Buying Silver: Is This A Good Idea?
December 13, 2010 by
Filed under Silver Investment FAQ
I recently decided to start purchasing one or more .999 one troy ounce silver bullion bars per month as an investment toward the future that would not take a big chunk out of my wallet. This month I purchased 3 of them to “start the collection.” I was wondering how financially sound it would be to continue the pattern through the next 10 or so years ( providing the price doesn’t skyrocket to near the cost of gold). I figure if all goes as planned, that by the 10 year mark I will have between 200-250 troy ounce bars of silver bullion. I watch the spot price on silver. I know that it is down at the moment, but figure (like the others in the precious metals list) that it will only go up as time goes on. I’m planning on keeping the obtained pieces through the next few decades (unless I could make a significant financial gain by selling it off at some point). It may be small bits of silver bullion here & there compared to some purchases, but I figure it’s both easy on the wallet & economically safe (just in the off chance that the economy takes another dive into what would be the second Great Depression). So what do you think… Good/bad idea? Any tips/wisdom you have to offer are welcome.
Bad idea. Buying physical silver is not reasonable and you end up overpaying for the transaction costs. It is also much harder to sell. If you want to buy silver, open a brokerage account and buy shares of SLV, the silver ETF.
Silly idea. You have to store them, yo uwill pay fees to buy and sell, and they don’t pay any dividends.
Buy STOCKS and MUTUAL FUNDS, not hard assets.
Don’t do it. Investing in silver is one thing but buying it something else. You will overpay for it unless you are a silver dealer.
your plan is solid however a much better way is;
buy slv silver on margin with scottrade
eliminate storage/insurance/delivery cost
http://www.scottrade.com
Buying silver as part of a diversified portfolio is a good idea. Buying the metal is a poor and costly way of doing it. Commissioner, fees, wide spreads, shipping &/or storage costs can get ugly.
The number one holder of silver in the world is the ETF “SLV”. You can buy significant amounts of silver for a total commission of $5 (or less) from some on-line brokers. Other on-line brokers may cost you up to $15. To buy or sell takes a milli second during market hours.
Asking strangers, whose qualifications or motives can never be known, how to invest your money is almost as ridiculous as putting most of your savings into one instrument (stock, metal, commodity etc.).
Remember: Never put all your eggs in one basket.
I have started investing in silver bullion also and think you are on the right track. I keep an eye on the spot price of silver at http://www.kitco.com and read related articles on silver there. Also came across a couple of silver investing sites that have lots of useful information. One is silverinvestingguide.com. In addition to silver bullion bars, I like the pre 1965 US silver coins but only if you can get them at a low premium. The silver investing guide site talks about bags (or partial bags) of junk silver which I am looking into. One thing about the bars, you should look for the top names in silver bullion bars – those being Englehardt and Manthey (sp?). Regarding investing in SLV, you don’t really own silver that way. If you have already invested in silver bars (which you stated you have), you know the satisfaction of holding a tangible asset in your hands that you control. Just figure out a way to safeguard it such as investing in a home safe. Good luck.