Best way to invest in gold and silver?

[rentingintl]

Hi,

I'm looking to invest in gold or silver. Which is considered a better investment? And what's the best way to buy and sell? Via my local bank in Canada?

Today silver is priced at $17 USD / oz and gold $1093 USD / oz...is this considered a time to buy or is the price too high?

If there are any precious metals investors that can provide me with any advice and/or tips I would be most appreciative. Thank you, Claudia

 

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[biophase]

Do you want to actually have it in hand or have it on paper?

 

[razda]

There are others on here who will know more about this than me but I will try to answer part of you post. Gold is currently out of my price range so I have not looked into it very much. The research I have done was on silver so that is all I will comment on.

There are basically two ways to invest in silver, you can buy silver certificates or the real stuff. At the time, silver certificates seemed to be more like playing the stock market than actually buying silver. I felt that owning the silver outright was the best for me so that is what I have been doing. It is actually kind of easy to buy. At least in this area. Just go to a coin shop where old and rare coins can be found. Most of them will have silver or know where to find it.

What you want to buy is called silver bullion or silver rounds. You will need to check a couple of things. First check that what you are about to buy is pure silver. The purest you can get is .999% pure silver and each piece of bullion or round will be marked. The second thing you want to look for is that the piece is 1 Troy ounce. Again it will be marked. You don't want anything less that .999% silver and 1 troy ounce in each piece. The silver can be bought several different sizes, 1 ounce, 10 ounces, 100 ounce bars ect and in different shapes and designs stamped into the silver. None of that other stuff matters as long as it is .999% pure and at least 1 troy ounce.

A couple of web sites I have found useful are goldsilver.com which gives the current price of each precious metal along with informative articles. Another one is kitco.com which also has useful articles and metals prices.

 

[Analyzer]

most convenient way by far is picking up a gold/silver etf. most popular ones are GLD for gold or SLV for silver both listed on the nyse.

 

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[ramy98]

I would stay away from the ETFs; its good to have "real money" that is out of the financial markets... Basically you want to hold some physical bullion; Remember certificates are also no good; if you buy you should buy the phyical bullion...

Anyways; is gold over priced right now ?? I would suggest doing research comparing gold and other financial instruments...

For Example how many units of the Dow can be bought with the current price of gold etc... I think its around 9 Ounces of gold... It used to cost 45 ounces of gold to buy a unit of the Dow years back prior to the nasdaq bubble I believe.. Just something to look into...

I am not sure if gold is the place to be getting into now.. I bought some years back and have no plans on purchasing at these prices. I am not an expert though...
What I like about silver is that its real money and if there is ever a major currency crises; then you can have a portion of your wealth in something other than paper... Withregards to silver; since its a dual precious metal/ industrial metal it might be benefical to look at the future economic growth of both china and india.... Dont forget to try to buy when the Canadian dollar is up as much as possible...

cheers

Another website for silver bullion purchase:
www.firstmajestic.com

 

[hatterasguy]

IMHO Gold is pretty high, I don't think you have a chance to make a lot of money on gold right now.

But silver is undervalued, and I wouldn't be surprised to double my money on such an investment.

Silver Bars, Silver Coins, Gold Coins and Bars, Palladium and Platinum Bullion Available to Buy

Stagecoach Silver Bullion from Northwest Territorial Mint

These would be a fun way to buy silver. I'm quite tempted to pick up 1k or so of them.

 

[ramy98]

North West Territorial Mint has a good reputation in the business.

 

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[biophase]

I would just call a few local coin shops and then go down and purchase some coins. No real need to pay for shipping if they are avaialble locally for the same price.

 

[BurnBright]

The central gold trust is a closed end fund that trades on both the TSX(Canada) and the AMEX(US). It holds both physical and certificates for gold but is mostly physical. The good thing about a closed end fund is that they can trade above or below the net asset value of the assets. Currently the fund trades at about a 5% premium.

Another closed end fund you may be interested in is the Central Fund Of Canada which trades is both the States and in Canada also but holds both Gold(54.3%) and silver(43.3%) bullion. This one trades at a premium also of about 9% mostly due to silver being more volatile then gold. You can use both of these closed end funds to measure the sentiment (premium/discount to NAV) for precious metals they rarely trade at a discount.

ETf's for Gold(GLD) and Silver(SLV) are also an option and will trade closer to the spot price they also track the bullion well. I am not sure if there are Canadian equivalents for these but I am sure there are. I would avoid any Horizon Betapro etfs in Canada as they overcharge on fees and are a joke in general. Before you buy a commodity ETF make sure it holds the physical commodity. Stay away from commodity ETFs that track futures markets they are only good for trading not for long to medium term investing

Buying physical gold and silver is also an option, I prefer bars to coins because they have no numismatic value. Just make sure the premium you pay is not too high. I have no problem holding shares of a gold fund as I think they are very safe.

And the more risky way to own gold/silver is to buy shares in mining companies. These may not track bullion prices that well but can offer substantial upside if a major find is discovered. Of course this becomes a specialized area of investment if you are looking for the next great gold mine and at these prices gold and silver companies are less leveraged to the spot market then they were at lower values.

As for is it a good time to buy gold, your guess is as good as mine. For trading this market I have had the best success buying weakness and not strength. But If you are looking at investing in terms of a long term holding in a portfolio you need to consider what you expect in the future. Gold prices are effected buy demand for jewelry, central bank holdings, and protection from a weakening dollar. Inflation is also seen as a reason to buy gold but I do not know if that will push it up higher here if the US dollar does not continue to fall. Fear is also seen as a reason to own gold but not when it is liquidity based fear because it is a fairly liquid market it gets sold first. Becareful reading gold investing articles on the net lots of crazy gold bugs out there.:coco:

 

[GreenHouses]

The thing that has stopped me from buying gold or silver is that I'd be using Aussie dollars to buy something that's priced in US dollars.

If I were to buy silver or gold it would definitely be the physical stuff.

 

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[jackward49]

So you are saying that if your not using US dollars then its best to buy physical instead of buy on lets say the NYSE?

 

[NHS]

I'll throw in my 2 cents.

Without writing a whole long winded thing, gold and silver to me are a long term investment. If you have millions and just want to hide some of it, physical gold and silver are a great way to do this. You buy it by the hundreds of thousands and you can get it pretty close to spot.

If you are looking for short term investments then just treat it like you would any other stock. Buy certificates. Keep in mind everyone is on a gold and silver bandwagon. Doing the same thing as everyone else is one of the first big no nos of investing. Me personally I don't invest in stocks, it's a dam scam unless you are a real savvy investor. I can take 10 grand and flip it for 15 in product at work very easy.

 

[bosco]

NHS.. Out of curiousity...

I'll throw in my 2 cents.

Without writing a whole long winded thing, gold and silver to me are a long term investment. If you have millions and just want to hide some of it, physical gold and silver are a great way to do this. You buy it by the hundreds of thousands and you can get it pretty close to spot.

If you are looking for short term investments then just treat it like you would any other stock. Buy certificates. Keep in mind everyone is on a gold and silver bandwagon. Doing the same thing as everyone else is one of the first big no nos of investing. Me personally I don't invest in stocks, it's a dam scam unless you are a real savvy investor. I can take 10 grand and flip it for 15 in product at work very easy.

Hi everyone! hope all is well. NHS you grabbed my attention. I feel the same way when it comes to stocks. I dabble in it and have done OK. No huge gains to be made. I make more money flipping product too. In my case its nuts and dried fruit that I have a wholesale outlet for and have a few flea market dealers that I sell to each week. Interested to know what products you are buying for 10K and flipping for 15K. I'd like to graduate from 125 dollar cases of cashews for 265. limited amount of volume on my end. Thanks! PM me if you would prefer.

 

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[Bozigian]

You can buy American Gold Eagle Coins
They come in 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, 1oz

I think if you have the 1oz American Gold Eagle Coin, it is the same price as an ounce of gold.

Go check it out on ebay and see for yourself.

 

[BeachBoy]

wow, talk about reviving an old thread

 

[DeletedUser397]

wow, talk about reviving an old thread

...but still very current and relevant. I'm more surprised at these people saying they wouldn't invest in gold in 2009 because they doubted its growth:

As a Canadian myself; I am not sure if gold is the place to be getting into now.. I bought some years back and have no plans on purchasing at these prices.

IMHO Gold is pretty high, I don't think you have a chance to make a lot of money on gold right now.

Too bad the price of gold is now at $1612 USD per 1oz. That's nearly a 50% increase in 2 years. And in my opinion, I think gold will hit at least $4000 per 1oz in the next few years.

Here's my take, which I haven't seen expressed in this thread quite enough. Investing in gold will not "make money" it's only a means of hedging the value of your assets. Meaning, you are preventing the loss of your money, because all gold does is protect you as the value of the US dollar (or other fiat currency tied to the dollar) falls in value. The US dollar will continue to decline in value as long as government leaders continue to run the country on the sidewalk mentality, spending more money than they have/make. Furthermore, they're printing money off printing presses to prevent defaulting on their debts.

You can bet when they make the decision to raise the debt ceiling in August, the value of the dollar will fall giving more weight to the value of gold.

 

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[BeachBoy]

it could go up, but it's a very risky investment.

I would invest 5-10% of my investments in gold, but not more.

The main problem in my mind is people investing all in gold. it's like picking only one stock, very risky, whatever the stock is, even apple.

 

[^eagle^]

Buy Gold today. May be the last big push. Looking to sell around $3k. I wish my Retirement plan would have let me invest in gold when I wanted too. Would have quadrupled my money. Today is the day to buy. Look to double it in three months or less.

BTW I picked the silver bottom too. so I'm getting kinda good at this.

 

[anarchotrader]

Have a look at bullionvault.com
Spreadbetting is also good for UK residents since profits are tax free.

 

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[evanwebb]

This thread made me nostalgic for $17 silver. Those were the days.

 

[divinrob]

I agree the USD is going to be inflated even more by irresponsible government and Fed policies, and the politically motivated short-term thinking that pervades in D.C. Hence, gold and silver are going much higher. Buy physical, and keep it at a safety deposit box or commercial storage location, or at your house if you're always home and well armed. The ETF's and gold backed securities are rumored to lack the physical reserves and if/when enough people decide to take physical delivery there won't be enough to deliver, both screwing investors and causing a shortage which will cause physical prices to go parabolic. You can spot this kind of leverage when you see wild swings in price correlating with minor moves in metals prices. GLD and SLV are to be treated very suspect. Also, in a worst-case scenario it's harder for the gubs to confiscate your physical, and you can trade it as money in the event of USD collapse. Shop when you buy physical, you'll be surprised at the spread difference between dealers. Don't buy numismatics for investment or hedging unless you get them at melt value. My favorite retail dealers are Euro Pacific Metals and Kitco, there are several good ones and many that are crooks. Disclaimer - This is my free advice, take it for what it's worth or strictly entertainment!

 

[divinrob]

I have a feeling in 2 years we'll be very nostalgic for $45/oz silver.

 

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[Lights]

I have a feeling in 2 years we'll be very nostalgic for $45/oz silver.

Who here agrees with this statement?

 

[divinrob]

LOL, give it two years and then tell me "I told you so". We're already back to $43.35, and here comes QE3, QE4, and QE5, by whatever name they give QE in the near future. Actually, I'd say we're already in QE3 due to fed bond buying. The fed has a tiger by the tail, and they're not handling it correctly IMHO. The USD will be severely devalued and hyper-inflation is not totally out of the question, in which case silver could go to (pick your #).
The thing to realise is that you're not increasing your purchasing power exponentially by holding precious metals, but rather protecting current purchasing power. Imagine buying a house today with gold or silver purchased in 2005, it'd be pretty inexpensive. The home price is only a 25% discount if you'd held cash, but if you'd put that cash into $8 silver or $500 gold, the real savings would be 75%. ($1,000,000 house in 2005 worth 750k today, purchased with $200k in gold purchased in 2005, percentages should be somewhat close). The only reason I bought a house last year is I suspect within the decade inflation will erase much of the mortgage, and it's a way for me to let the bank absorb the loss of purchasing power instead of me. Kind of a leveraged inflation hedge that only carries 4.3% interest. So although I've lost 20k in equity in 12 months, and who knows what over the next year, in the end when I am able to pay it off with my precious metals investments it will work out very much in my favor. But hey, I've been wrong before.

 

[divinrob]

What I should have added is that the ounce of gold purchased in 2005 is still more or less worth one ounce of gold's purchasing power in the World at large, but most everything has fallen in relation to the ounce of gold, including USD's. There will come a time to dump metals in favor of something else, but now is not that time.

 

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[divinrob]

Silver Surges to Record, But Inflation-Adjusted High Still Far Away - MarketBeat - WSJ

 

[dnice]

This thread made me nostalgic for $17 silver. Those were the days.

I wish it was back at $8 an ounce when I bought my first 10 ounce silver bar. Now those were the days.

But then again maybe not. All the silver I bought is now worth over 5 times what I paid for it.