Hi, very new here and after reading a few posts I think I might need some help - my two children each have about $1500.00 to invest - and I think starting off in some gold / silver is a good idea. However I am now a tad confused in what I should be buying - from what I have read I should be buying silver to start ?? is this right and in a form that I am not paying a higher price (for say a limited release??). I do want them to continue investing in various forms but think this is a good way to start. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks
Hi. Try looking at this chart and thread as a starting point: http://forums.silverstackers.com/topic-14520-i-have-x000-what-should-i-buy.html
Gold fluctuates less but silver has the greater potential for 'profit' or so they say. Look at what is being offered on SS against the dealers and factor in the postage price. I think you want to keep the premiums down with your kids money. Bars offer you more metal for your money but coins can have potential to rise in price with their 'collectability' status changing. I'm sure that you will get hundreds of different pieces of advice. Just keep the premiums low i reckon.
I think they will be dissapointed with gold, $1500 is a lot of housework and not much in exchange. With Silver you get much more volume plus you can get some variety in there too. As with all investments teach them to diversify! Get some bars, boring but low premiums, teach them value for money. Coins, pretty but high premiums, you can demonstrate the difference between intrinsic value and perceived value. Get them some round 50 cents and you can teach them about Gresham's Law and inflation. Get some Junk pre dec, low premiums and they can spend the days looking to see if they are worth any money and if not they can learn how to clean them, you teach them how to recognise numismatic value and how to value add by getting the dirt off them. Then get them to sell the lot and buy some gold so you can teach them about the Gold:Silver ratio. Teaching has to be fun though, coins with different animal pictures on them are good to try and collect a set, don't let them! It is a money pit!
I encourage my children to buy gold. It does take a lot of resources to buy, but silver is too volatile for people with little capital to risk losing it all. If fractional coins are out reach may I suggest gold jewellery from ebay as long as you can get it below spot. Earrings seem to go below more readily than rings and necklaces. I have posted before on my reasons preferring gold to silver, here is a chart that explains my position: [imgz=http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/753_gold_n_silver.png][/imgz]
We have just done this with our kids. They each had about $1800 in the bank, so we took $1000 each, and bought some Scottsdale 1oz bars for them. The girls were quite happy, cause they got lots for their money, and they are nice & shiny too... We explained the economics to them, and apart from the 9 yo having the attention span of a moth, they could see the potential. They also said, that when they get a bit more money, for Christmas or birthdays, they might like to do it again, and build on it.
I give my niece 1oz coins for occassions. On her birthday I give her a different 1oz coin minted in the year of her birth (I have about 18 stashed away for future years). For Christmas I give her a 1oz coin from the current year. I have them in the Airtight Looped capsules so they can be hung off the Christmas tree on a bit of ribbon http://www.coinsupplyplanet.com/air-tite-holders-for-i-loops/ I got mine off Maggie and they are a good fit! I have also given 1oz coins to our friends' kids and they were surprisingly receptive to them. Hopefully they will go up in value and will be a nice way for the kids' stacks to grow.
So true! I do the same all the time. I find 1oz silver coins to be a perfect gift for many occasions. Also, PAMP 1oz Lunar bullions.
Firstly...this is a heart warming story. 2ndly I'd stick with just bullion (no coins or collectables) it's easier to see their investment perform rather than having to factor in the secondary collector's market. 3rdly Silver's moves have been more volatile than gold's...it'll be more exciting (an depressing) for the kids to experience and it'll draw them in.
I'd go for silver first, any, just as close to spot as possible in order no to miss the train ... then gold, for example, after 100 oz of silver I went for gold as well ... since then kept my own Gold/Silver ratio at 50. Now I find gold and collectible silver more appealing as they take less place
Maybe I should have explained myself better. Investment can be taught many ways, even with the dollars and cents and paper money we use, with Liz's head on them; you can learn so much just saving money or budgeting, and it's more divisible and liquid this way (maybe the 'liquid' part is not necessarily a good thing in this context, but I'm not one to say). I was more thinking about investing in what really drives their interests. Granted I'm making a bit of a tongue-in-cheek assumption that they may get bored of gold and silver, or it's not their main interest, but that's probably just a reflection of how I am. Hah. I wasn't really talking about busting out the new toys and games, necessarily (though they have their place). Gold and silver are arguably both in their cycle, and we invest in them primarily because of the fraudulent gov/banks, which is a pretty good lesson to learn. But (and this may be happening already, I don't know) investing in the kids primary interests is the best way to move forward (and for all I know, that may be learning about gold and silver).
I would go with a fractional gold coin. 1/20, 1/10, or 1/4 and the rest in silver. That way they can have a little variety with their first purchase. It will also show them the difference in value between gold and silver while they begin to build their stacks.
