Go for the gold (and silver)

COIN COLLEGE.

TANGIBLE, DIVERSIFIED, PROTECTION

GO FOR THE GOLD (& SILVER*)

With all the contrasting investments available, how does one settle on a particular component of available choices? Some of the choices may be physical bullion, being that coins, bars or even a paper investment. There are also many paper investments such as ETF's, stock in mining companies, futures (like a farmer or speculator) and so on. Rare coins, both raw and more. There are many benefits of precious metal for retirement and fun. The thing to do is to determining lastly, the best time to get happily involved.

Beginning gold collectors should look first to gold bullion - especially gold bullion coins minted by a recognized national mint. Gold American Eagles are the #1 most popular gold bullion coins in the world.

The 22 Karat Gold American Eagles sell at the prevailing price of gold bullion plus small manufacturing and distribution costs.

The next most popular gold bullion coins are produced by: Canada (24K Maple Leaf ), Austria (24K Philharmonic), and South Africa (22K Krugerrand. There are other countries producing similar coins but with a lot of counterfeiting going on globally, stick to the known coins for now. Once you settle on a dealer or source of your investments, then his integrity should be enough.

American Eagles are easy to buy and sell at most coin and precious metals dealers and are welcome in major investment markets worldwide. Many buyers demand the high degree of liquidity and lower dealer buy-sell spreads that American Eagles offer.

COMPARING YOUR PHYSICAL GOLD OPTIONS

Jewelry is the customary Old Worlds medium for a family's primary savings. However, jewelry is seldom pure ( 24karat) gold, usually starting with 14 karat. Bullion bars & coins are internationally recognized forms of pure gold or near pure (22 karat) gold in concentrated form. The bullion dealer or national mint is your guarantee of authenticity. The disadvantage is little possibility of gains or losses much greater than bullion prices unless a low mintage bullion coin becomes popular later and developed a collector premium.

Numismatic coins are the concentrated forms of wealth - so that more value can be saved in smaller space. Over time, quality numismatic coins generally grow faster than bullion in price. According to a recent 30 year study by Penn State economics professor Raymond Lombra. A basket of 3000 rare coins called

the PCGS 3000 index, far outperformed gold bullion during the 1970 to 2013 time frame. Rare Coins play a major role in diversication of ones gold collection.

Comparing Your PAPER GOLD OPTIONS Let's start with:

Futures Contracts are traded on the commodity exchange (COMEX)(NYMEX) for about five hours each business day. The gold contract is for 100 troy ounces, quoted in dollars. Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) contain an amount of bullion equal to the shifts in demand for fund shares. Shares trade at one-tenth the price of bullion ( i.e. $160 per share if gold is at $1,600). the transactions are quick and secure, but you hold no actual gold, Make sure ETF actually has the Physical Gold. Gold Shares trade like any other stock, based on investment demand vs. the supply of shares. With specific gold shares, investors must examine the management and deposits with an eye toward fraud or overstatement, as happened with Bre-X shares. Some mining companies hedge their gold, defeating the purpose of protecting from golds rise. In general, gold mines rise when gold bullion rises, since gold mining leverages gains in gold price, but that is not always the case. When gold rose rapidly in 2008, gold shares did not follow, declining 70% in six months. In recent years, gold shares have continued to decline, even though gold has risen for 12 straight years.

In another column, we will discuss, 'How to find a coin dealer you can trust'.

Dealers or Financial competitors who bad mouth the coin market or other dealers typically have many deficiencies themselves. When bad mouthing is present say what they say in Missouri "show me" to both competitors for your business. Give both dealers a chance to provide a response and proof of memberships,awards, accreditations and service. In most cases, the "bad mouthing" dealers or financial competitors are seriously deficient in credibility or their accusations are seriously mis-characterized, outdated orblatantly false.

*The text would also apply to silver coins. FYI (Au is the symbol for Gold and Ag is for silver) PM is the short form for Precious Metals

In my next journal, I will go over looking at the economy and U.S.Dollar values looking at things like real inflation and how it drives or hurts the precious metal price, the base of our coin investments and collection values. Stay tuned.

Capt. Brian