Buying gold now?

[mullenium]

I've been holding off buying any sort of gold or silver, but am thinking I should do so now.

should i buy local or on apmex? what should I buy (bars, coins) and of those which ones are the best?

im super noob when it comes to metals

should I also consider gold mining stocks (new gold, barrick, etc)

help me out!

[davver]

APMEX is good. I have bought before. I'm in foriegn currencies right now waiting for a pullback in PMs to buy more.

[ghemminger]

I like the local coin shops - over $1000 and they don't charge taxes and it's not traceble

[mullenium]

what should i buy from APMEX?

the 1oz gold bars? or the coins?

[ghemminger]

what should i buy from APMEX?

the 1oz gold bars? or the coins?

I like coins - but would love to see a 100 oz. or even 10 oz goldie:D the canadians are beutiful

[mullenium]

So if I go into a local shop with 1k to spend, what should I look for? I know they are going to see that im a noob and try to sell me some crap overpriced coins

[ItsTime]

good question. Apmex now has a grab bag type option in the silver wholesale. You get .999 silver in any form they wish to give you. You just type the amount of oz you want. It is cheaper than the rounds. Would it be better to buy the grab bag or should I stick to the rounds?

[NoMoreApathy]

good question. Apmex now has a grab bag type option in the silver wholesale. You get .999 silver in any form they wish to give you. You just type the amount of oz you want. It is cheaper than the rounds. Would it be better to buy the grab bag or should I stick to the rounds?

Well, considering the 90% junk silver is still selling at or around spot, then I would think the "grab bag" might be the better option if you're not as well endowed financially as others are. I would expect there to be some 90% junk silver in a grab bag, but who knows. It all seems to be about the same if you consider a shit hitting the fan scenario.

If you can pick up you're entire lot for $1 over spot or under, INCLUDING whatever shipping costs are involved, I'd say you did well.

Think of it in terms of that.

[davver]

Just print out the APMEX prices and bring them there for comparison.

[LibertyRevolution]

I picked up 25, 1 oz silver bars (sunshine mint) from my local coin store at $1.73 over spot, $20.08 each. Its more then I would have liked to have payed, but they were the 3rd store I tryed today, the first 2 stores were complete out of 1oz silver. Right now APMEX has 1oz bars at $19.25 each for 25, so $481.25+9.95 shipping= $491.20. I payed $502 in cash, and walked out with 25oz silver in my hand with no record of it, So Im happy.

[seapilot]

So if I go into a local shop with 1k to spend, what should I look for? I know they are going to see that im a noob and try to sell me some crap overpriced coins

Research some before going into your local dealer. This way you have an idea what you are looking for and knowledge about the coins and only have to then figure out price and premiums of that coin. Can double check Apmex for going price to see if its comparable to your local dealers. Dont forget to discount shipping when buying local.

This site tells a lot about investing in bullion and about the more popular bullion and coins.http://cmi-gold-silver.com/buy-gold-bullion-coins.html good luck!

[Dr.3D]

So if I go into a local shop with 1k to spend, what should I look for? I know they are going to see that im a noob and try to sell me some crap overpriced coins

I wouldn't buy numismatic coins.

The value of numismatic coins will not be high if there is a collapse of the dollar.

[Corydoras]

So if I go into a local shop with 1k to spend, what should I look for? I know they are going to see that im a noob and try to sell me some crap overpriced coins

http://www.nma.org/statistics/gold/gold_coins.asp

One of the top 3 on this list is probably cheapest.
Probably, in fact, the Krugerrand is cheapest.
At my local store, I can get a one-ounce Krugerrand for $15 over spot.

[Corydoras]

I wouldn't buy numismatic coins.

The value of numismatic coins will not be high if there is a collapse of the dollar.


I wouldn't buy anything that has an MS rating (like MS-65) or proof, or uncirculated, or brilliant uncirculated-- basically I wouldn't buy anything with a price that relies on the appearance of the coin being real nice.

[Cowlesy]

A lot of times what happens are large funds who have been invested in these commodities for a while will lock in gains prior to quarter end.

If you have a big fund, it's always nice to report unrealized writeups on all your positions, but even better to take some realizations and do a distribution prior to the end of the quarter so in your report to limited partners you can point to the liquidity of your portfolio. Right now when large institutional or high wealth people are skittish about getting their cash out of banks like Bear, receiving a big fat distribution from a fund in which they're an LP makes you feel warm'n fuzzy inside.

Dennis Gartman ("The Commodities King") has been lightening up on all his positions in the past few weeks.

I think a good time to buy may be post March 31st.

[Corydoras]

What are unrealized writeups and realizations?

[Cowlesy]

Unrealized means you bought a stock, it went up and you didn't sell it. Typically we report on a quarterly basis to our Limited Partners. So every quarter we mark all our positions to market. If we hold a stock through quarter-end, we do an "unrealized" write-up or write-down because we never *sold/distributed* the position.

If you "realize" a position, it means you bought a stock and then sold it. You either have a realized gain, or a realized loss. You can also have a realized write-up or write-down depending on the change since the last period you marked your position to market.

Consider the current "liquidity crisis". A lot of investors are very concerned about liquidity right now. If you have some big positions in commodities with very large gains, you may go ahead and "realize" those positions, aka sell them, receive the cash for selling them and distribute that to your limited partners.

This just demonstrates to skittish LPs that the fund's balance sheet in which they are invested has good liquidity, in that positions can be sold for big gains and subsequent distributions are made.

Given that it is the end of the quarter, this could be one of a variety of reasons we are seeing a huge sell-off in commodities. It's large portfolio managers boosting their liquidity to bolster confidence in their fund by making large distributions of big gains to investors by quarter-end.

[ItsTime]

the grab bag is .999 or higher. .29 over spot


Well, considering the 90% junk silver is still selling at or around spot, then I would think the "grab bag" might be the better option if you're not as well endowed financially as others are. I would expect there to be some 90% junk silver in a grab bag, but who knows. It all seems to be about the same if you consider a shit hitting the fan scenario.

If you can pick up you're entire lot for $1 over spot or under, INCLUDING whatever shipping costs are involved, I'd say you did well.

Think of it in terms of that.

[cvaldiv1]

It's the perfect time to buy Palladium. I would wait a bit though if your looking to buy Gold or Silver.

[Dianne]

What does over spot mean? And if I buy silver today, how much should I expect to pay for it?

Thanks !!

[ARealConservative]

What does over spot mean? And if I buy silver today, how much should I expect to pay for it?

Thanks !!

spot is the price bullion is trading at.

If you buy silver, you will pay for the price of silver, and then a premium based on the shape the silver comes in.

Normally for junk silver (U.S. coins before 1965 that contain 90% silver), you pay only spot - or the price silver trades at.

For other items you will pay over spot. For instance, Silver Eagles usually go 4-6% over spot. So you would expect to pay around $19-$20.

I say normally because the market to buy and hold is not matching up with this right now. The market is usually more fluid then this but isn't today - and I find it strange (I've been doing this for a long time)

[Corydoras]

Spot price comes in 2 types, bid and ask. See the top toward the left on this page.
http://www.thebulliondesk.com/

When you buy gold, you will pay at some price over the asked spot price.
So if the ask spot price is $1000 and they are charging you 2% over spot, you pay $1020.

When you sell gold, you will receive a price based on the bid spot price. Don't be surprised if you are offered below the bid spot price.

[seapilot]

It's the perfect time to buy Palladium. I would wait a bit though if your looking to buy Gold or Silver.

Palladium has more to down to go, my guess is below 400. It is such a limited market that it is easily manipulated. Investing in Palladium is not for the faint of heart.

Its way more volatile than gold and silver and not a lot of dealers will take it because its hard to resell(due to name recognition) or charge ultra high premiums.

Gold and silver is superior for wealth preservation and insurance against a devaluing dollar.

[Dianne]

Thanks for the help everyone. This is all new to me. I wish someone would tell me what button to click, what to buy for how much :))))

This is so confusing to the novice.

[Andrew-Austin]

Would today be a good time to buy an ounce of gold, or should I wait a little bit longer?

[RadiantBlueLight]

Would today be a good time to buy an ounce of gold, or should I wait a little bit longer?

If you buy from a local coin shop, they typically go by yesterday's market closing prices. If there's a big upswing in gold you have 24 hours to get yesterday's price. Also, coin shops don't charge tax in most states.

[BW4Paul]

Thanks for the help everyone. This is all new to me. I wish someone would tell me what button to click, what to buy for how much :))))

This is so confusing to the novice.

Right now, BullionDirect has 80 oz of .999 for $17.65. Frankly, I'd say that is the best deal you're gonna get. If only I hadn't gotten in at $20, I'd be all over that deal :o
http://www.bulliondirect.com/nucleo/lp/Silver_Bullion_999pure_Bars_Rounds_(1.00_oz).html