Of Silver... well, a little more actually. So my first goal of obtaining 100 oz of Silver was achieved and like all noob stackers it's an unfocused mix of a lot of different things. Rounds and Coins: 46 oz - 1 oz Rounds, and Coins from various government and private mints Bars: 8 oz - Generic 1 oz Silver Bars (bought as a mix bag of bars, I'll never do that again), 20 oz - 1 oz bars, 1 - 5 oz, and 2 - 10 oz bars from various well known private mints. Semi-Numismatic: 7 oz - 1 oz rounds; Star Trek, Star Wars, Year of the Rabbit Lunars, etc. Because I liked them. Other: a 1 oz Star Trek Delta (because Star Trek), and 10 - 1 oz Trump .45 cal silver bullets (won in game). I am going to start focusing on a foundation of ASE's, and maybe start with other Government mints like Australia, Canada, and Mexico. I know Canada Mint has a bad rep because of milk stains but being a weight stacker that is OK with me. In the end, it's all just X oz of Silver. I am still < 1 oz of gold and platinum because, dang, that stuff is expensive. And holding 2.5 grams of gold is not as exciting as 10 oz of silver. The goal for the first quarter of 2018 is 70 oz silver, 6 g gold, and 3 g Platinum and maintain that rate for each quarter of the year. We'll see how that goes.
Nice, it is good to have goals that are reachable and even better to hit them. I used to have a spreadsheet with all the info on it but that was several hard drive crashes ago so in all honesty, I really don't know what I have or how much or the dollar value. I also have a mix, mostly pre decimal Australian, then world silver circulating old coins, then premium bars, then rounds, then gov issued legal tender, then some numismatic items and then some low premium bars and even some scrap silver. I have got some gold, even with the current GSR, there must be a reason that gold is so high, and a reason that the Chinese are stockpiling it. I have swapped all my unallocated gold into silver though, all I have now are some world gold coins. Having 100oz of pre decimal or having 100oz of numismatic collectables is the same amount of metal but one lot of 100oz silver could be twice or triple the dollar value of the other lot. I would never count my numismatic items as melt value even though that is all I would get if I took them to a dealer. After a while I reaslised that having a weight or dollar amount of silver was hard to manage and I stopped checking prices for my numismatic items, after that there was no point trying to put a dollar amount on my silver so I stopped. I probably have enough silver now, if it goes to the moon I have made enough money to be comfortable (e.g. it might pay off a chunk of my mortgage) but I wouldn't be able to retire or buy a jet, any extra silver now means that I will be going without in the present to give me more than I need in the future, so seems a poor deal. If silver tanks then I have lost a fair chunk of cash but not so much that it would bankrupt me, any more silver I bought now before a crash would just mean going without in the present to make life even worse after a crash. That is not to say that I am not still picking up silver and gold, I can just be more chosey now. If I see a nice bag of circulated world currency I can buy it without flinching because I am not spending money on bars to add to my stack. I might only buy three of four times a year, but when I do it is usually bulk circulated silver with the odd gold coin thrown in. Sounds like you will have a nice stack by the end of 2018 but remember to be flexible in your buying, if you see a bargain jump on it even if it isn't part of your stacking goal.
I have a spread sheet and have the numismatics listed as current spot value and what I paid for it. I can't keep track of current market value but at least if/when the time comes to sell I can at least see what I spent on it. But that goes with the bullion too. I probably have too much information but it's how I am. I agree with the "jump on a deal" thing. That's why I have things like the Sunshine Rounds, the premium was a buck less per each than the rest of the list so I bought some. I do want to standardize a good base and get deals as they come along. I don't know but my gut feeling is diversity is one thing, but too much diversity may hurt in the long run.
My spreadsheet was a thing of beauty! It had the price paid, spot at time of purchase, who I bought it from, how much I paid in postage everything. It would automatically update spot when you opened it and then calculate my $ gain/loss and my % gain/loss for each transaction and also for the investment overall. Losses would highlight in Red, gains in green. It was fun until the price of silver dropped, once everything started looking red I stopped opening it up everyday. Every now and then I do a stock take and I grab everything I can lay my hands on and I redo it all from scratch, it is worth reviewing your strategy every few years anyway so it is an ideal opportunity. I went with a diverse stack in order to be able to react quickly to any changes in the various silver demands, but as I have't sold anything yet I have not put the theory to the test. I am figuring that the best way to make money with silver is not to sit on it. Buy it cheap and sell it for a few dollars more as soon as you can, but that is a lot of churning and means being up to date on all the new offerings and I haven't got the energy for that.
"if you see a bargain jump on it even if it isn't part of your stacking goal." Can't argue with that!
It goes towards explaining a few of the odd choices in my stack! E.g. Wayne Gretsky 8 oz Rounds selectively plated in gold with diamond inserts... (69c / troy oz over spot)
Hi there, well done on making 100 oz's. I have accumulated some American silver bars and rounds too mostly because it is different and sometimes too cheap to pass up. I like the way the American Silver Eagles look and I like the words "In God We Trust" (not for religious reasons). If ever TSHTF and we got to use our 1oz silver coins for buying stuff I don't think the supermarkets are going to worry whether there is a silver eagle or a kangaroo on the coin. Anyhow good luck and keep on stacking. Cheers.
It is a good way to learn excel, having a task that you are interested in and aiming towards. I made continuous improvements to the spreadsheets, once you have the raw data you can add all the bells and whistles as you learn them, things like conditional formatting etc. which you don't use often but help to highlight gains and losses. Mine just grew and grew and as it had a lot of junk silver it would calculate the amount of silver in each coin etc. (of course it didn't take wear or actual weight of coins into consideration). I had a separate table for eBay auctions where you could add the different coins in and it would calculate the spot of all the coins, take away the postage and add 5% so I knew my bidding limit. It was fun until silver spot started dropping
Go the "Epsilon" button ...... ra ra ! Mind you though, 100 ozs = addiction ! such a great way to save
