[CatBell]

I am looking at an email invoice right now for the 12 oz of silver (12 one-ounce bars) that I bought last year in June and it cost me $208.24 (including shipping/handling).

I went back to the same website and the same 12 bars would now cost $256.96. I don't know anything about precious metals. Do they go up and down in value? Or is the price just going to keep going up?

I was a stay-at-home mom for a few years and didn't have money to prep even though I wanted to so badly. I've been working for six months now and have been saving money and prepping (my husband is so not into it) and now that I have a steady income I was thinking of buying precious metals but is now the right time? or is the good time to buy silver over now?

Are you still buying silver?

 

[OSCPJ]

I wouldn't purchase over the internet. Always buy from a local dealer or Flea Market. I would choose Coins (Test of Time) over Bullion/Coins from 2009/10.

Silver will drop in price, before rising. Problem will be availability. You can either time it correctly or take a small loss in the near term for availability.

Morgans, Peace and Liberty Dollars purchased Yesterday.

 

[Mortimer]

Long term, gold and silver are almost always good buys. Yes they fluctuate in the short term but they are a good defense against inflation, which is almost surely right around the corner . . .

I can't positively say whether or not right NOW is a great time to buy. I think there's a pretty good chance we'll see silver & gold drop a bit once the Fed raises interest rates this summer.

 

[Alberta Mike]

Bella Blues, the price of silver and gold fluctuate. Some people buy and hold, some hold until they think that they can make a good profit and then they sell. I don't know your personal situation but until you have about $10,000 put away, cash, somewhere in a bank and a couple of thousand at home, I wouldn't worry about other surtvivial preparations. We are IN a full scale financial crisis and the experets aren't sure how or when we will really be out of it. The reason is that even if the stock market picks up, we have buried ourselves in so much government debt that that could bring about its own full scale financial crisis.
I would limit myself to prepping for short term common emergencies like a fire that drives you out of your home or home invaders before I got into precious metal acquisition and speculation.

I would add that I prepared for a stock market collapse starting 5 years ago and the latest decline in the markets only hit me to the tune of a 16% drop in one fifth of my portfolio, and that has recoverted by 13% already. I reeally do practice what I preach. My preparations for an alien invasion have been minimal.

 

[big country]

I have to disagree with one of the above posters about buying old coins and not modern "bullion" coins. There is nothing wrong with what he said persay, but usually modern bullion is cheaper per Troy Oz then old coins.

I would recommend having some old coins, they're neat to look at and they're history but get as many oz's for your money as you can. Pay attention to the "Premium" that is where all the dealers cost/profit is wrapped up and where the old coins cost you more then modern rounds.

If you have a choice for a Silver Eagle or a Morgan for $20, go with the Silver Eagle. More silver for the $$. I just made that number up for the example.

TRY TO GET AS MANY TROY OZ'S FOR YOUR FRNS AS YOU CAN, don't worry about what is stamped on them. SILVER IS SILVER

(except for silver war nickels, most refiners won't take them. I'd pass on those)

 

[Eyebone]

I don't know anything about precious metals. Do they go up and down in value? Or is the price just going to keep going up?

PMs do not "go up and down in value", their "attraction" is that their buying power stays the same over time.

The dollar goes up and down (mostly down) in value.

 

[kev]

I have heard that a lot of people are now buying silver instead of gold.

My wifes step-dad for example, he does a lot of investing. Here lately he has been buying a lot of silver.

 

[aramchek]

Read about Silver Thursday:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Thursday

And look at the long-term charts:
http://www.kitco.com/charts/historicalsilver.html

You'll see that silver really shot up over the past decade or so. That means the time to buy was back in 2000. Will it continue this spike, or will it re-adjust? Whoever can predict the future could make a fortune on it. I suspect it'll keep going up, at least for the foreseeable future.

 

[Brutal]

I have heard that a lot of people are now buying silver instead of gold.

My wifes step-dad for example, he does a lot of investing. Here lately he has been buying a lot of silver.

Unless you are looking at specific trends for intermediate term selling for profit, I don't know of a major difference between the two. Generally, you can get more silver for less money. Beyond that, they both have maintained steady increases - exception being in the 80s when they both had a really large value (inflation adjusted). Silver is way up from where it was in the early 2000s, but nowhere close to it's peak (early 80s).

They are both good investments, but you can get more amounts for the money in silver.

 

[Raven]

TRY TO GET AS MANY TROY OZ'S FOR YOUR FRNS AS YOU CAN, don't worry about what is stamped on them. SILVER IS SILVER

I have wondered about this. I have 6 troy ounces of silver that are in coin form (one ounce coins) that were safety awards given to me at the coal mines I worked at years ago.

They are stamped/etched with company related logos.

 

[AandB]

I have wondered about this. I have 6 troy ounces of silver that are in coin form (one ounce coins) that were safety awards given to me at the coal mines I worked at years ago.

They are stamped/etched with company related logos.

We have a local jewelry store where the owner sells us silver at spot (and buys at 85%-90% of spot), and lets us trade silver ounce for ounce with no commission.

If possible, I'd definitely try to trade those (unless they have sentimental value) for something more easily recognizable. Junk silver and American Eagles are almost universally known. If you ever needed to trade your coins, there might be some hesitancy about whether it is really silver or not.

 

[MikeK]

My take on metals for preppers is that they're a good way of preserving wealth, but they are not a "prep" item in itself. I think that a person should probably focus most of their money towards prepping first. Once the preps are in place, metals are a great way of preserving what wealth it left afterwards.

I'm heavy into metals myself, so I'm definately not one of the metals haters. But I wouldn't have chosen metals over food, water, guns, ammo, shelter, or any other prep item. It'll be a lot easier in a crisis if you already have what you need, rather than trying to find someone who has extra and is willing to trade it for metals.

A lot of folks don't understand precious metal's role as currency, and might not be willing to accept it in trade until later on, when commerce becomes more common.

As for prices, with the economy the way it is, metals have risen high against the dollar. That's one of the values of metals, actually. They're a great hedge against inflation and crisis. But if there's any chance of a recovery, they'll come down in price. Personally, I wouldn't buy in this market, but I've always been a cautious investor and only bought in a price slump when prices were low to begin with, so call me a nervous nellie when it comes to buying metals.

 

[big country]

We have a local jewelry store where the owner sells us silver at spot (and buys at 85%-90% of spot), and lets us trade silver ounce for ounce with no commission.

If possible, I'd definitely try to trade those (unless they have sentimental value) for something more easily recognizable. Junk silver and American Eagles are almost universally known. If you ever needed to trade your coins, there might be some hesitancy about whether it is really silver or not.

while there may be some hesitancy, silver rounds/bars of all types are somewhat common, art bars, christmas rounds, fathers day rounds, awards, etc. If the PURITY and WEIGHT is stamped on the round I wouldn't worry about it.

I'd trade you a couple cups of rice for a round with PURITY AND WEIGHT no matter if it was a SILVER EAGLE or said MERRY CHRISTMAS 1985. post-SHTF

 

[Clay]

Are you still buying silver?

Yup. Probably won't stop any time soon.

 

[stevegee58]

From a practical standpoint, if you're putting away some precious metals to spend post-SHTF, having a mix of gold and silver would make sense. After all 1 oz of gold is over $1000, so if you have only gold eagle coins (or whatever) how do you make change in a transaction? 1 oz of silver is going for around $18.

Gold and silver price action has high correlation (they move together almost all the time) but occasionally go out of correlation. That's why owning some of each makes sense, just like the old saw about "diversifying your portfolio" does for stocks.

 

[AandB]

while there may be some hesitancy, silver rounds/bars of all types are somewhat common, art bars, christmas rounds, fathers day rounds, awards, etc. If the PURITY and WEIGHT is stamped on the round I wouldn't worry about it.

I'd trade you a couple cups of rice for a round with PURITY AND WEIGHT no matter if it was a SILVER EAGLE or said MERRY CHRISTMAS 1985. post-SHTF

True enough.=) I picked up a silver 250th Anniversary George Washington Quarter from 1985 recently just because I thought it looked pretty (and was still sealed).

 

[pinkpantherbeekeeper]

I don't mean to change the topic of the thread but... honestly why would gold or silver have much value post SHTF? I mean honestly how good is a silver coin going to be compared to a few cans of food or a box of ammo? I don't mean to ruffle any feathers... just a question. Also I have a fair bit of silver in coins, bullion, spoons, and candle sticks. I know the latter of the two are not troy but sterling still holds its value and I have picked it up on the cheap when someone hasn't know the value of current silver.

 

[AandB]

I don't mean to change the topic of the thread but... honestly why would gold or silver have much value post SHTF? I mean honestly how good is a silver coin going to be compared to a few cans of food or a box of ammo? I don't mean to ruffle any feathers... just a question. Also I have a fair bit of silver in coins, bullion, spoons, and candle sticks. I know the latter of the two are not troy but sterling still holds its value and I have picked it up on the cheap when someone hasn't know the value of current silver.

In the immediate aftermath of a SHTF scenario, you are correct in that food and ammo would be more valuable. The thought is that during the stages of recovery, after food production and some basic infrastructure has been re-established, gold and silver will become an accepted exchange medium again because they have inherent value that paper currency (or base metal coins) does not.

 

[stevegee58]

I don't mean to change the topic of the thread but... honestly why would gold or silver have much value post SHTF? I mean honestly how good is a silver coin going to be compared to a few cans of food or a box of ammo? I don't mean to ruffle any feathers... just a question. Also I have a fair bit of silver in coins, bullion, spoons, and candle sticks. I know the latter of the two are not troy but sterling still holds its value and I have picked it up on the cheap when someone hasn't know the value of current silver.

There's more than one way for the S to HTF. An economic meltdown (a real one, not the one we just went through) isn't necessarily the end of the world (Mutant Zombie Bikers, etc). The tin foil hat crowd expects solar flares, EMP attacks, plague epidemics, etc. These things are possible, but far more likely are more "mundane" financial disasters: hyperinflation, 50% unemployment, market panics, bank runs, that sort of thing.

Financial disaster is when precious metal based currency becomes appropriate.

The precious metals in a PAW scenario would be brass and lead.

 

[OldSchool]

Metals are a good investment if you have money to put away. They are a good hedge against inflation and the dollar decline. Buying coinage helps you as it is easily recognized and values are predictable. Some say buy in pairs so you can liquidate some to take some profit if things go well and still have some to keep. Values fluctuate and right now they are at record highs so there is some risk of short term decline. In my opinion, metals are a good bet given all the uncertainty right now.