Silver vs Gold Bullion - what is better for Average Joe?

vanity | 8/27/2012 | Self

[GlockThe Vote]

I have been accumulating silver Eagles , maples, Austrian phils, and pandas.

Can anyone give me a good idea or reason why Gold is better than silver for the average Joe investor in physical bullion?

From what I can gather Silver overall is a better avenue for most of us.

[blam]

I prefer (1st) silver and (2nd) gold coins.

Mostly, they are legal currency.

[ExSoldier]

Wait till after the election. Your gold might double in value if ~wave of nausea~ OBOZO gets another term. If Romney wins, you might still need it for a rainy day...

[ExSoldier]

IIRC MONEX sells 70 pound bags of pre-1964 silver coins for about $1K. If the bottom drops out of silver, they'll still be worth exactly the face value. You can't be taxed on the silver content only the face value. It is still "coin of the realm." MONEX also has a constantly updated melt value index of what those coins are worth for their silver content.

I made a mistake when I bought my first silver bullion. I bought in sizes that are too big to easily negotiate and I did it when Silver was sitting at $15 an oz. I realized my error when I read Travis McGee's Castigo Cay and how silver coins were used to buy black market goods in the story. That made a lot of sense to me. I'm probably going to invest in that MONEX deal. At the very worst case scenario, they'll still hold their face value and I can also divide and cache them if need be. I can do it a lot easier than doing the same with ammo.

[ExSoldier]

Here it is: Pre-1964 Silver Coins

Silver Coin Melt Values

[Jack Black]

The main advantage of gold is how small it is. At $1600 and oz a 1/10th oz coin (a gold piece the size of a dime) is worth about $160.

So, you could carry or store a lot more money in gold in a small amount of space.

$160 in Silver would be about 5 ozs. A little chunky stack. It adds up quickly, weight wise. If you are going to convert up over $10K then you probably want some gold, just to keep it reasonable size wise. In gold $10K is only 6 ozs !!

The same amount in silver at $30 an oz is 333 ozs, or 20 lbs. Not to convenient to carry around.

Of course if you are buying for post monetary crash spending the silver might be more useful. Think about how hard breaking a $100 bill is. That’s what your dime sized Gold Eagle is going to be like to break, and your full 1oz Eagle will be mostly useful for buying expensive things (over $1000).

[Jack Black]

The main advantage of gold is how small it is. At $1600 and oz a 1/10th oz coin (a gold piece the size of a dime) is worth about $160.

So, you could carry or store a lot more money in gold in a small amount of space.

$160 in Silver would be about 5 ozs. A little chunky stack. It adds up quickly, weight wise. If you are going to convert up over $10K then you probably want some gold, just to keep it reasonable size wise. In gold $10K is only 6 ozs !!

The same amount in silver at $30 an oz is 333 ozs, or 20 lbs. Not to convenient to carry around.

Of course if you are buying for post monetary crash spending the silver might be more useful. Think about how hard breaking a $100 bill is. That’s what your dime sized Gold Eagle is going to be like to break, and your full 1oz Eagle will be mostly useful for buying expensive things (over $1000).