Being new to the precious metals game I was hoping I could learn from experienced collectors as to how they stack, what they choose to collect and why - basically what is your strategy behind stacking and how you purchase and sell? Perhaps people could provide advise on coins vs bar - which ones and why, or how much of a certain item is worth collecting eg/ I see people buy rolls of the same coin when a bar of same weight is usually cheaper They are just a few examples that come to mind, but I'd really love to hear about how people go about this overall, and what their strategy is I'm new, and for now I'm slowly collecting one of each coin that I like, for collection purposes as I don't really intend on ever selling them unless spot really spikes in the future. To me, all the 1oz coins I collect are for my own personal collection, where as my 10oz, 1kg coins and bars are more so for investment to resell - is this a good approach? I see bars as something I would buy more so for sale/resale purposes and coins more so for collection Any advise or information fellow members could shed would be greatly appreciative Thanks in advance
Your strategy will depend on what your goals are. You will have to decide those first. Certain coins can perform well over time as they develop premiums and some just as quickly become expensive duds. One good coin strategy I have heard of is to buy bulk coins in series that have an established track record of appreciation (e.g. Lunars) in the release year and flip them 2-3 years later and reinvest the profit so your stack grows itself. Coins also tend to hold their value when the spot price drops. One disadvantage of coins is all the extra time and fiddling around you have to do if you have a lot of them. Another thing to consider is that if the spot price spikes (considerably) the premiums you paid might become meaningless. With large bars it's a game of ounces. You get a lot more bang for your buck and you don't have to worry as much about premiums, scratches, milk spots or special storage. They are easier to move quickly if you need to sell as the buyers are far less fickle about low premium metals. With gold stick to buying low premium bars unless you have enough to splurge on a current release 1oz Lunar or 30g Panda. Best advice of all is to educate yourself. Use youtube and this forum. Cheers!
It will change, prepare to be flexible. At the moment you can buy 1 ounce of gold or 72 ounces of silver for the same price, this ratio changes. When it is above 60 I tend to buy silver when it is below 50 I buy gold. In between I go for whatever looks to be a good bargain. The bigger the bar/coin, the lower the premiums are, if you can afford the larger size go for that. Postage is a killer, save up and buy in one go or see if a dealer will put purchases aside until you have enough to make it worth posting. I have come to the conclusion that you make your money on the purchase, selling is fine but if you can buy the silver cheap then you are better off in the long run. Never collect sets, it is a mug's game, most coins in the series are not worth much but there is usually one hard to find item which you end up overpaying for just to complete the set. You also feel obliged to buy whatever rubbish comes out each year to maintain the set and most buyers are looking for one or two coins and already have most of the others so you limit your market for selling them. Just buy the key coins in the set. Buy from a dealer rather than the manufacturer, you can get discounts from the dealer for buying smaller numbers, you have to buy a lot of coins from the Perth Mint to get a discount. Space is an issue, silver takes up a lot of it and coins waste a lot of it in the corners. Gold bars are the best for storage. I started off with silver coins, moved on to the bigger bullion ounces, moved up in sizes to 10oz, switched to low premium silver bars, switched to junk pre decimal coins and my latest purchase was some old world gold coins. Get whatever is cheap at the time, having a plan restricts you from spontaneous purchases.
Fantastic advise guys! You've really given me excellent information that I will take on and reference, so thank you very much Look forward to hearing from more members
Excellent points by atlas and Jizlizard. It's mostly a learning experience and I doubt that anyone could honestly claim that the didn't make some buying or selling mistakes along the way if they've been in this long enough. My point being, if you find a few years down the road that you have some regrets about doing or not doing something (purchasing (a) particular item(s), unwise swaps, or selling (a) particular item(s)), that is quite normal I think. Diversification can be a good, productive strategy.....but it also can come with some deficits. .
Look twice, think twice, if you like it, and your budget is ok, buy it. Education and learning to follow....cheers
