How Is The Current Rece$$ion Effecting The Way You Buy Coins

I would say the last two choices are closest to what I am doing and voted as if there was no recession. I hardly ever spend money on stuff that I can't resell except gas and food and my bills are getting paid. I only waste money on fishing trips but it's worth it to me.

"You didn't have an option for "I'm buying more coins because of the recession.""

I agree. Now is a good time to be buying coins as a protection against severe inflation that will come. The West is in a financial mess that can only be corrected when all these trade deficits end. As a stop gap measure, to keep the system going, trillions of dollars will be added within the next few years. But little of that money will result in repatriating manufacturing to those countries running deficits. So expect to see much in the way of inflation in the future. Gold bullion should do particularly well.

I have cut back, not because of the recession. I cut back since the mint eliminated many of the products I used to collect. I used to be a Proof and Burnished Platinum Eagle collector.

DNA - I am with you. Increased my buying. Better than stocks, Bonds or cash.

I'm richer than ever, recession, what recession? Okay, I have basically bummed around the world the last 10 years and kind of now have a job that actually pays enough money to live off, unfortunatly, there is one coin fair a year in the region I am in, and I missed it because I couldn't find out about it, so I have bought zero coins in the last 2 years. But, but, but there is a fair (i hope) closish by and I plan on buying about 40 coins.

As I am new to collecting my vote was 'trade with friends' a bit to do with the recession but also to educate myself on all the terms and learning the value of coins

"Trust me!The coin crunch is coming. I predicted this recession 2 years ago..."

What's coming is different than a recession. Major banks everywhere are insolvent or have gone bust. A few countries are on the verge of going bankrupt as well. As a result, financial instability around the world has inspired many to buy bullion as financial insurance. This will likely spill over into non bullion coins at some point if it hasn't already. High inflation can be expected in the future as all the Government stimulus programs around the world work their way into the system. This should result in coins moving up in price - at least in part due to inflation.

A few weeks ago while I was at a dealer's shop, virtually everyone who came in was looking to buy bullion, but the dealer had little to offer. As a result, some looked at lower cost TPG coins and other collectable coins. This may not be the situation in Canada at this time, but it is in the US and other parts of the world.

Here is an interesting article from the Telegraph in the UK:


How to buy gold bars

Now that the Bank of England has decided to start printing money, investors worried that inflation will result are thinking of turning to gold, a traditional store of value in troubled times.

By Richard Evans
Last Updated: 3:48PM GMT 06 Mar 2009

"We did have people phoning up to inquire about buying gold after hearing the news about printing money," said a spokeswoman for Baird & Co , the bullion dealer. "Some said they planned to buy a bar or two as a result."

Buying gold bars - in small quantities at least - is no different from buying a packet of sweets, say. Anyone can walk into Baird's shop in the City, hand over some cash and take away their gold.

"The most popular small bar is probably the 1 ounce," said the spokeswoman. This currently costs £718.25. But if you don't want to spend that much, smaller bars are available: the company's smallest, the 2.5 gram, costs £64.25.

Gold is heavy, so the bars are small for their weight; a 1kg bar worth £22,182 measures 5 inches by 3.5 and is about a quarter of an inch thick. "They are not big but they are heavy," she said.

The biggest, meanwhile, weighs in at 12.5kg and costs £222,000. "People do come in occasionally and buy five of them in one go," said the spokeswoman, although customers buying such large amounts would have phoned first. That 50kg in gold would be worth £1.1m.

There are formalities to go through if you are placing a large order. "We need a passport and two utility bills if you are buying more than £5,000 worth of gold," said Baird.

Ninety per cent of its small retail business is done by post or internet, with gold being shipped by courier after funds have cleared. Alternatively, the company can store your gold, for a fee, for holdings worth £5,000 or more.