I’m a newbie to buying precious metals, in fact never have. I have 5k cash saved that I have been keeping out of the bank for obvious reasons. Now I’m looking to buy silver and gold. There’s so much info out there it’s hard to tell what’s real or not and makes my head spin. I live in Northern Virginia. Any anons out there in my area know the best place to buy these metals? I’ve also seen there is different types of silver and gold, so which is the best to buy? And where can I look to see the current “spot” (still a little unsure about what that means) price? Any help would be greatly appreciated for a young(ish) 30 year old guy who knows nothing about this topic!
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First, If you don't have an emergency stash of cash, hold this. You don't want to have to use debt or be force to sell you PMs to pay for an emergency bill(s).
"Form follows function" what is your objective? How much flexibility do you need? If you want to preserve wealth for the long term against inflation and possible hyper-inflation, gold is probably best. The right mode depends on your storage capacity. If you have room and proper security, use smaller coins like 10th oz and quarter oz. You will pay an increased mark up but have greater flexibility. If you are gook with concentration of value, use 1 oz coins. At some level of your own comfort, switch from coins to bars for better value and higher concentration.
However, if you want to retain the greatest level of flexibility - for example if want to protect against inflation but you think you might need to use your stash to buy "stuff" - silver is arguably the best place to go. In that scenario, with 5K I would get mixed pre-1964 dimes and quarters. They are .71% silver, are readily recognizable and may be the preferred means of exchange (next to barter) if bad things happen. There are earlier dimes (Mercury dimes) that have higher silver content (90%) but have higher premiums and will be indistinguishable from the pre-64 coins for most people and so if you need to use the coins you risk losing purchasing power.
For me, I worked on building up my junk sliver to a level I set at about 3 months of current living expenses and then started buying silver Eagles from a monthly subscription service (Money Metals exchange). They are not the least expensive, but the automatic purchase keeps me from chasing prices and provides dollar cost averaging over time. I find the convenience to be worthwhile. When I hit an objective level, I will start buying gold in small increments.
That's one random guy's thoughts. Hope it is helpful.