is there a lesson to be leant here at all? 

[Bigmarc]

33 minutes ago, KitboyE17 said:

Many stack/collect for that time when the zombie apocalypse comes or the world ends as the 5h1t hits the fan! Well it did, didn’t it, when we had the pandemic. So I am curious  - with lockdown, furlough, no postal services — how many actually panicked and tried to sell-up but found they couldn’t due to the pandemic logistics? Is there a lesson to be leant here at all? 

I had 10 weeks of boozing at home in the sun buying up pre decimal from eBay for less than £12.50 per Oz (think it dropped below £11 at one point). Once everyone got back to work, then there seemed to be a supply issue. Still going on now. More to due to just in time logistics rather than the postal service. 

[SidS]

1 hour ago, KitboyE17 said:

Many stack/collect for that time when the zombie apocalypse comes or the world ends as the 5h1t hits the fan! Well it did, didn’t it, when we had the pandemic. So I am curious  - with lockdown, furlough, no postal services — how many actually panicked and tried to sell-up but found they couldn’t due to the pandemic logistics? Is there a lesson to be leant here at all? 

I always think this is misguided. You are very correct that many people who stack, do so for the Armageddon scenario. The truth is though, as you rightly point out, when it does happen (a la Pandemic lockdown), it's hard to actually put any of the 'bartering' into practice. Everyone is either panicking or not spending.

The real reason to stack therefore is to preserve the wealth you have THROUGH the Armageddon scenario, so that when the new system is set up on the other side, you can use your wealth then. Assuming of course you are still legally permitted to do so in the new system.

[SidS]

1 hour ago, Bigmarc said:

I had 10 weeks of boozing at home in the sun buying up pre decimal from eBay for less than £12.50 per Oz (think it dropped below £11 at one point).

I bought a large quantity of metal and collectable coins from eBay and dealers throughout the period from March - July 2020. It felt the right time to buy - the cost averaging seems to suggest it was a wise move.

When everyone wants gold/silver and everyone is talking about it, that's when you need to be selling, or at the very least not buying.

When everyone is going hysterical over toilet rolls, food stuffs and going into Armageddon mode. That's when people get desperate for spare cash and will reluctantly part with their metals at a loss. Great for buying.

Edited January 8, 2023 by SidS

[ZRPMs]

2 hours ago, KitboyE17 said:

Many stack/collect for that time when the zombie apocalypse comes or the world ends as the 5h1t hits the fan! Well it did, didn’t it, when we had the pandemic. So I am curious  - with lockdown, furlough, no postal services — how many actually panicked and tried to sell-up but found they couldn’t due to the pandemic logistics? Is there a lesson to be leant here at all? 

Not meaning any disrespect to any one, but this reason may be more attributed towards the hardcore American, underground bunker filled with guns, ammo, tubs of dried food, etc, types that believe the end of the world is approaching. I may have over dramatized it, but that's exactly what your statement does "when the zombie apocalypse comes or the world ends"

The more rational of us just believe that it's a store of value that can be exchanged for the currency as and when we need it at a future date. Preserving the spending power of our hard earned income.

I saw the pandemic as massive opportunity for governments to enact measures of control not seen outside Orwellian type scenario's. In the ever forward march to "we'll own nothing and be happy" in our "zoned 15 minuet cities" just enough of us given hand outs so that we go along with it and enforce the restriction of freedom of movement, snitching on neighbours, friends , family if the real reason we dared go more than 5 miles from our home was not for a legitimate reason, and lets cancel any one that dare not have a vaccine. It's Irrelevant if there's a medical reason for the refusal. Take it or your fired........

Ooops, I think my version might have gone a little off track. Them bunkers are great you know I think I'm off to get one.

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by ZRPMs

[Bigmarc]

2 hours ago, SidS said:

bought a large quantity of metal and collectable coins from eBay and dealers throughout the period from March - July 2020.

Probably find we were bidding against eachother. I remember someone was selling vast quantities of predecimal by the weight, tupperware after tupperware weighed out all sold at the bottom. That was a good few months buying. 

[Bigmarc]

2 hours ago, ZRPMs said:

"when the zombie apocalypse comes or the world ends"

I watched world war z last night, not a bit of silver in sight. Did see them rescuing some art tho. (The book is better)

Edited January 8, 2023 by Bigmarc

[SidS]

1 hour ago, Bigmarc said:

Probably find we were bidding against eachother. I remember someone was selling vast quantities of predecimal by the weight, tupperware after tupperware weighed out all sold at the bottom. That was a good few months buying. 

Very likely! 😁