cheapest place to buy precious metals?

[rj.phila]

hi all, im probably a little late to the party so to speak, but im considering buying a bit of gold and silver-physical coins. im looking around, and have found a few places that look good, but im wondering if any of you guys have tried and true retailers. (looking to buy ~5-10k per metal). thanks.

[jim_]

place, or type

I don't know the best "place" to buy; my choices are fairly limited, locally. The best type for your amount; bars, the bigger the better.

[97guns]

apmex, gainsville or provident

nice to see some interest in physical metal.

[Aleta]

One advisor that I had spoken to had a bunch of old coins. Supposedly you can buy old coins just for the silver.

[KTP]

At the point where there is need to actually have the actual metal in your possesion (I guess in the event of a total breakdown in society), then the better things to have will be coffee, sugar, gasoline, ammo, and the address of your nearest mormon neighbor.

[rj.phila]

thanks for the help, 97guns.

KTP-the markup on buying bullion(physical)seems to be somewhat small, if you shop around. buying futures, or a fund, or a piece of paper that says something out in the ether is mine, holds what advantage over physically holding an actual asset? i mean that sincerely, not facetiously. i always thought the advantage of a precious metal was that it was actually possessible, unlike your typical commodity such as oil or whatnot. what am i overlooking?thanks.

ps-not worried about The Zombiepocalypse®, just prefer to hold the stuff i buy, if that makes sense.

[KTP]

Well, Tantalum would have been a better element to hold in 2010 than gold or silver. It has lots of uses too!

[97guns]

for those of you that are novice about precious metals just do a few google searches and you can make your own decisions, you should see overwhelming evidence that you should be out of the
US dollar and into tangible goods.

and as KTP said make sure you have food and other neccesities before commiting to metal, metal shoud ony be used to store un-needed funds.

of course this is only my opinion.

[GrimJack]

The best place to buy gold/coins is from your local coin dealer/rare metals dealer who has been around for years. They will be more likely to buy/sell at market rates rather than investor rates. Do your homework as a lot of those nationally advertised companies have some pretty incredible mark-ups. If you are going to keep gold around for later bartering, make sure you have it in barter-able units - if an ounce of gold is worth $1000, how much food is that?

[KTP]

The best place to buy gold/coins is from your local coin dealer/rare metals dealer who has been around for years. They will be more likely to buy/sell at market rates rather than investor rates. Do your homework as a lot of those nationally advertised companies have some pretty incredible mark-ups. If you are going to keep gold around for later bartering, make sure you have it in barter-able units - if an ounce of gold is worth $1000, how much food is that?

It will depend on supply and demand. If you are starving, a can of dog food might equal an ounce of gold. It would be quite cheap to stock up on dog food vs gold at today's prices.

A full box of ammo might go for 2 ounces of gold or more in the right environment.

[Snodog]

At the point where there is need to actually have the actual metal in your possesion (I guess in the event of a total breakdown in society), then the better things to have will be coffee, sugar, gasoline, ammo, and the address of your nearest mormon neighbor.

Glenn Beck I'm coming to YOUR house if the **** hits the fan.

[97guns]

It will depend on supply and demand. If you are starving, a can of dog food might equal an ounce of gold. It would be quite cheap to stock up on dog food vs gold at today's prices.

A full box of ammo might go for 2 ounces of gold or more in the right environment.

best case scenario is to have it all and alot of it

preparing is an ongoing process, it does not happen overnight.

[GrimJack]

It will depend on supply and demand. If you are starving, a can of dog food might equal an ounce of gold. It would be quite cheap to stock up on dog food vs gold at today's prices.

A full box of ammo might go for 2 ounces of gold or more in the right environment.

Or as one friend of mine said "You have gold, I have a .357 mag - how do you think this is going to end?"

[snafu]

I think it's a lot easier to buy an Exchange Traded Fund in the commodity of choice. I plan to buy a base metal ETF this week. It's easier to buy and sell ETF than actual coins and you needn't worry about where to store coins to protect their physical security. Before making your purchase, check out what the buy/sell differential would be. I remember how surprised I was to discover the mark-up on gold jewellery hovered at 1,000 %.

[Mr Nice Guy]

Are you buying as an inflation-hedge?