Some beginner help please

[Mattiver47]

Hi all new to the forum so i hope this is the right place to ask.

what in your opinion is the best option for long term investment of silver? Bars or coins? Also why do bars of the same weight command different prices? And is it worth paying more for these bars when it comes to selling? Can i just buy the cheapest .999 bars i can find or is there an advantage to spending more on branded bars? 

Sorry for the amount of questions im sure these have been answered many times. However i am finding the whole thing quite confusing.

thank you in advance for your replys.

[Pete]

Welcome to the addictive silver forum !!

When the National Lottery first started selling tickets I thought I would definitely win big by being mathematically astute and logged every winning number on an Excel spreadsheet for about a year. Using complex analysis I picked my "winning numbers" every week and guess what !!
I don't buy Lottery tickets these days preferring Premium Bonds so at least you keep your money.

Therefore I strongly suggest you do not get your hopes raised too highly for silver "investment".

Setting off on this venture I suggest you start collecting the cheapest bullion coins you can find.
Search SilverToGo, CoinInvest, Atkinsons for their latest offers.
Always factor in the cost of shipping.
You can frequently pick up a good deal on this Forum so check daily.
There is a ton of useful stuff on this site and lists of suppliers etc etc so search the Forum for info.
Perhaps avoid buying anything on eBay until you know more about coins and how to spot a fake.
These bullion coins are essentially only worth their weight in silver and nothing more so owning a coin or a bar is essentially irrelevant.
Silver is relatively cheap right now so jump in if you have the cash and can afford it.

If you are also a collector then you will not be disappointed in the coins sold in capsules - Australian Lunars for example, Pandas and a few others.
However they can cost a lot more but if you can buy them with no or very low VAT then in the future you might be able to sell at a profit of at least the VAT we pay in the UK.

Homework ... homework ... start researching and don't get carried away by Youtube Americans telling you that silver will go to $5000 an ounce !
If it did then I could afford a ticket to the Space Station.
 

 

[Guest]

Also give a look at this thread :

 

 

[BackyardBullion]

Firstly welcome to the forum!

This is a great place to ask questions like this. No easy answers but best advice is to research, research and research some more.

Here is my beginners guide video series:

Basically "invest" but be sure it is for the right reasons!

[Roy]

There's gonna be haters...! 

PMs are not an investment. 

Do not buy PMs if you want to make money.

A wise man on here said, if you want to make money, get a job. (If you want more money, work harder!)

Society is f**ked. 

Buying PMs on credit? It's over?

Sorry Mattiver47

[richo]

PMs are a useful hedge. I don't treat it as a money maker, just a hedge. If they go up, great. Let's face it, currency is now nothing more than a reflection of confidence in the host economy, so I believe it's important to diversify even if it's just to a small extent.

[Roy]

Buying PMs on credit ffs?

How is it possible to buy something that has value with something that you don't have?

Crazy

 

[Mattiver47]

Thanks for the reply's, I guess investment was the wrong word to use. My actual plan is to buy and hold silver be it coins or bars over a long period of time just to diversify my portfolio a little as I already have investments in funds etc. This would be part of my retirement plan (so about 30 years away) I have always collected things throughout life and silver seemed the ideal thing to look at. So by the replys it sounds like just buying the cheapest bullion coins might be the way forward for my goal?

Thanks again for being so helpful

[vand]

Diversification & crisis hedge are very good reasons to hold some physical PMs, so you are on the right lines.

For UK buyers, bars aren't the best thing to buy as they are not VAT-exempt like coins are (if you buy them from the right dealers). Stick to popular low-premium bullion coins (eg brits/maples/ases/phiharmonics) for your first lot of purchasing. After that you will get a better idea of which coins you personally prefer, and then you should just buy what you like the most.

[Mattiver47]

1 hour ago, BackyardBullion said:

Firstly welcome to the forum!

This is a great place to ask questions like this. No easy answers but best advice is to research, research and research some more.

Here is my beginners guide video series:

Basically "invest" but be sure it is for the right reasons!

Hi,

Actually watched those videos the other day

There the reason I'm on this forum in the first place.

very informative

I have subscribed.

[Mattiver47]

16 minutes ago, Roy said:

Buying PMs on credit ffs?

How is it possible to buy something that has value with something that you don't have?

Crazy

 

Sorry who mentioned buying them on credit?

[BackyardBullion]

2 minutes ago, Mattiver47 said:

Hi,

Actually watched those videos the other day

There the reason I'm on this forum in the first place.

very informative

I have subscribed.

Thanks!

[Roy]

Yes, you could buy silver as coins or bars to diversify your portfolio a little for your retirement plan 30 years away.

But...I think you will be selling your stock within a year at spot or under like everyone else on here.

Just look at the ads.

1 minute ago, Mattiver47 said:

Sorry who mentioned buying them on credit?

Please read the forum posts.

It's a general observation not a personal one.

[Mattiver47]

1 minute ago, Roy said:

Yes, you could buy silver as coins or bars to diversify your portfolio a little for your retirement plan 30 years away.

But...I think you will be selling your stock within a year at spot or under like everyone else on here.

Just look at the ads.

Thanks for the helpful reply

 

[Mattiver47]

So looking through it seems maybe pre owned silver coins from a reputable dealer might be the way to go?

They seem to be closest to spot price anyway

[Roy]

You're welcome 

[BackyardBullion]

9 minutes ago, Mattiver47 said:

So looking through it seems maybe pre owned silver coins from a reputable dealer might be the way to go?

They seem to be closest to spot price anyway

Yes, buy from Europe - silver to go, gold silver.be coininvest or European mint are all good.

Shipping is often an issue of you are just ordering a few coins. I have just finished a group buy to save on shipping via GS.be and will be doing another soon for sure!

Drop me a PM if you want to find out more about the group buys!

 

[metallica73]

I started as a stacker in 2011 dreaming of 'investing' and the Silver price shooting to the moon, and now i'm pretty much a collector. Never put any money you cannot afford to lose into metals is my motto, that way you are not constantly looking at the spot price. Eg, I began stacking buying bullion 1oz coins at £35 and now they are worth half that. My semi-numismatic bullion I bought at that time has held its value which is why I now only buy widely collected coins/bars.  Lesson no.1 - thankfully didn't cost me much because I didn't have the money to buy in bulk in 2011, I could have lost a LOT of money if I did.

I think if I wanted to purely stack these days I would skip silver bullion altogether and pay 95% of spot for Sterling.

6 minutes ago, Mattiver47 said:

So looking through it seems maybe pre owned silver coins from a reputable dealer might be the way to go?

They seem to be closest to spot price anyway

If you are buying Silver coins in any quantity you'll be wanting to buy it from the EU whilst you can. It's cheaper than the 'pre-owned' Silver available in the UK.

 

 

 

 

 

[richo]

When I first got in to coins people generally gave the advice stick to bullion and as close to spot as possible. Ironically it's the numismatic Star Wars coins that seem to be the best investment I have made. lol