Beginning to Stack 2024

[Saxon79]

If you had never stacked precious metals before would you begin to stack Silver in 2024? If not why not and what would you invest your money in? 

[Petra]

A lot of people would suggest not to bother, however, like a lot of things it’s a matter of right price. If you can get silver at a decent price like on the forum then why not? Saying that, I have now gone from buying all sorts of silver to buying very little.🤔🤔

[Saxon79]

I've bought some Silver and Gold but I'm thinking that Silver due to the premium and VAT may not be a great investment. Gold I'm sure is but I'm not so sure about Silver. Fortunately I've not spent a fortune.

[Darr3nG]

25 minutes ago, Saxon79 said:

I've bought some Silver and Gold but I'm thinking that Silver due to the premium and VAT may not be a great investment. Gold I'm sure is but I'm not so sure about Silver. Fortunately I've not spent a fortune.

What's your budget and your end-game?

If it's simply somewhere to park your money for a while, so it doesn't lose to inflation, then you can't really go wrong with standard bullion sovereigns...

Simple VAT-free 22ct chunks of gold which are easy to buy and sell, usually within a few % of spot price. And the best part, CGT free!!!

[SidS]

Don't buy silver.

Says someone sat on a pile of silver. You'll not really make many gains from it. I buy it because I like it, I don't expect to make any money on it.

[Petra]

You won’t pay VAT on second hand silver, although it will still be hidden in the sellers price, however, if you do buy silver, get it on here.

[artalien]

1 hour ago, Saxon79 said:

If you had never stacked precious metals before would you begin to stack Silver in 2024?

Yes. Silver is currently on sale. Back up the truck. If I could I'd buy up all the silver for sale on here at circa £21 - £22 an ounce. I'd try to hold for 5 years at least. That ofc is just me. Prices may have a bit to fall yet but I wouldn't count on it.

Warning: I have only ever lost money on PM.

Edited February 12 by artalien

[Darr3nG]

3 minutes ago, artalien said:

If I could I'd buy up all the silver for sale on here at circa £21 - £22 an ounce. I'd try to hold for 5 years at least.

While I'm also a holder of many, many oz of silver... storage of said silver in any quantity is a nightmare!

[Orpster]

Gold, just gold.

lovely shiny gold

hmmm.   

[Silverlocks]

2 hours ago, Saxon79 said:

If you had never stacked precious metals before would you begin to stack Silver in 2024? If not why not and what would you invest your money in? 

In America, silver has no VAT and thus has much lower spreads than it does here, so it is much easier to stack silver efficiently over there.  You will see a lot of silver stacking YT channels in the US, but the tax conditions and market are very different here, so you should take American stacking channels with a pinch of salt.

Silver is quite hard to stack efficiently in the UK.  VAT really ganks the dealer market, so you can expect to lose about 30% or so of the value if you buy and sell back to dealers.  The only really cost effective way to stack silver is to buy and sell on the secondary market, where you can get much smaller spreads.  As a starting point for this, I suggest you reach out to @theman73 and see what he's got available at the moment.  I've bought plenty of stuff from him in the past; he's a good egg.  Also, keep an eye on the trading forums and get a sense of what things sell for.

Gold has much lower spreads than silver as it doesn't attract VAT.  The entry point for gold is really half sovereigns, although 1/10oz coins often turn up at decent prices on the secondary market (such as here on TSF).  Sovereigns are really the sweet spot for stacking gold here in the UK, as they have a killer combination of low premiums, small size and liquidity and exemption from capital gains tax (they are still technically legal tender and exempt because of this).  Sovereigns aren't the be-all and end-all of stacking gold in the UK, but they are a good starting point.  If you want to buy some sovereigns, I suggest you get in touch with @Belmont, @CallumHSLimited or @shawy2510 as a starting point.  There are other vendors flogging sovs here, so keep an eye on the listings and see what comes up.

If you're going to get into sovereigns, it pays to have a bit of understanding about the numismatics of the coin, for example being able to do a basic assessment of the grade, or knowing which designs or mintages might attract a premium.  Shields are a good example of this as they tend to sell for about 10-15% over spot, where 5% is more normal for sovs.  Get hold of Marsh's The Gold Sovereign, Allen's Grading British Coins and the current edition of Spink's Coins of England and the United Kingdom as a starting point.

Sovs are not the be-all and end-all of stacking gold in the UK; it would also pay to get an idea of the typical premiums associated with other items such as 1oz coins, 1/4oz coins or bars (take a look at Tavex's house brand 1g bars as another entry point to dip your toe into the water with gold).  Look at the prices on the dealer web sites, then take a look at the sales postings here to see what the coins trade for on the secondary market.

Note that the price of gold is quite high at the moment.  I can't give you any advice as to whether it will go up or down in the future, but look into cost averaging as a strategy.  Silver might well go up, and a lot of folks think it will, but I can't give you any prognosis on this either.  However, the huge spreads on the main dealer market mean it would have to really go up a lot in order for you not to lose on it, so you really need to get ofay with the secondary market if you want to do silver.

Edited February 12 by Silverlocks

[Saxon79]

@Silverlocks thanks for the advice I will take it all on-board.

[Saxon79]

2 hours ago, Darr3nG said:

What's your budget and your end-game?

If it's simply somewhere to park your money for a while, so it doesn't lose to inflation, then you can't really go wrong with standard bullion sovereigns...

Simple VAT-free 22ct chunks of gold which are easy to buy and sell, usually within a few % of spot price. And the best part, CGT free!!!

Budget wise I don't have a set budget but have just been using whatever I have spare that I can comfortably afford. My plan was to hold it for 10+ years as a hedge against inflation. 

[Darr3nG]

29 minutes ago, Saxon79 said:

My plan was to hold it for 10+ years

Gold it is then...

Next thing to consider is your exit strategy - if selling to a dealer, you can probably stack any low-premium gold. If you're planning to sell privately, then sovs or half sovs are recommended, as they are well known/trusted and should still be affordable for many people.

[Saxon79]

5 minutes ago, Darr3nG said:

Gold it is then...

Next thing to consider is your exit strategy - if selling to a dealer, you can probably stack any low-premium gold. If you're planning to sell privately, then sovs or half sovs are recommended, as they are well known/trusted and should still be affordable for many people.

I was leaning towards buying Gold and just leaving Silver unless I came across some great deals. I have bought some Gold already but I will definitely be buying some Sovereigns. In terms of exit strategy I would sell private or to dealer. I will always be looking for low premium. My purchases so far have been online from Gold.co.uk

Edited February 12 by Saxon79

[SovereignBull]

For me Gold is for stacking and Silver is for collecting - Partly the reason why ive started a Silver Britannia date run.

 

i think its important to keep whatever you decide to do interesting and fun. All well and good stacking gold at as close to spot as possible but for me I love getting a particular dated coin or special edition and at a good price

[Darr3nG]

3 minutes ago, Saxon79 said:

My purchases so far have been online from Gold.co.uk

Consider premium membership... you'll save so much vs the dealer prices, you'll wonder why you ever bought from them  

In fairness, they're not all bad and often have great deals - membership also gets you access to the compare prices tool.

[HonestMoneyGoldSilver]

8 hours ago, Darr3nG said:

While I'm also a holder of many, many oz of silver... storage of said silver in any quantity is a nightmare!

I see regular members saying this often. How much silver do you guys actually have? I flogged everything I had in boxes or slabs, the rest of my silver doesn't take up much room, it's not like an exercise bike or weights bench. You can easily fit £10K of silver in a monster box. I'd guess £100K in silver is 8 monster boxes give or take. I don't have £100K in silver but if I did the storage would be less of an issue than the insurance. I'd have to check the fine print but I think I'm paying like £20/year extra give or take for every £10K in silver. Reasonable I think

[SidS]

I dunno flatware takes up a lot of room! 😁

Coins are fairly compact.

[londonfella81]

Silver is more a industrial metal, will be a long term hold but much of it's swings depends on economic conditions. Central banks are hoarding gold but a mixture of both leaning more to the gold ratio. 

Edited February 12 by londonfella81

[Saxon79]

8 hours ago, londonfella81 said:

Silver is more a industrial metal, will be a long term hold but much of it's swings depends on economic conditions. Central banks are hoarding gold but a mixture of both leaning more to the gold ratio. 

My idea behind buying some Silver was to hold it at least 10 years. 

[SidS]

8 hours ago, londonfella81 said:

Silver is more a industrial metal, will be a long term hold but much of it's swings depends on economic conditions. Central banks are hoarding gold but a mixture of both leaning more to the gold ratio. 

Interesting to note that no central banks hold silver. The last real stockpiles (beyond industrial or bullion brokers) went when silver stopped being used for circulating coinage in the 1960s/70s.

[JohnA1]

3 hours ago, Saxon79 said:

My idea behind buying some Silver was to hold it at least 10 years. 

This makes more sense for stacking silver.

If you are prepared to sit on it for 10years plus, then you have the right attitude to tackle the speculative element of silver stacking.

The wrong attitude is to keep checking the price every day and biatch and moan when you've 'lost'. We only gain/lose when we actually sell, by the way.

Stacking silver is for contrarian thinking in my view. It is unloved by the (rigged) markets, a look at recent price history indicates it's going nowhere, a loser choice. A deadbeat investment.

Industry loves it though, and in real terms it is extremely cheap and getting cheaper by the year. I love it!

For short-mid-long term savings, stick to sovereigns/britannias.

If you are prepared for a price explosion that may happen anytime (even after you're gone though) then silver is right up there

[Saxon79]

@JohnA1 It is a long term plan i have including leaving some to my Children. I have been purchasing with spare money so it's not anything I will miss so leaving it for 10 years + will be no bother for me. I will definitely be buying some Sovereigns and 1/4oz Britannias. At some point in next 18 months I will probably splash out on a 1oz gold Britannia, especially if I land a new role at work that I've applied for.

[MrStacker]

Hello Saxon and welcome to The Silver Forum! 

I’ll be straight up to the point: if it’s for your children and you don’t want an unknown cloud above your head dwindling whether or not silver will break just stick to bullion gold sovereigns. Gold will always store wealth and it’s much safer to invest in compared to silver.  Nothing else. Your children will thank you and they will benefit greatly from it.

Silver I see as a hobby and collecting specific size coins or series to your liking. The Uk VAT kills any motivation for a stacker to focus purely on silver. This is just my opinion. Second hand silver is a different ball game but fun. 

Also feel free to check out the awesome Silver Premium Members Hangout thread once you upgrade 😎you won’t regret it. 

Good luck and enjoy the adventure of stacking precious metals! 👍

[Saxon79]

@MrStacker thanks for the advice. Definitely a great forum with friendly people offering sound advice.