What metal is better? Gold or Silver? Why buy gold? why buy silver?

Discussion in 'Silver' started by lshallperish, Jun 13, 2014.

  1. lshallperish

    lshallperish New Member

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    I am talking to those that buy silver/gold other then it being a hobby. I was wondering why people buy silver, is it because it's cheaper and its just more affordable? What are you guy's hoping silver becomes? I ask these because in history gold has always been more expensive then silver so there is no way it will ever pass gold. Why try to hide kilo's after kilo's of silver when you can just hide a couple of golden coins? When silver rises gold seem's to rise when silver falls gold falls, when gold falls silver falls etc etc.

    It make's no sense to invest in silver unless you cant afford gold because it seem's that both metals need each other to survive.

    In about 10 day's I will be dropping 10k on a metal but I have not decided yet. Silver is great because there's always demand for it where gold is just hoarded but it doesn't change much because silver is still not going to increase as much.. say silver goes up to $50 per ounce.. gold will be at $1800 again.
     
  2. Jislizard

    Jislizard Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Opinion Number 1

    All precious metals can go up in value if the spot goes up, and they can also go up if they become collectible.

    The Gold to Silver Ratio is not fixed and the price of gold can be dropping while the price of silver increases, though not many people think that silver will become more valuable than gold.

    One way of looking at it is which is the best buy at the moment, currently one ounce of gold will buy you 65 ounces of silver. This indicates to some that either silver is cheap, or gold is expensive, and they buy silver. If the ratio were to close a bit and one ounce of gold would buy you 50 ounces of silver then for some people it is a coin flip as to which metal to buy and if the GSR was more like 40:1, then many people would think that silver was relatively expensive and they might decide to buy gold instead.

    So currently, I think that of the two metals, silver is the best buy.

    I am not hiding my precious metals so the volume is not an issue. If I had 10k to spend in one transaction I would probably get a bit of gold and a bit of silver, the gold would be easier to store of course but for 10K I would probably put aside some of the money as storage fees for a Safe Deposit Box, no need to have that hanging around the house.

    If you buy silver coins you get lots of opportunities for them to increase in value. If you buy one gold coin for the same amount you only have one chance of it going up in value. You can probably make more money on lots of smaller sales than on one big sale, you can probably find more customers for silver coins than you can for gold coins, you just have to do a bit more work.

    Only time will tell if you made the right decision but as long as you are happy with the decision you won't kick yourself or second guess yourself all the time.
     
  3. Icon

    Icon Member

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    Silver has always been the poor mans gold. It's easier to buy 5-10 ounces of silver, than 1 ounce of gold. And smaller denominations have to much premium.
    Plus, silver has pile factor. 10K of silver will make a bigger pile than 10K of gold.
    Years ago when I was buying silver, 10K would have made a really decent pile, today, not so much.
     
  4. Peter

    Peter Well-Known Member

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    Gold is security.
    Silver is speculation.
    If the shtf, gold will go up.
    Silver may go down.
     
  5. Peter

    Peter Well-Known Member

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  6. Greg Williams

    Greg Williams Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    For me it's a question of affordability, and with the GSR being where its at, silver IMO is the better buy. Sure as the metals rise and the GSR comes down I will sell off some silver & get some gold. Well at least thats the plan.
    That being said, if 10k were to drop in my lap, I would probably go 50/50 gold & silver, cover all bases and decide/fine tune as time goes on. JMO
     
  7. Belvedere

    Belvedere Active Member Silver Stacker

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    Agreed. Eggs in baskets etc.
     
  8. atlas

    atlas Member

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    Very similar, but both have advantages:

    Silver: Industrial metal, more potential for price percentage growth.

    Gold: More recognised, less volatile, more portable.
     
  9. Aureus

    Aureus Active Member Silver Stacker

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    for investment it has to be gold, heard of anyone rich stacking silver? (that doesn't have a vested interest, yeah, don't mention the Canadian).

    For gambling go with silver.
    Forget history, silver is not a monetary metal so it's irrelevant.
     
  10. Cheepo

    Cheepo New Member

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    Gold has a much lower mark up above spot price, like 2% instead of 15%.
     
  11. QLDSILVER

    QLDSILVER Member

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    I Invest in PM's due to the fact its not a coloured piece of debt.You cant say gold will always be more expensive than silver as the future is unknown.Unfortunately we all hope, or our benefactors do, to convert base metals into a more comfortable way of human existance.We examine world events whilst holding precious metals with the view to expanding our net worth and by extension our freedom. In reality its all transcient. We arrive with nothing go out the same way and hope our bloodline enjoy a life devoid of serfdom.

    Just my view.
     
  12. BeHereNow

    BeHereNow New Member

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    Premium on $30 in gold is 45%.
    Premium on $21 silver is 8%.

    Premium on $1300 gold is 3%.
    Premium on $1300 silver is still 8%.

    If SHTF, and gold is king, consumers are going to have to pay that 45% premium, later rather than sooner.
    Who will be able to purchase needs, with an ounce of gold at a time?
    Your wealth will go to premiums.
    As I see it, gold is a strong bet that S will not HTF.

    If PM is only metal, blobs, and has no increased value for form...........but of course, it is not only blobs.
    Form matters.
    There are many more forms of silver, more collectable forms.
    Many more collectors of silver, in all the forms.
    Larger markets are traditionally more efficient, offer better value.
    More opportunity to increase the value beyond the blob.
    If the economy does well, collectables will do well, silver collectables will do well, compared to gold.
    Realizing profit from the collectable market requires much more understanding of the market than blob stacking.
    More opportunity for gain means more opportunity for loss. That's how things work.
    If you have no desire to understand how form influences value with PM, stay with stacking the blobs, silver or gold.
    Blobs of silver can always be converted to collectables, if you are willing to sell at wholesale prices.

    Gold is a very limited commodity for the storage of wealth, except one key area.
    If you have storage or transportation issues, go with gold, and hope for the best.
    Even then, the greatest potential is with silver, so store what is agreeable, before going to gold.
    I think I may buy my first scrap of gold this year. It may be time.
     
  13. mmissinglink

    mmissinglink Active Member

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    What Jizlizard had written is right on the money.

    I would add one thing which is that it also depends on your personal situation and reasons as to why you stack that could have determining factors of which metal you sink that 10k into. I am not asking you to reveal, but you should take into consideration where you live, what's your age, what's your health, what sort of lifestyle do you have, do you believe that an "end-of-times" (shit hits the fan global currency collapse) is imminent, and so forth and so on. I ponder all these things and much more when I am about to trade away my hard-earned money into what I see as an investment with inherent risk because precious metals derive their value from human sentiment not much unlike any other investment that comes with inherent risk.

    If you don't own physical precious metals already, you may actually be in a fortunate position because clearly we are in a bear market for pm's. Many people paid considerably more just a few short years ago for these metals than you'd be paying if you buy this year. So, either way (a silver or gold purchase) seems to me at this time a good way to invest your money.


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  14. Cheepo

    Cheepo New Member

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    Somebody wrote that if the shit hits the fan, gold will be better than silver. Is that a share sentiment by many? And if so, why? I would have thought that they are both equally good.
     
  15. Pirocco

    Pirocco Well-Known Member

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    What metal...
    Ehm! :D
    Let's translate that question.
    Which people do you trust most: those with silver, or those with gold?
    To answer that, one has to understand with what motivations they bought the chosen metal. ;)
     
  16. Pirocco

    Pirocco Well-Known Member

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    It's your own decisions that determine what is better and what isn't. If you buy a product at a temporary higher driven price, then that product will be worser, no matter whether the shit raises to your feet or nose. :)
     
  17. mmissinglink

    mmissinglink Active Member

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    If (and I am one who no longer is convinced that there will be a SHTF scenario in mine or or the next few generations' lifetime) there is such a scenario in the relatively near future, I don't necessarily believe that gold will be better as a medium of exchange than silver. It may depend on things like where you live, what group is in power, and such. That's because these commodities' value are sentiment driven and sentiment could vary somewhat from region to region, state to state, or country to country. Sentiment is a very wild card and unfortunately, it's the card that more or less dictates what the value of precious metals are.

    There is no such thing as real intrinsic value of gold or silver....their value is derived by people who seek to own these commodities and the secondary and tertiary factors that help or hinder the acquisition of these commodities.




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  18. dccpa

    dccpa Active Member

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    Silver hasn't been a part of the US coinage since 1964 (excluding the 65-79 clad coins). Silver is far more of an industrial commodity now than money. Generations are growing up that have no concept of silver except as part of an IPOD. Gold remains money. In a SHTF scenario, you can only sell to those who want to buy. Everyone still understands the value of gold, will they understand the value of silver? My guess is not so much. Hopefully, the SHTF scenario never happens.
     
  19. lshallperish

    lshallperish New Member

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    Who cares about everyone.. governments will understand, companys that need silver to make a product.. imagine without silver what would happen to Apple? they would need to seek a different way of making ipods and iphones, there is one way you can do it but its still being tested and its estimated to cost 10000 just for a little amount, what apple is going to increase ipods and phones to 2000 dollars? comon.. people will go mental over that.. so these companys understand it is not people that consume silver it is companys and governments for our daily needs.

    Silver is running low
     
  20. dccpa

    dccpa Active Member

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    Silver is not running low and silver production has been expanding. The claim that there is only a 17 year supply of silver remaining is ridiculous. They first made that claim about 19-20 years ago. Some day silver will run out, but not in our lifetimes. And there is such a thing as substitution. But for most applications, extremely little silver is used and silver at $100 would have little effect on the price of an ipod. Where exactly are you getting a $10,000 number for an ipod made without silver?
     

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