133 ASE!

I've been following this thread for a while, waiting on the sale of a property that would allow me to purchase some gold/silver. Well, that time FINALLY appears to be here, so:

Is the Wal-Mart credit card still a good thing? My understanding from a while ago was that the Wal-Mart card allowed cheaper purchases. Is this true? Are there any other similar places where it would good to buy gold or silver from?

I don't use the Walmart card but Walmart.com, for ASEs, has been consistently 1-2% cheaper than SD Bullion and 4-5% cheaper than APMEX (which is weird because APMEX is one of Walmart's suppliers)

AggieT said:

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Keep in mind that both gold and silver are expensive right now, and the prices are trending down.

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I noticed that the price had been going up, and I wasn't sure if I should get in now because it's likely to keep gradually going up, or if I should wait a little bit to see if it comes down. Thoughts?

They fluctuate quite a bit. Gold is down about $100/oz and silver down about $2/oz over the past week or so. Both are still higher than they have been over the past year.

Dollar cost average is what most will advise.

Two questions re: gold coins.

Any recommendations to determine FMV for a variety of gold coins?
What is your comfort purchasing gold coins that have a collector's value beyond just the price of the gold?

Over the years my father periodically purchased gold coins from a dealer in ?Philadelphia?. My mother has considered selling the coins.

My wife and I want to buy gold so we've considered buying the coins from her.

Then we could determine a price that is less than we'd pay from a dealer but more than she'd get selling to a dealer.

My only concern would be that it is likely many of the coins have a collectors value above just the price of the gold. I assume that could make it more difficult unload quickly if needed. Also the added cost of the collector's value could erase any ROI on the gold itself if the collector's market is down.

This may be moot anyway. When I mentioned this she said "I don't need the money, why don't you just wait until I die and get then they're yours anyway.."

Spot price would be more than a dealer would give her, but less than it would cost you to buy from a dealer.

If you want to factor collector value but the coins are ungraded factor in an additional 3% for the lot.

if you were buying coins for someone's birth year (2017). What would you buy? Let's say a budget at $500.

Brewmaster said:

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if you were buying coins for someone's birth year (2017). What would you buy? Let's say a budget at $500.

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I only had 2- 2017 American eagles in plastic cases. I have a few sleeves of 2014, some 2012, 2018, 2021 but 2017 seems to only be a couple

Premiums on ASE's are gettin' kinda steep.

Monument metals has some St. Helena coins at spot price today. You can get 4 x 1.25 oz coins

I was considering going down to the US Mint Gift Shop on 9th Street in DC yesterday on my day off but went to the Arboretum instead.

I still can't wrap my head around what happens if there is collapse-

yes it's great if you have gold bars or coins.

but what are you going to do with one ounce of gold when it's worth $4000?!

how does anyone you are trading with know it is 24 carat gold and not fake?

if there won't be the total collapse of society-

why bother with physical when you can just own GLD in your brokerage as well as miners and streaming companies?

Get out of here with those type of questions


I joke.and I agree

Why buy a painting when you can Google image search for it and look at it digitally?

Why own land when you can own a mansion in a virtual world?

Why get married if you can have an AI wife?

Your questions carry some validity. But there are so many other things beyond "societal collapse" to have a contingency plan in place for.

LMCane said:

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I was considering going down to the US Mint Gift Shop on 9th Street in DC yesterday on my day off but went to the Arboretum instead.

I still can't wrap my head around what happens if there is collapse-

yes it's great if you have gold bars or coins.

but what are you going to do with one ounce of gold when it's worth $4000?!

how does anyone you are trading with know it is 24 carat gold and not fake?

if there won't be the total collapse of society-

why bother with physical when you can just own GLD in your brokerage as well as miners and streaming companies?

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Historically most economies have been based on silver coins

LMCane said:

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I was considering going down to the US Mint Gift Shop on 9th Street in DC yesterday on my day off but went to the Arboretum instead.

I still can't wrap my head around what happens if there is collapse-

yes it's great if you have gold bars or coins.

but what are you going to do with one ounce of gold when it's worth $4000?!

how does anyone you are trading with know it is 24 carat gold and not fake?

if there won't be the total collapse of society-

why bother with physical when you can just own GLD in your brokerage as well as miners and streaming companies?

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Sigma metalytics - verify your precious metals. Or just bite down on 24K gold - leaves an impression - just like the good ol days!
Guns and ammo for total collapse, too.

Another reason to buy physical over paper is how clearly over traded the paper for gold and silver contracts are. There is multiple times the actual vaulted gold and silver available for purchase in paper contracts. If there was a group that actually took delivery price would soar and the contracts would vaporize much like with nickel a few years ago

Silver making a decent move up this morning ($29.31).

Up 2.31%.

What are y'all doing regarding splitting new contributions to retirement / metals? What percentage to each?

We gonna bust $30.00 today?!?!?

I think I'm officially a convert to precious mineral ETFs, as opposed to physical bullion. My journey:

I bought several hundred silver one ounce mint coins, along with a few gold one ouncers back in 2013-2014. I pay for a large safe deposit box to store them (I have found that silver weighs a lot!). They have appreciated pretty well. I'm not unhappy with my results, HOWEVER:

- I would have done better by investing in silver and gold ETFs (which I also hold in my investment portfolio). ETFs have much lower transaction costs, and you could argue lower ongoing expense ratios, while providing easy and immediate ways to liquidate holdings if needed. NOTE: metals are merely a small asset class in my portfolio, to hedge against inflation and help ensure diversification.

- The premium paid for buying minted coins, the super-wide bid/ask spreads for physical metals, and the personal hassle to buy, sell, and ship the product pretty much ensures that ETFs will outperform every time. The fact that there are no dividends paid limit the upside of metals overall, and make them useless as an income-generating asset, UNLESS you have an ETF where you can write covered calls, for example.

- The doomsday scenario never made any sense to me. If the stuff really does hit the fan, and safety, security, and sustenance are at a premium, bartering directly for those will be how it works - no intermediary means of exchange will be needed if we reach that basic level. If the stock market is gone, canned goods, guns, bullets, etc. will be where the value would be. If there is a nuclear war, we're probably all dead anyway, so who cares who has the biggest gold stash?

At some point in the near future, I will sell the physical coins - I'll post on here to avoid the horrendous discounts that bullion dealers insist on. I'm converted, but not too unhappy with the status quo.

Convince me I'm wrong, if you please!