What to buy (total noob)

[ank]

Hello,

I probably ended up on this forum due to the latest panic videos on youtube

but aside that, it's a good opportunity to get some info regarding buying physical gold/silver..

 

So, what coin would you suggest someone to buy considering the following requirements:

- coin price has to be close to market price of the metal its made of

- coin can be sold at any time at more than 95% of the market price of the metal its made of

- coin could be traded for basic goods in case of a shtf situation

 

I browsed celticgold and europeanmint websites, and saw that only gold coins checks the first one, because silver coins are sold at almost double the market price of silver for some reason.

Also buy back on some gold coins is close to 95% of the listed price. So I guess the only option is gold, but which coin would you recommend and why?

[ChrisSilver]

Sovereigns can be a good choice, very popular amongst collectors and investors for their relatively low cost (compared to Troy oz coins) with low margins, recognisability and desirability. They are very easy to resell on the forum.

But how many sovereigns for a roll of toilet paper in such a situation? 🧻 

If selling on the forum rather than direct to dealers you can likely get back most of the margins of silver coins, so maybe also worth considering. 

[SilverCalum]

Hello Ank,

The premiums/margins matter. If buying silver from the Royal Mint you pay their margin for minting on top of the metal price and then you pay 20% VAT. However, if you buy silver here the items are often far closer to the silver spot price.

It all depends on why you want to buy shiny metals. Buy to hold (stack) for the future or are you buying to resell in a few months? Or, are you buying to collect beautiful coins which have an intrinsic value and have historically gone up in value?

As Chris says, gold Sovereigns are a good buy. Especially so if you want a very strong market to sell into. 

This shows the gold premiums from the dealers https://www.thesilverforum.com/compare/ 

There are often real bargains on here: https://www.thesilverforum.com/forum/13-united-kingdom-ungraded/

 

[SilverCalum]

My summarised answer, dip your toe in and have fun collecting and learning. Don't jump in and spend 10k on the wrong things.

[CollectForFun]

@ank seeing where you're from, this forum may be a little bit UK-centric, therefore you'll read a lot about the sovereigns, the Royal Mint, bad Royal Mail service etc., but there are still a few of us over here also from the good old Europe ☺️

Problem with silver coins which you correctly identified is that they are sold for much more than the value of silver in them. This is mainly caused by VAT which is charged on silver. On the contrary, gold coins are exempt from VAT, therefore they can be bought for almost the value of metal in them.

On the other hand, when you sell silver coins privately, i.e. not back to the dealer, you can achieve the price which as if contained that VAT element. But of course it may be more difficult to find a buyer than just sell back to the dealer, so if you don't want to worry about private sales, then gold is better for you.

I don't know much about the gold market in your country but it seems Tavex, which is a popular dealer among the TSF members, has a branch there. So maybe have a look at what they offer, especially their buy prices. Then of course you may buy from elsewhere if you find cheaper option.

As to what exactly to buy, a lot depends on your budget. The larger the coin, the closer will be its price to the value of metal. 1 oz coins are the "standard", but at a price of over 1800 euros per coin, not everyone can afford to buy one. So maybe if you have an idea of how much you want to spend, we will then be better able to recommend what to buy.

[ank]

Thanks. The reason I was thinking to buy physical gold (or perhaps other precious metals) is strictly to have some kind of "backup" in case that something bad happens, not collecting or anything like that. The most I would spend at the moment is 5000 euros, so I guess that would be just 2 standard gold coins..

You are right, in case of total collapse these coins would probably buy a few sheets of toilet paper, but it's still better than nothing

I considered other options too, I bought some stocks using Revolut, and have some cash at hand as well. And I thought that having some gold as well would be a good idea

 

[CazLikesCoins]

Silver for SHTF in the smallest demonisations you can find although tbh I wouldn't ever bother trying to trade with pms in any situation other than a structured society where you can trade, buy and sell in the open market.

For SHTF, goods for goods, services for services otherwise you'll end up out of pocket in a world where people are trading scraps to survive, or if it's a localised SHTF then currency should meet any short to medium term means. 

My family think about these things and prepares. We've even got a Kelly Kettle.  

[ank]

Yes, but I have a job and I do have to spend what I earn on something. Keeping it all in the bank is probably not a good idea

[MonkeysUncle]

1 hour ago, ank said:

Yes, but I have a job and I do have to spend what I earn on something. Keeping it all in the bank is probably not a good idea

Diversification is definitely the thing to do. Cash, shares, property, metal, Unicorns etc etc.

Think at leisure before diving in, and avoid putting everything in one place is the best advice I can give.

[apachebleu]

12 hours ago, ank said:

Hello,

I probably ended up on this forum due to the latest panic videos on youtube

but aside that, it's a good opportunity to get some info regarding buying physical gold/silver..

 

So, what coin would you suggest someone to buy considering the following requirements:

- coin price has to be close to market price of the metal its made of

- coin can be sold at any time at more than 95% of the market price of the metal its made of

- coin could be traded for basic goods in case of a shtf situation

 

I browsed celticgold and europeanmint websites, and saw that only gold coins checks the first one, because silver coins are sold at almost double the market price of silver for some reason.

Also buy back on some gold coins is close to 95% of the listed price. So I guess the only option is gold, but which coin would you recommend and why?

 There are plenty of people here selling at spot or very close so it's a great place to buy instead of a dealer. Be sensible, check their feedback from other sales they've made and your money can go far.

[artalien]

15 hours ago, ank said:

- coin could be traded for basic goods in case of a shtf situation

The media and this includes so called alternatives (YouTube) thrive on sensationalism, they gave us the plague panic (covid) in large measure. Almost any precious metal coin meets your last 2 requirements. Silver is a bad bet in the UK due to tax.

Buy a ton of salt and take a pinch everytime you watch or read such tosh. Welcome to TSF, be careful out here!

Search youtube for 2 1 Gold, 1/4 Au eagles FTW.

Edited March 20, 2023 by artalien
Clarity as I missed you want at most a 5% risk @ spot

[Bigmarc]

I believe more in market cycle's than a shtf situation but I do remember watching this guy and found the information very interesting apart from him slightly on the dull side. Worth a watch if you are from that part of the world. 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by Bigmarc

[ank]

yes it's an interesting video. I was a kid when Romania had hyperinflation, but I remember my parents loosing a lot during that period.

German DMs were quite popular back then, it was pretty common to buy DMs to preserve some of the money value 

Romanians got screwed over so many times after the 90s. I remember where I grew, almost all people owned land. They were duped into selling it for almost nothing, something like 1 hectar for 100 euros in todays money. Value today is over 10k euro and rising...

Not really worried about local hyperinflation, because chances of that happening again are quite small, and even if it did happen I wouldn't be affected that much because I work for an external company and I am not paid in our local currency.

[Bigmarc]

I use to travel regularly to craiova for work for about 15 years, massive change over those years an yes I can pretty much see that the locals would have been swindled out of their land. As far as I can remember you are not in the euro but still have the lei, does that mean you get paid in euros? If that's the case would be quiet easy to just buy your local ish coin, probably the philamonic. 

[ank]

I get paid mostly in SEK and a smaller percentage in EUR. And yes, Romania does not use Euro, at least not for local salaries  ...but most goods and services are aligned to Euro unfortunately.

you mean this coin?  https://tavex.ro/aur/1-uncie-viena-filarmonica-moneda-din-aur/

unrelated, maybe a stupid question.. but I am curious, how does someone make sure that a gold coin is really gold in the correct weight? Does it all come down to trust, or is there some other non-destructable way to check? I know there are some chemicals for verifying gold, but they probably don't work with thick plated material.

[Bigmarc]

1 hour ago, ank said:

I get paid mostly in SEK and a smaller percentage in EUR. And yes, Romania does not use Euro, at least not for local salaries  ...but most goods and services are aligned to Euro unfortunately.

you mean this coin?  https://tavex.ro/aur/1-uncie-viena-filarmonica-moneda-din-aur/

unrelated, maybe a stupid question.. but I am curious, how does someone make sure that a gold coin is really gold in the correct weight? Does it all come down to trust, or is there some other non-destructable way to check? I know there are some chemicals for verifying gold, but they probably don't work with thick plated material.

Yeah that was the coin I was thinking but not overly sure that sells well in your part of the world. I only really buy gold with the view of "how am I going to sell this". In the UK we like Brits and sovs, in the USA they like eagles and buffaloes and was thinking that my be the your local coin. 

As for testing gold. size, weight, magnet and density. Then if anything is off maybe go gown the xrf route (someone with an expensive machine).