Silver?

And where would you recommend as being the best place to buy from?

I'd suggest going to comparesilverprices.com and checking the prices there. You will find APMEX is not usually the best source except for ebay deals (IMHO)

JM Bullion is the cheapest I've found so far...and free shipping.

Whatever you do, remember...silver WILL go back up...eventually. Maybe a year, maybe two. It can't stay down too long (mines are currently loosing money). At least that's how I view it...bought a little too high, semi-regretting it now. (I say semi, since I know prices must rebound, and I will eventually make a profit)

Some advice: be prepared for silver to go DOWN once you buy. Prepare yourself for silver to go down by $1-2 once you pull the trigger. It'll make the pain easier to manage understanding that should it happen, and if it doesn't go down that much, you'll feel bad it went down, but happy it didn't go down to what you expected it to.

Unless, of course, it doesn't.

Silver was at or around $5 per ounce for many years, despite the rest of the economy bouncing around like a yo-yo. When it did start to rise, people had all sorts of explanations for why it was happening and, since none of those factors seemed likely to change (the economy was still struggling, the debt was still increasing, the Fed was still printing money, the mines were still losing money, etc.), a lot of people claimed that the price of silver would necessarily keep rising. When silver hit $40, many (not everybody, but many) took it as vindication and a sure sign that silver would eventually hit $50 and perhaps even $100 or higher.

Of course, then silver prices crashed and have returned to levels not seen since 2010. Despite the fact that the economy is still struggling, we still have a lot of debt, the Fed is still printing money, the mines are still losing money, etc. At this point, you have to ask whether the silver price was being artificially inflated and has returned to normal levels or whether it is being artificially manipulated now to keep it from continuing to grow. Are we headed back down to historically low levels, or is this just a significant bump along the way to much higher prices in the future? The only honest answer is that nobody really knows for sure, despite whatever special knowledge or pet theories they may have.

Like Groszy, I bought when silver was high, thinking it was only going to go higher. I definitely regret that. I also practiced "dollar averaging" as prices dropped, figuring that prices wouldn't drop too far before coming back up. Every time prices have crept back up a bit, however, they have eventually fallen even further. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I can say I wish I hadn't bought any silver bullion in 2011 and 2012 since I could have purchased much of it for less than half the price now. The thing is, though, I'm not even sure I would have been willing to "back up the truck" when silver dipped below $15, since at this point I'm a bit spooked that prices may continue this downward trend and end up back below $10 at some point. All the people who say this could never happen are the same people who said that silver was never going to fall below $30 again, or below $25 or below $20...

For now, I'm just going to hold onto the silver I bought and hope prices are much higher if and when I ever need to sell anything (years down the line, hopefully). But I am no longer in the market to buy more silver in bulk, even if it did someday drop back down to $5 per ounce. That's just me, of course, and I could be completely and utterly wrong about the future of silver. I'm just tired of listing to all the people who talk about how prices will definitely go back up (any day now, later this year, within a few years, by the end of the decade, etc.). Been there, done that, drank the Kool-Aid and made the t-shirt.

And yes, I sincerely apologize in advance if you decide to not buy any silver now and it ends up going up to $100/ounce in the coming months...

Barry's a good one to listen to, Thaph. An honest voice with no agenda. He didn't have to mention that he made a mistake but did so willingly, on his own volition, because he wanted to help you. His healthy ego and natural level of integrity wouldn't allow him to make excuses that would mitigate his error in judgment like many of us might have done in a similar situation. When someone does something like that for a simple stranger, it tells you this individual is trustworthy, and that's a quality that's worth more than man's weight in silver and gold.

And don't buy into the "mine's are losing money so silver can't stay this low" excuse, for a lot of reasons, but the best one is the simplest and easiest to wrap one's head around: most mines don't mine for silver at all. Odd, right? So how does is it get out of the ground, one might ask? Well, as a by-product of what the miners are really after, like copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, and gold, among other metals. All of these metals would also have to fall below the level of being unprofitable to mine long before anyone worried about how low silver prices had reached.

Interpret whats being said here for yourself! I would be careful of buying in bulk quantity for a while, as a collector I don't mine buying few ounces to add to my collection, and if you are looking to make a quick buck. Silver bullion may not be good as an investment now.

What would you guys consider "Bulk Quantity"? I have often wondered this? 10, 20, 50, 100 ounces? I may buy 5-10 ounces a month but I do not consider myself buying in bulk quantity. I'm really curious to see others response to what buying in "bulk quantity" means to them.

Adding a little silver to your portfolio wouldn't be a bad move. Much better to enter now than when it was $30-$35 an ounce. I would stick with pre-64 US currency as it will always carry a premium over silver rounds.