Bullion....what to buy for a future investment

[Jakeblue]

I have been watching the spot prices for gold and silver bullion and they are continuing to fall.

 

So, if one wanted to invest with the thought of turning it around in a year or so, or when the market went back up, what type of bullion is best?

 

Gold bars, eagles or krugs? Other?

 

Silver bars, rounds, or eagles? Other?

 

[zrlevin]

I think that eagles and maples (and krugs for gold) are the most liquid when it comes to bullion. I have been loading up on 90% silver, though, as it has a smaller premium.

[ant]

id say silver climbs and falls more than gold does. or i should say in bigger amounts.

 

gold may rize but it is very very rarely a huge amount where a big profit can be made.

[TomB]

This may be obvious, but I would attempt to buy pieces that are as liquid as possible and that carry the smallest premium, if any, to bullion.

[jtryka]

Recently 10-ounce and 100-ounce silver bars have been scarce and carrying premiums higher than 50-ounce bars or even 1-ounce bars/rounds. Personally I would go for silver more than gold since the gold-silver ratio is now over 60, which tells me silver is the bigger bargain at the moment. Whatever you do, buy physical and make sure whoever you buy it from has it in stock, rather than waiting 60 or 90 days or more to take delivery.

[michael]

for gold....................... mex 50 pesos

 

for silver................................ 1000 ounce comex bars

 

make sure you take physical possession

[Mozin]

Forget the gamble with coins as an investment. Collect them as a hobby.

[just-john]

Dollar for Dollar think silver the way for most small investors to play because you get aprox

60 o/z of silver to 1o/z of gold think gold today is about $806.90 o/z and silver $13.11o/z

say you have $8006.90 to play with 10 o/z of gold or 600o/z of silver 600 will out preform 10 every time going up and going down 10cent move in silver would get you $60.00 in gold 60 cents

[Oldtrader3]

The smallest premium that I can find in gold are Sovereigns at $205. each for BU coins. Silver eagles are $18.15 each which is higher than when silver was $17.00/ounce.

[CoinCurious]

Apmex.com sells silver eagles for 2.99over spot if u buy 20 to 499. Anyone know anywhere you can get them cheaper than that? Comes to $16.15 each with silver at $13.16

[EZ_E]

I've been buying 1 oz silver rounds but, with shipping, they average around $20 each which is not a good deal. I think buying 100 oz bars of silver would be the best route.

[jtryka]

You'll find right now 100-ounce bars are selling at a premium. The last coin show I was at 2 weeks ago the big bullion dealer was selling 1-ounce bars/rounds at $14.50, 50-ounce bars at $14.50, ASEs at $15.25 and 10-ounce and 100-ounce bars at $15.75 (though he was out of 100-ounce bars)!!! This was when silver was just under $13.

[TDSD38-migration]

Silver has had a cloud hanging over it since the digital revolution in photography has taken hold. Just go to your local film lab to see what I"m talking about. Yet, retail silver this year has been very difficult to obtain with most supplies going to industrial uses. I may stand corrected on that by some well connected investors with large bullion accounts. But until a new use for silver is lined up the question mark of demand remains. There is talk of new windows using a film of silver to reduce energy loss. Let's hope it takes hold. But on the supply side, though balanced now, silver like other metals has a finite supply barring some asteroid out there made of silver. But that would be about fifty years at least away before we are out there mining asteroids. Silver supplies are declining while gold increases in supply at a small rate as new and more efficient mining tech takes hold. Technology has always been right behind base metals in reducing dependence. So copper bugs you can bet labs are figuring out a more stable substitute such as fibre optics for which there is a plentiful supply of raw materials. Imagine what would happen if the national debt and current account balance became so big that no one believed we were ever going to pay it off. Platinum is needed and too scarce to substitute for gold and would have to rise in price to some astronomical level to fund the world economy. Either that or we write down assets and commerce to the point that there is enough gold to back it up. No one has a crystal ball to know for certain how this all will pan out. But one thing is certain the dollar is in serious trouble and we are in the eye of the storm. During the next two years the government will have to create about 1 to 2 trillion dollars in dept to bail out freddie mac and fanny mae is that inflationary or what? Silver for the near term is volatile though the digital revolution is largely in place in photography with only special uses and late adopters remaining. I'm sticking with silver but I don't have a crystal ball and don't do it just because i am.

[EZ_E]

Excellent post, sinohog!

[TDSD38-migration]

thx ez E. Most of this information was summarized from a seasoned old trader in HK from the States, Leon Richardson, who had a program on RTHK (radio HK) in which the main point was to help listeners get out of dollars and into something else more stable over the long term without the inflation risk. This was back in the 1990s before China had accumulated all of those dollar reserves. But he saw what was going to happen. They like Japan would have to take dollars for our imports until they get tired of doing that and switch to something else. Then the dollar is in big trouble. Just a hint from them that they were going to diversify their future forex earnings out of dollars sent the dollar reeling. But they are smart enough not to dump 2 trillion dollars on the forex market at once. It will be a slow death, most likely. Right now the question is where else will they put their money? Right now they have only very small bullion holdings while individual Chinese aren't waiting. They tend to buy 24k gold jewelery because it can easily be sold in times of crisis. But the premium over bullion is huge (jewelery). And they won't touch silver for some reason. so being a contrarian I think makes sense while they are bidding up the price of gold in China and India.

[BECOKA]

If you are just playing the market why not do futures and have it all on paper. I think that is the most liquid.

 

Personally I want to buy some for the long haul and will be getting a handful of the upcoming UHR coins due next year. Might as will have beautiful coins to look at.