What Coins Are A Good Investment?

Historically, key dates of 'popular' coin series have been the best investments.

Here is what I do for my kids, I buy a new roll of silver eagles every January and put it away for them. I also buy them a 1oz gold eagle and put it in an album that I special ordered from Dansco.

When they turn 21, they get 21 rolls of silver eagles and 21 ounces of gold. Not a bad investment. In today's dollars at spot, it would be worth about $23,100.

If I took that same $1,000 a year and put it in the market, sure, I would have alot more money but it would just be numbers on paper where here ... the look on their face when they open up the album and see all of that gold...as mastercard would say ...priceless.

Welcome to the Forum,

I agree, key coins in all grades have made significant increases in the last 5 years. They will always be your best investment.

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If I took that same $1,000 a year and put it in the market, sure, I would have alot more money but it would just be numbers on paper where here ... the look on their face when they open up the album and see all of that gold...as mastercard would say ...priceless

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So you take that "lot more money" and turn it into gold and silver before you give it to them. Then when they open the album/box/whatever there will be a LOT more gold and silver to make that look on their face. (Advice, don't give it to them all at once if it is over $20K in value. $10K per year from each parent can be received as a gift without a tax burden. So if both you and your spouse are alive you can give them up to $20K a year, but if there is only one of you just $10K. At least that is my understanding of the tax law.)

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the mutual funds however are alot more likely to pay and at a much better rate.

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And you don't have a 28% tax rate on it either

G'day, see separate thread entitled
"Charles II, 'Petition' Crown of 1663, by Thomas Simon"
which includes the prices fetched by this rare coin since 1755 - over 250 years - which really is "taking the long view"
Peter in Oz

Here is one morething to consider. It's called liquidity. Just how easy is it to sell of coins versus a mutual fund, savings account, etc. When my Son started college we just cashed a few mutual funds of his started when he was a few years old. One call to the firm, TDWaterhouse, and the check was in the mail that day and received in two days. Now just how fast do you think you can sell off coins and at what loss if money is required.
Coins may or may not be a good investment, but if you can't sell them for a monitary increase, the investment idea is lost. My son's mutual funds paid for his college and no problems in liquidity. Think about that when investing in coins for someone's future.

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People buying coins as an investment should avoid lower grade circulated coins, unless they're buying a popular key coin.

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I would agree and I also agree that keys are the exception. It seems to me that the (lower) grade of the keys tend to increase in value the fastest. This is especially true for coins like the 22 Plain, where it's (relatively) affordable in low grades, but outrageously high in the upper grades. To boot many coins are hard to find in the "affordable", low grades. Such is the case with the 22 Plain and the 1955 DDO.

This principle is obviously limited because a lower grade cannot exceed the value of one higher. Waaaay more people can afford a VG example of a key than an MS. It opens the door to more buyers.