[Zynox]

What Form of Precious Metals to Buy Questions

Gold and Silver and Platinum and Palladium and Coins and Bars, oh my!

Yes, initially the decisions may seem overwhelming. The choices are directly influenced by the intent.

For simple wealth preservation, I have settled on the following, for which I will add my recommendations afterwards.


Type of Metal

I have settled on a mix of silver and gold, with minor holdings also of platinum and palladium.


Type of Coins or Bars

I have settled on around a 60% gold, 40% silver ratio.

I have settled on only US Eagles and Canadian Mapleleafs, in both gold and silver coins, with a few recognized and fully 'branded' 10 ounce silver bars.


Size of Coins

I have settled on a wide mix of sizes in gold coins, including 1/25, 1/10, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 ounce sizes, and 1 ounce sizes in silver.


Reasons for Selections

I used to have some 100 ounce silver bars. What I found with these is that when selling them, many (most?) dealers will reduce the buy price per ounce to a value below spot price. They have told me that even name brand silver bars are sometimes (counterfeited?) not 99.99% pure silver, and I have also found that upon weighing them, they are not always 100 ounces as labeled on the bars! So, I have elected to rid myself of such unknowns and simply with just coins and a few more 'popular' labeled and recognized 10 ounce silver bars.

I now feel no bars are really prudent from the above, but they are still slightly more compact and convenient to store as compared to coins.

I have selected to mix the size (weight) of the gold widely, to provide future flexibility should we find ourselves in barter mode in the future, no different from carrying singles, fives, tens and twenties around currently.

I have selected to mix the type of metals I hold simply for diversity. Some folks trade back and forth between gold and silver when one spikes or declines versus the other, but I have found this also leads to much loss of premium (the cost over spot that is paid to the vendor to buy, or at times, the cost below spot which some dealers take as a fee when you sell) in transactions. It is like day trading, some want/enjoy, some don't.

I also have a minor amount of old US coins in 40% and 90% silver, left over from coin collecting days. I find them interesting, and some folks feel large quantities of these are a good deal. If we ever get to a point where we wanted to melt coins for industrial uses (which would technically be illegal per US defacing regulations), then these would require special processing to separate silver from other metals in the mix.

Some people hold older US and other countries coins, like from the 1800s through the 1930s, for a variety of purposes. These coins are generally much more expensive, and I no longer have any. There is some discussion that these might prove to be immune from any future confiscation, because they may have been exempted in the US 1933 wealth transfer game. I have watched long enough to feel nothing is certain, or 'insured', so I don't subscribe to the extra protection theory.


Please ask any specific questions on this post if something remains unclear.

Namaste!

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Please be advised that I am not any form of a professional or paid investment adviser and each individual reading or posting questions or answers is responsible for their own investment decisions.