Something I Can Buy Today At Face Or Spot Value...

Yup, around $3.20 of that set's value is the 40% half

Correct...and that is why most that buy PM containing products go with ASE's or the gold counterparts...small premium, quality and content can't be beat AND easy to sell

I was told once by a older collector to buy old high dollar coins.. they rarely go down and they aren't making anymore of them.... good luck and happy huntings... PEACE...

I'm trying to get in on the ground floor as much as possible. Imho, it's hard to tell on the older coins which have room to increase in value. If they have already been identified as valuable, then I think it's too late. In other words, I don't want to spend $98 on a $1 coin and in 20 years have it be worth $99 (doubled face value.) I want to get into something like bicentennials where you can buy them at say 40-50 cents today, and maybe sell them for 75-$1 later.

Any new coins I buy have been ASE's (just regular BU). and Silver Mint Proof sets... (2010 onwards)
I did buy some 3 cent coins (1 at auction and 1 at a stamp show).
All the other coins I have bought at face or found..

what does PM mean?

you are likely going to be sorely disappointed with your approach. my advice is to study a series you find interesting and stick with it. a common mistake that new collectors make is that they buy scads of worthless coins thinking they are making good choices and that they will go up in value. Once you've bought up enough of this material that you have nothing else cheap to buy and you've learned nothing- you will lose interest in the hobby and move on to something else. The sad part is - all the money you invested could have gone to something you truly would have enjoyed owning.

buying coins as an investment takes time, time, time, and more time. that time is spent learning how to grade, learning how to spot varieties, learning what's out there in the marketplace, and learning what the competition knows and doesn't know.

you aren't going to get that information from a forum- and if someone does give it to you- you probably won't recognize it for the good advice that it is.

but to help you out:

post 1964: MS-66 or better Kennedy 40% silvers 1965-1970. High end individual coins from mint sets- 1969 quarters that are nice. 1981-S SBAs that are nice.

better buys:

proof Indian cents. proof lincolns through 1953.

any 19th century coin besides Morgan dollars in mint state under $250.

You could take the contrarian view.

If you buy coins cheap enough, there will always be people around who won't be able to resist a bargain.

I sell mixed world coins at a car boot sales at 20p each, 6 for £1. You can buy such coins at 10p each in bulk - I'd be happy to sell to you, to get you started.

For young people - 20p is nothing, they wouldn't bend down to pick a 20p coin off the ground.

As it is, it tempts a few people into collecting - for example, a girl about 6 comes back again and again to buy a few more; a boy of 9 bought 6 coins, his granny came over and bought a proof set and some first day covers, the boy came back, dithered over a Roman coin at £4 but bought a Victorian penny at £6. A gaggle of teachers from the mid-west US bought farthings and halfpennies and crowns for the folks back home. It's penny stuff but one meets interesting people.