Newbie here who finally pulled the trigger on stacking silver. After my bank decided to quietly cut the interest rates on their savings accounts in half, I decided to convert my meager savings into silver. It's been a long time coming, my wife and I have been talking about investing in silver for a few years now but now that we've finally arrived I am finding it curiously addicting. Even more so than stacking cash in the safe, it just feels more secure to me. I'm curious if those of you who've been stacking for a while now, do you guys buy from a local dealer or rather go with an online supplier like APMEX or Kitco? Seems like the online suppliers have slightly lower premiums than my local dealer. I bought another 10 rounds from my local dealer this last Friday and paid $32 for 5 Buffalo's and $30 for 5 secondary 2006 Christmas rounds, so a $31 average including a $6~ premium. Is that about the going rate on premiums in the US? Would I be better off putting aside my need for instant gratification and casual conversation for an online retailer? Anyway, thank you all. I'm looking forward to reading the threads and learning more about this new (to me) investment venture.
Your US premiums are insane in AUD terms. I don't think online premiums are much better than what you paid. Besides, smaller local dealers don't engage in futures hedging and thus don't contribute to price manipulation, so they deserve your support more than the online retailers do.
That's a lot of why I've just been going with my local supplier, keep my business local. I'll say I think the premiums are a bit crazy as well especially when looking at it from a percentage perspective, but I ain't gonna lie, today's 4.5% run made me smile.
Guarantee when it comes time for you to sell, the big retailers won't help you out, where as the local you have a good few years dealing with will be happy to move your items for you.