Starting Out And Silver Is Cheap, Jump In?

The HUGE run up of silver and gold prices in recent history has people thinking that they are an investment like stocks. Really, precious metals are a hedge against inflation or deflation and should be viewed as a volatility smoother over a long term investing horizon.

At least that's my opinion. Personally I like to stack silver that also looks cool and may have numismatic value. Then, I get collectible value, potential silver melt value, and worst case I'm stuck with coins that I enjoy owning just because they are neat.

Stacking silver bars, etc, should probably only be done as part of a portfolio diversification when you have some significant investment assets. If you are young and just starting to invest, start automatically investing a fixed amount into an index fund monthly and just keep doing it for the next 30-40 years without thinking about it or even worrying about the returns. It's almost a guarantee you'll have 6-7 figures that way depending on how much you save.

Any investment is good investment (other than malinvestment caused by the Keynesians with an exclusive license to counterfeit the US Dollar in the form of a Federal Reserve Note. . . .).

Don't think individual stocks or index funds are out of your reach at a $300 investment. You can start a small account on sharebuilder/ING/voya and buy even just a fraction of a share if you wanted to own Google for instance with a share price well over $300. You will pay basically $7 to buy and $7 to sell so that is $14 lost on the $300 no matter what. Other places probably do this too, but that is the only one I have ever used or known anyone else to use.

Good luck and final advice is any savings is better than frivolous spending. Coins can get you there if you seem to spend whatever you have, but there are other options too. Some other options may be better performers or not, that is up for you to decide.

Haha, you're riht Srcliff although your comment was just as helpful.

I'm surprised for many reasons from the numerous posts.

For one thing, I'm amazed at how helpful this community is. I've posted in multiple forums of different backgrounds and no community was as willing to reach out a helping as this one, it's incredible!

Secondly I'm also astounded as at how investing in precious metals appears to those that have commented. Before going into this forum to ask questions, I would've guessed that it would've been regarded as the #1 cash cow and investment where as instead my mentality was flipped upside down. Many of you if not all of you put emphasis on diversifying the portfolio and investing slowly and sparingly into silver.

I'm privileged enough to grow up not having to spend on anything (I'm very cheap :P) nor being frivolous with my money however it would've been a shame had I went head first into this without consulting any of you on the matter. An occurrence like this is very so I had to ask first, research then look into the market. Although there is no need now.

I will still take on your word and try to have a small portion invested into precious metals however at this point I think it's best if I just lurk more seriously and do some research instead.

I have read all your comments and some I've read thrice. I can't thank you all enough for generosity in taking the time to write about how you all got into it and what I should look out for and why. It means a lot and it shows what a great place this forum really is.

I've been considering these past few days waiting for silver to go a little bit lower (hopefully I didn't miss the boat), investing 1200-1500 USD into ASE's, and waiting a few months for the price of silver to (hopefully) go back up, and sell off. Hopefully to make a nice 1-3 dollar profit per coin.

Or buying a nice bag of Walkers and selling them off slowly at various auctions where they already have a decent premium. A recent (last week) local auction sold a number of ASE's at 21-22 (down from 32-33 on average over the past few months) but sold a number of Walkers at 20-21 (not anything down from 20-21 on average over the past few months)

Namely: I'm going to be in it short term if I buy. That might be against people's opinions, but I think silver going up a few dollars (anything over 3 would start equaling profit) within a few months to maybe a year is highly probable. Silver going to $50 again within that same time period, or even within the next decade...extremely hesitant.

Any type of long-term investment needs to be thought out, and you need to decide if it's in your best option to do so; and then how much you are willing to spend and possibly loose.

Wow,

What a thread. Hats off to everyone, especially AllRanger for the sage advice (IMO), and for Mintyfresh for recognizing the value in the advice.

If I could add one thing Minty, don't underestimate the potential value of education, especially in a high demand area. My guess is lots of individuals have taken time to get an education, and now have the ability to travel, have a nice place to live, take care of a family, AND buy about every coin that interests them.

This is an area of mine and I can't tell you how many people I know that have benefited from a solid degree. For those that don't, you can certainly make it, and I will be the first to admit it doesn't make you better or even smarter. However, a vast number of top positions require a degree -- and while your at it, learn SQL! (all IMO :).

First you called silver as an investment.. it can be.. it just depends on how you put your money into silver... and what you do once you're "skin is in the game"

I like to think of silver and gold as hedges against inflation...as you build wealth it's a good place to put your money.. and every decade or so you may get a peak where you can take advantage of selling off a bit.. as well as a valley where you can take advantage of buying some more....

In my opinion where you're still young but looking for investments... do a search for "couch potatoe" investing strategy.. sounds silly but it's pretty ahead of the curve for conservative investing with positive gains.

Now don't get me wrong there are some really good opportunities to buy silver... I just don't think right now is THE BEST time to do it..I think that silver can still drop a bit and I believe that it will not go up as fast or as readily as we saw happen in 2009.

Now I'm not saying DONT invest in silver.. it's just that I think that silver and gold should be no more than 10% of most people's portfolio. There's a lot better places for "growth" ...

I would also advise against going into PM"s until your "investment window" is no less than 20 years... that way you will have a better chance to take advantage of one or two GSR swaps... that's where the true profit in PM's are...

Hope this helps...

Looks like alot of people here are willing to help... it's SAGE advice

minty fresh your on the right track joining forums. I'm a Canuck to here's a couple tips: go to redflagdeals.com, under personal finance forum there's two different threads: one for bullion people tend to join group buys for better prices when buying in large amounts as a group. Great info there. Also there's a numismatic collector forum for people interested in the latest releases in collector coins. Redflagdeals also has a buy/sell/trade area where you can find good deals. Actually the personal finance forum has excellent threads on all sorts of ways to save money for Canadians.
On CCF there's a topic: goes where will silver go from here: it's started & maintained by 16 yr trader yup 7676, he has some very solid advice: watch price action: I'd suggesting reading the entire thread from start. I have great respect for Yup, he didn't have share his knowledge, gained from his day job. Yup is also a coin collector and knows the difference between investing in silver /gold, and also being a coin collector for fun. He does not get those two subjects mixed up! He has a different approach to both.

As a Canadian buying bullion a couple good places are: silver gold bullion & Toronto gold bullion. These 2 sites have a good selection and show silver spot prices in CAD.
You've been given very good tips. Do take it slow, it's felt silver will drop more. I hangout mainly over in Canadian forums. On redflagdeals I'm Inglorious. Here's two more silver forums: silver stackers .com it's an Australian forum, and there's silver bullion forum. I haven't joined that one yet, but I have friends on it from Canada.
Best thing is read read read and become informed the best you can!
Let us know how things turn out and best of luck!! Remember buy what you like, beware of Chinese fakes there are many, know the source your buying from, make sure you have a money back guarantee !