What Is The Best Way To Invest In Bullion?

"Spot x .715 = melt value for 90%"
"Do not buy junk silver as close to spot as you can. Buy it as close to melt as you can. Today,20% over melt is still less than spot."

Spot and melt are the same thing. The full calculation is "face x .715 x spot", or in other words (at this minutes spot)

$10.00 x .715 x $25.52 = $182.47

you can't calculate melt value without the spot price so pretending melt and spot are different is meaningless. Melt is simply a way to calculate the silver content weight of the face value of coins.

another way to do it would be .715 x $25.52 = $18.25 (.715 x spot) and then multiply that by face

I challenge anyone to tell me the melt value of a roll of dimes without referring to spot in the calculation. And spot is the only changing variable the .715 and the face value of a specific coin does not change. A dime is a dime today and a week from now and a month from now and it will always take ten of them to make a dollar. If it's value changes it is because the spot price of silver changed

the value of silver is weight x spot, whether that weight is based on .715 of face or 1 oz round or 1000 ounce bar. the key is to get as close to that value by minimizing the premium and at the same time dealing in something others recognize as having value.

A generic round and a ASE may have the same silver value but the ASE has a higher premium both buying and selling. what we see in the smaller market (i.e. stackers typically buying 500 ounces of phyiscal or less) is the premium climbs not only as the spot changes but as physical becomes scarcer. I think we might be heading int a situation like that as people look to shelter money from inflation

As long as DXY is rising and you are paid in dollars there's no hurry.

Sel, any silver bought or acquired below melt is very good. Today you are lucky to get any silver @ spot price. I used to get silver below melt but that was many, many years ago.

One can also buy precious metals in Kitco's pool accounts. This is an easy way to buy and sell metal backed assets with a relatively low spread and no shipping involved. I've done this from time to time. I don't care for ETFs because of the fees involved, which are ongoing (not one time) and causes asset deterioration.

I only skimmed this, so maybe someone has already addressed this, but while agree premiums for gold, and especially silver seem "sky high".....has anyone sold these items back to the dealer? If silver is at $20 and they're selling ASE's for $26 that seems excessive, but what if they're buying them for $24? I've never sold any silver so I don't know. Maybe they don't even offer $20.

ASE's are selling at 100% premiums right now ($39) at the big name vendors. Buy backs are $30. Quite the spread.

Older thread, so things are a bit different now. To echo what some of the previous posters said, it really depends on why you're stacking. I'm not as familiar with gold, so I'll only speak to silver.

If you're just looking to stack as much silver as you can, you should probably look at larger bars (even poured ones). They usually carry a smaller premium on a per ounce basis. The disadvantage is that you need to have the money upfront to buy this much silver, and it's not fractional like the smaller rounds/bars, when you actually want to spend it. Of course, the ultimate would be to actually take delivery from the COMEX, but that requires very deep pockets.

For the average retail stacker, you're probably looking at 1 ounce rounds and bars. I know some people like Eagles, but the premiums are insane and really not worth it, in my opinion. Buffalos are fine, and even those Apmex-branded ones are fine, too. Personally, I'm not too picky, since 999 silver is 999 silver is 999 silver.

At this point, I would leave junk silver to the numismatists, since the premiums are way too high. You used to be able to buy junk silver at spot or even slightly below spot, but no more. These are even more expensive than Buffalos. You can get cull for less, but the appeal of junk silver to me is that it's recognized and accepted by everyone; if one doesn't have the date, then it raises authenticity questions when you actually want to use it.

In all honesty, in my opinion, I would wait to stack more. LCSs, dealers, miners, and many silver enthusiasts are always talking about $50 silver, $100 silver, $1,000 silver, but if it actually gets there, there are bigger problems you have worry about, like hyperinflation, global war, nuclear winter, etc. The price of silver is volatile, much more so than gold. When it goes hyperbolic like it did in the last few months, it usually crashes back down at some point. I just saw on the mainstream news that analysts are now talking up silver and gold. Once the masses get a hold of it and start piling in, it's the beginning of the end. Not saying there is a bubble forming, but personally, I would not buy in at this point, unless you're a speculator. My own prediction for 2023 low for silver is $17-$18, but we shall see. If it breaks through some resistance levels, I think we could see $15 silver.

Cheers!