OK, first off; I'm sorry (not) that this turned out so long. This was a fun way for me to refresh myself, as I've been out of buying PM's for some time now. And, too much caffeine.😛
I believe the info below is exactly what I could have used when I first started out, so I hope this is helpful to you & others, and answers your very good questions.
That said.....
You have posed some very valid & legit questions. :-)
Gold & silver's primary purpose - for any rational human - is to safeguard & protect your wealth over the course of decades or centuries (generational wealth).
It's NOT "because it's going to the moon in 2 weeks!" or any such nonsense.
You do NOT buy gold & silver because you think the price will double anytime soon (though It probably will, but that's just because of the very unique circumstances occurring right this moment, and has definitely NOT been a constant throughout history, and you do NOT buy gold nor silver because you think the value will rise significantly in the short term).
Gold & silver virtually guarantee that you will never lose any of your wealth. I'm not aware of anyone who has significant sums of gold & silver, who has ever lost a significant amount of their wealth because of it. Over decades / generations, that is (No; those brothers who tried to corner the silver market in the 80's & got hammered don't count; they were gambling and lost, plain & simple).
No, I'm not talking about the price swinging up & down.
I AM talking when you look at PM's over the course of decades or longer. On that long a timeframe, Gold & Silver do not lose value. They won't necessarily make you rich, but it will ensure that you won't lose it all if the market crashes.
Gold & Silver (PM's / Precious Metals) are also extremely good inflation hedges; here again; they help safeguard your wealth against the ravages of inflation.
Frankly, I think the idea of us reverting to using gold & silver as our primary form of money on an ongoing, regular & long-term basis is absolutely absurd. In order for that to be the case, we'd have far, FAR bigger problems than how to buy some ammo or bacon.
If we were forced to primarily use any form of barter and/or Gold & Silver instead of other "money" (fiat currency) - even if it's not US currency - means that the global economy would have virtually collapsed entirely.
Imagine that; do you really think you'd be worried about going shopping if the currencies of virtually every country in the world became almost completely worthless??
(I'm assuming here you have already stocked 3-6 months of food for yourself & each member of your family, water & the means to purify / filter it, firearms & related self / home-defense gear, etc.......RIGHT???)
So you will NOT be one of the great unwashed masses literally killing each other over a case of bottled water at the local walmart, RIGHT...???
We'd have far, FAR bigger problems than how to pay for stuff using gold and silver (or barter), if we were forced to do it regularly & for the long term.
But, it's certainly not out of the question for some random transactions here & there.
You can get gold coins in virtually infinite sizes, values, combinations.
Just like you probably don't regularly carry only $100 bills; you probably always try to have some small bills & change; same with gold & silver. Have smaller amounts of it, as well as some larger bars. You shouldn't have $10k in 1s, but you also don't want to carry around only $100's for buying soda or gas either.
No; you aren't going to buy shit other than a mercedes or plot of land with a 1 kilo gold or silver bar; but silver especially can be had in very small, practical & manageable amounts.
Remember; it wasn't that long ago that US coins actually WERE made out of mostly silver.... imagine that; REAL money!
As for the rest of your questions & points; extremely good, smart & valid questions.
Generally; you ought to invest in actual gold & silver currency, such as American Gold / Silver Eagles or bars from very recognizable & reputable mints. There are many, but since you're new; Canadian Royal Mint, UK Royal Mint, Australian Perth Mint,
Casa de Moneda de Mexico (Mexican mint) which was founded in 1535. It is the oldest mint in North America. (Cool!! I didn't know!!)
You don't want to "invest" into a bunch of gold / silver jewelry, figurines, or other trinkets; really anything that isn't a very standard, widely known / accepted minted gold / silver coin or bar from a major govt. or private mint, because you're right; you need to verify the purity & authenticity.
Fake gold & silver are definitely a problem (COUGHCHINACOUGH) so again; valid point.
Precious Metals testing devices aren't horribly expensive & impractical; the Sigma seems to be one of the most popular:
https://www.sigmametalytics.com/
There are also a whole lot of other ways to easily & reliably test PM's for authenticity & purity. This is made especially easy with government minted coins like Britannias, American Gold & Silver Eagles, Canadian Silver Maples, etc. There are - just like with bills - security features built into these coins.
Of course the best idea would be to keep them in their original, factory packaging, and not open them until you are ready to actually spend / trade them, but that's not always going to be possible. If you break open a $100 value pack of silver coins but only spend half; the next time you go to spend the rest, it won't be factory sealed, now will it? :-\
Basically; buy only "name brand" gold & silver; govt-issued coins (which are actually legal tender, like American Silver & Gold Eagles) and bars either from govt. mints (UK's Royal Mint) or other archetypal mints like Valcambi.
IMHO; stay AWAY from "collector" coins & PM's. An American Gold Eagle has a specific, concretely defined value; it has a face value (again it is real actual money, exactly like a $20 bill) but it also has 1 oz of real, pure gold, which has a verifiable market price.
What I'm talking about are coins - like certain AGE's - that are worth many times more than their "normal" value, because of some unusual mint mark or some other quirk.
i.e.; a normal, standard AGE is about $2500.00 at current market prices. Gold is about $2,300.00 per oz.
There are AGE's out there that are WAY more than just ~$2,500.00, because the mint made some mistake, or they have some unusual feature, etc. But the coin doesn't contain more than $2300.00 worth of gold, and for practical purposes, isn't ACTUALLY worth more.
It's worth $10,000.00 or whatever to COLLECTORS, simply because people say it is.
That will absolutely go away if we're forced to spend gold & silver. Nobody will care about the quirky little weird mark on your coin; they'll care if it's pure gold and if it's actually 1 oz, or whatever.
(Sidenote; AGE's can be had as small as 1/10 oz, which at current prices is roughly $270.00 per 1/10 oz. coin. THAT is how you can practically spend gold / silver)
Oh also; how can you be certain that the currency - bills or coins - anyone gives you are real / authentic & not fake?
Same way with gold & silver.....
In sum; it's not impossible, but it would be a little different to use gold & silver instead of fiat (govt-printed) money.
Contains ten (10) troy ounces of .999 fine silver.
Produced by MintID with special authentication NFC Chip.
New bars shipped in original mint plastic.
Manufactured in the United States.
Features a detailed Buffalo Design on the obverse.
(Known, standard Design details such as this are security features in and of themselves)
i live in a rural area, and have many farms around me. i'm just wondering if the farmer would take gold/silver for their goods because what can they do with it, just like cash,
What can anyone do with dollar bills? British Pounds or Canadian dollars? They're just a medium of exchange, which is precisely what gold & silver are.
In fact; gold & silver are the only REAL, actual "money"; everything else is literally monopoly money created (again literally) out of thin air / with a few keystrokes by the government.
"Money" as in USD, GBP, CAD, etc; has zero intrinsic value, unlike Gold & Silver, which have been prized and highly valued ever since they were discovered by mankind.
if/when the crash hits how do you know if gold is gold and silver is silver; and if cash is worthless, wouldn't bartering be the way to go?
I still stand by my assertion that if we were ever forced to resort to barter and/or using gold & silver on a regular & long-term basis, it wold only be because virtually the entire global economy has completely collapsed & the fiat currencies issued by any country are completely worthless.
Nothing like that has ever happened before that I'm aware of (not global; I'm aware of course of Weimar Germany, Venezuela, etc).
It could also happen in the aftermath of something like a serious nuclear war.
And I'm sorry again this turned out so long; this turned into a fun exercise for me to think through & refresh my brain on this topic, but one last thing;
If gold & silver are useless / worthless / just shiny toys, why have central banks & governments all around the world been buying it up like it's literally crack cocaine?
Why?
Here are a few links. Ironically the first one is from our absolute, very favorite demons:
Central banks globally have accumulated gold reserves this year at a pace never seen since 1967, when the US dollar was still backed by the precious metal.
A new survey of 70 central banks revealed the highest level of expected central bank gold buying since the analysis of their gold exposure started six years ago. None of the banks which responded to the survey conducted by the World Gold Council (WGC) expect central bank buying to decline whereas 81% expect buying to increase.
i really appreciate all your info. what i'm meaning is that the price of gold/silver goes up an down constantly, am i right? i have honestly never dabbled in gold/silver, ever. i was never taught about any of that as a younger adult, nor ever taught or had interest in the stock market.
i was always told to prep with food, water, ammo, etc., but not gold/silver.
so on the day i would want to use any gold or silver, how do we know the price of it on that day? and of course, i never ever knew if i would buy gold/silver if it was even the real deal. so i just stayed away from it. can't fault a fren for asking.
Well you are very welcome! I'm flattered if you read even half of that. I'm looking at it in shock that I wrote THAT much.....LMAO.....gotta love coffee..... :-p
To answer your question; of course you were never taught about gold & silver, just like you were taught that the government has our best interest at heart & politicians serve the public interest.
You again come up with a very good question; I think you are sharper than you give yourself credit for. :-)
That said; it's incredibly easy to look up the price of gold & silver. I have an app (Kitco) that displays the real-time price of gold on my iPhone lock screen, for heavens sake. :-)
You honestly just look it up, like with anything. When you go shopping for groceries; don't you ever price compare? Or look up amazon vs. some other online vendor?
However, if we're talking about a total collapse type situation as I mentioned above; I have no clue how gold & silver would be valued..... again; if we're in a total collapse, gold & silver are very, very secondary (or lower) concerns to food, water, bullets, beans, etc.
Just search for "Gold & Silver Price Charts" and you'll get a zillion. Maybe cross-check 2-3 to ensure they are all accurate + current.
Also; The price you see on any chart is the "Spot" price.
Any dealer charges basically a "markup" - formally called the "premium" - on gold & silver.
Certain coins - such as American Gold / Silver Eagles - almost always have a higher premium than other coins, beause they're in extremely high demand. In part because of the security features built into the coins to help people easily check for fakes.
So right now; the spot price of gold is $2,341.80; premiums (as with prices) vary, but you could expect to pay around $100.00 over spot, per 1 oz. coin.
(I also just proved myself right again; I have no clue why APMEX is so po-pular they're a big online precious metals dealer - but they are ALWAYS more expensive. In this case, they're only about $6.00 more than monument, but why pay more?)
Premiums (or "markup") vary based on the type of coin & other factors, as with Silver; different premiums based on different factors.
Honestly, you'll just have to shop around a bit to get a feel for pricing & such.
Oh, and pay close attention to the quantity pricing; most precious metals dealers advertise their lowest price, but it's only if you buy like 100 or some huge number.
They give bulk discounts; obviously if you buy 100 coins, you can pay a bit less per coin vs. if you just buy 1.
But look carefully at the pricing based on how many you actually want to buy.
As for your (again smart) comment on authenticity;
Yep, agreed. It's why I stuck with very large, well known & reputable dealers for my first (ok most) of my gold & silver purchases. I don't have to worry (as much) about fakes beause these big companies have a big reputation to uphold + we all know how fast bad reviews spread on the internet.....
Monument Metals has been my favorite, along with JMBullion and a few more I can share if you are interested.
I'd buy only from a large & reputable dealer until you're comfortable with it & learn more, and possibly get a metals tester.
Real precious metals have a distinct tone / ring they make vs. a coin that is supposed to be gold but is actually copper, or is gold plated & filled with a cheaper metal.
The "Ping check" is also a valid way of testing authenticity & my understanding is it's pretty darn accurate, once you learn enough.
OK, first off; I'm sorry (not) that this turned out so long. This was a fun way for me to refresh myself, as I've been out of buying PM's for some time now. And, too much caffeine.😛
I believe the info below is exactly what I could have used when I first started out, so I hope this is helpful to you & others, and answers your very good questions. That said..... You have posed some very valid & legit questions. :-)
It's NOT "because it's going to the moon in 2 weeks!" or any such nonsense. You do NOT buy gold & silver because you think the price will double anytime soon (though It probably will, but that's just because of the very unique circumstances occurring right this moment, and has definitely NOT been a constant throughout history, and you do NOT buy gold nor silver because you think the value will rise significantly in the short term).
Gold & silver virtually guarantee that you will never lose any of your wealth. I'm not aware of anyone who has significant sums of gold & silver, who has ever lost a significant amount of their wealth because of it. Over decades / generations, that is (No; those brothers who tried to corner the silver market in the 80's & got hammered don't count; they were gambling and lost, plain & simple).
No, I'm not talking about the price swinging up & down. I AM talking when you look at PM's over the course of decades or longer. On that long a timeframe, Gold & Silver do not lose value. They won't necessarily make you rich, but it will ensure that you won't lose it all if the market crashes.
Gold & Silver (PM's / Precious Metals) are also extremely good inflation hedges; here again; they help safeguard your wealth against the ravages of inflation.
Frankly, I think the idea of us reverting to using gold & silver as our primary form of money on an ongoing, regular & long-term basis is absolutely absurd. In order for that to be the case, we'd have far, FAR bigger problems than how to buy some ammo or bacon.
If we were forced to primarily use any form of barter and/or Gold & Silver instead of other "money" (fiat currency) - even if it's not US currency - means that the global economy would have virtually collapsed entirely.
Imagine that; do you really think you'd be worried about going shopping if the currencies of virtually every country in the world became almost completely worthless??
(I'm assuming here you have already stocked 3-6 months of food for yourself & each member of your family, water & the means to purify / filter it, firearms & related self / home-defense gear, etc.......RIGHT???)
So you will NOT be one of the great unwashed masses literally killing each other over a case of bottled water at the local walmart, RIGHT...???
We'd have far, FAR bigger problems than how to pay for stuff using gold and silver (or barter), if we were forced to do it regularly & for the long term.
But, it's certainly not out of the question for some random transactions here & there.
You can get gold coins in virtually infinite sizes, values, combinations.
Just like you probably don't regularly carry only $100 bills; you probably always try to have some small bills & change; same with gold & silver. Have smaller amounts of it, as well as some larger bars. You shouldn't have $10k in 1s, but you also don't want to carry around only $100's for buying soda or gas either.
No; you aren't going to buy shit other than a mercedes or plot of land with a 1 kilo gold or silver bar; but silver especially can be had in very small, practical & manageable amounts.
For gold, there's stuff like this: https://www.valcambi.com/products/combibartm-description/
And of course they make it in silver too: https://www.valcambi.com/products-and-metals/combibarTM/ag/100-x-1-g/100-x-1-g-silver-combibarTM/
Remember; it wasn't that long ago that US coins actually WERE made out of mostly silver.... imagine that; REAL money!
As for the rest of your questions & points; extremely good, smart & valid questions.
You don't want to "invest" into a bunch of gold / silver jewelry, figurines, or other trinkets; really anything that isn't a very standard, widely known / accepted minted gold / silver coin or bar from a major govt. or private mint, because you're right; you need to verify the purity & authenticity.
Fake gold & silver are definitely a problem (COUGH CHINA COUGH) so again; valid point.
Precious Metals testing devices aren't horribly expensive & impractical; the Sigma seems to be one of the most popular: https://www.sigmametalytics.com/
There are also a whole lot of other ways to easily & reliably test PM's for authenticity & purity. This is made especially easy with government minted coins like Britannias, American Gold & Silver Eagles, Canadian Silver Maples, etc. There are - just like with bills - security features built into these coins.
Of course the best idea would be to keep them in their original, factory packaging, and not open them until you are ready to actually spend / trade them, but that's not always going to be possible. If you break open a $100 value pack of silver coins but only spend half; the next time you go to spend the rest, it won't be factory sealed, now will it? :-\
Basically; buy only "name brand" gold & silver; govt-issued coins (which are actually legal tender, like American Silver & Gold Eagles) and bars either from govt. mints (UK's Royal Mint) or other archetypal mints like Valcambi.
IMHO; stay AWAY from "collector" coins & PM's. An American Gold Eagle has a specific, concretely defined value; it has a face value (again it is real actual money, exactly like a $20 bill) but it also has 1 oz of real, pure gold, which has a verifiable market price. What I'm talking about are coins - like certain AGE's - that are worth many times more than their "normal" value, because of some unusual mint mark or some other quirk.
i.e.; a normal, standard AGE is about $2500.00 at current market prices. Gold is about $2,300.00 per oz. There are AGE's out there that are WAY more than just ~$2,500.00, because the mint made some mistake, or they have some unusual feature, etc. But the coin doesn't contain more than $2300.00 worth of gold, and for practical purposes, isn't ACTUALLY worth more.
It's worth $10,000.00 or whatever to COLLECTORS, simply because people say it is. That will absolutely go away if we're forced to spend gold & silver. Nobody will care about the quirky little weird mark on your coin; they'll care if it's pure gold and if it's actually 1 oz, or whatever.
(Sidenote; AGE's can be had as small as 1/10 oz, which at current prices is roughly $270.00 per 1/10 oz. coin. THAT is how you can practically spend gold / silver)
Oh also; how can you be certain that the currency - bills or coins - anyone gives you are real / authentic & not fake?
Same way with gold & silver..... In sum; it's not impossible, but it would be a little different to use gold & silver instead of fiat (govt-printed) money.
Here's a cool example: https://monumentmetals.com/mintid-10-oz-silver-bar.html
"Money" as in USD, GBP, CAD, etc; has zero intrinsic value, unlike Gold & Silver, which have been prized and highly valued ever since they were discovered by mankind.
I still stand by my assertion that if we were ever forced to resort to barter and/or using gold & silver on a regular & long-term basis, it wold only be because virtually the entire global economy has completely collapsed & the fiat currencies issued by any country are completely worthless.
Nothing like that has ever happened before that I'm aware of (not global; I'm aware of course of Weimar Germany, Venezuela, etc).
It could also happen in the aftermath of something like a serious nuclear war.
And I'm sorry again this turned out so long; this turned into a fun exercise for me to think through & refresh my brain on this topic, but one last thing;
If gold & silver are useless / worthless / just shiny toys, why have central banks & governments all around the world been buying it up like it's literally crack cocaine?
Why?
Here are a few links. Ironically the first one is from our absolute, very favorite demons:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/11/central-banks-gold-market-economy-global/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timtreadgold/2024/06/18/gold-at-3000oz-in-sight-as-central-banks-continue-to-buy/
https://www.kitco.com/news/article/2024-06-18/why-central-banks-are-increasing-their-gold-reserves-29-plan-buy-more-2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/central-banks-gold-buying-frenzy-160000712.html
i really appreciate all your info. what i'm meaning is that the price of gold/silver goes up an down constantly, am i right? i have honestly never dabbled in gold/silver, ever. i was never taught about any of that as a younger adult, nor ever taught or had interest in the stock market.
i was always told to prep with food, water, ammo, etc., but not gold/silver.
so on the day i would want to use any gold or silver, how do we know the price of it on that day? and of course, i never ever knew if i would buy gold/silver if it was even the real deal. so i just stayed away from it. can't fault a fren for asking.
Well you are very welcome! I'm flattered if you read even half of that. I'm looking at it in shock that I wrote THAT much.....LMAO.....gotta love coffee..... :-p
To answer your question; of course you were never taught about gold & silver, just like you were taught that the government has our best interest at heart & politicians serve the public interest.
You again come up with a very good question; I think you are sharper than you give yourself credit for. :-)
That said; it's incredibly easy to look up the price of gold & silver. I have an app (Kitco) that displays the real-time price of gold on my iPhone lock screen, for heavens sake. :-)
You honestly just look it up, like with anything. When you go shopping for groceries; don't you ever price compare? Or look up amazon vs. some other online vendor?
However, if we're talking about a total collapse type situation as I mentioned above; I have no clue how gold & silver would be valued..... again; if we're in a total collapse, gold & silver are very, very secondary (or lower) concerns to food, water, bullets, beans, etc.
Just search for "Gold & Silver Price Charts" and you'll get a zillion. Maybe cross-check 2-3 to ensure they are all accurate + current.
Also; The price you see on any chart is the "Spot" price. Any dealer charges basically a "markup" - formally called the "premium" - on gold & silver.
Certain coins - such as American Gold / Silver Eagles - almost always have a higher premium than other coins, beause they're in extremely high demand. In part because of the security features built into the coins to help people easily check for fakes.
So right now; the spot price of gold is $2,341.80; premiums (as with prices) vary, but you could expect to pay around $100.00 over spot, per 1 oz. coin.
Example: An American Gold Eagle - ONE - is $2,451.30 here at Monument: https://monumentmetals.com/2024-american-1-oz-gold-eagle-bu.html
(I also just proved myself right again; I have no clue why APMEX is so po-pular they're a big online precious metals dealer - but they are ALWAYS more expensive. In this case, they're only about $6.00 more than monument, but why pay more?)
Premiums (or "markup") vary based on the type of coin & other factors, as with Silver; different premiums based on different factors.
Honestly, you'll just have to shop around a bit to get a feel for pricing & such.
Oh, and pay close attention to the quantity pricing; most precious metals dealers advertise their lowest price, but it's only if you buy like 100 or some huge number. They give bulk discounts; obviously if you buy 100 coins, you can pay a bit less per coin vs. if you just buy 1. But look carefully at the pricing based on how many you actually want to buy.
As for your (again smart) comment on authenticity; Yep, agreed. It's why I stuck with very large, well known & reputable dealers for my first (ok most) of my gold & silver purchases. I don't have to worry (as much) about fakes beause these big companies have a big reputation to uphold + we all know how fast bad reviews spread on the internet.....
Monument Metals has been my favorite, along with JMBullion and a few more I can share if you are interested. I'd buy only from a large & reputable dealer until you're comfortable with it & learn more, and possibly get a metals tester.
Also; you could invest in something like this - and no, it's not a joke: https://soundmoneymetals.us/
Real precious metals have a distinct tone / ring they make vs. a coin that is supposed to be gold but is actually copper, or is gold plated & filled with a cheaper metal.
The "Ping check" is also a valid way of testing authenticity & my understanding is it's pretty darn accurate, once you learn enough.