Apmex J Mattheys Scottsdale bars ?????

[A2coins]

I buy these bars off and on just a few ounces at a time hoping in 20 years they will be worth something for my Daughters. If just the same value fine if more even better,. I dont buy huge amounts just a few bars here and there for the last few years Question why do 1 oz silver bars cost more than spot I know shipping costs which isnt much. Is it the reputation of the Company they are easier to liquidate serial numbers or ? I always felt safer buying from these companies even though Im paying more. Anyone else buy these or do you think its wasting money ? Do most of you just invest in 90 percent coins ? Any thoughts on this Im not wealthy just want to invest a little here and there and hope it will help them later on. Thanks Tommy

 

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[DeepseekerADS]

I went to the web to remember exactly when I bought $50 silver and found this:

What was highest silver price per ounce in history and when?

Best Answer: The year was 1980. Jimmy Carter was president and had totally hashed the economy. During the 2nd week of January, I believe it was, silver hit about $48.00 an ounce. The Hunt brothers had attempted to corner the market on silver. One thing they did not count on was that the high price brought countless hords to market. People were dragging in their silver stashes from where they had buried them in the back yard, from the boxes in the closets and from the safety deposit boxes in the banks. The price immediately dropped to about $35.00 an ounce and stayed in that range until March. Then the bottom dropped out and it fell below $20.00 an ounce. The Hunt brothers went bankrupt. Regan was elected president and silver dropped to under $9.00 by July 1981.

Oh, the memories...... I still have it all - boy was I dumb....

I called my broker over and over to sell it back - they weren't taking phone calls,

Sooooooo..... I still have that.

Did a whole lot of averaging down over the years, and with today's pricing I'm probably about even (fingers crossed - haven't looked to see yet).

I should! I might have enough to retire on..... Oh, I already did that....

Should I stay or should I go (outta the mkt) I don't even know how much I have now.

Well, reality says I got it all for retirement, and here I am.... Gotta do some thinking......

 

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[A2coins]

Thats a crazy story didnt know that, I do remember back when silver and gold jumped way up. I guess if we knew what would be valuable later we would all be rich Im hoping for technology computers ect silver will go up?? I hope you have a good retirement sounds like at the time you did what you thought was best. Hope it works out for you my friend Tommy

 

[fistfulladirt]

Traditionally, financial advisors recommend a 5% PM portfolio share.
They don’t make a dime off physical holdings is why.
5% is way off, when practically all else is paper.

 

[fistfulladirt]

I went to the web to remember exactly when I bought $50 silver and found this:

What was highest silver price per ounce in history and when?

Best Answer: The year was 1980. Jimmy Carter was president and had totally hashed the economy. During the 2nd week of January, I believe it was, silver hit about $48.00 an ounce. The Hunt brothers had attempted to corner the market on silver. One thing they did not count on was that the high price brought countless hords to market. People were dragging in their silver stashes from where they had buried them in the back yard, from the boxes in the closets and from the safety deposit boxes in the banks. The price immediately dropped to about $35.00 an ounce and stayed in that range until March. Then the bottom dropped out and it fell below $20.00 an ounce. The Hunt brothers went bankrupt. Regan was elected president and silver dropped to under $9.00 by July 1981.

Oh, the memories...... I still have it all - boy was I dumb....

I called my broker over and over to sell it back - they weren't taking phone calls,

Sooooooo..... I still have that.

Did a whole lot of averaging down over the years, and with today's pricing I'm probably about even (fingers crossed - haven't looked to see yet).

I should! I might have enough to retire on..... Oh, I already did that....

Should I stay or should I go (outta the mkt) I don't even know how much I have now.

Well, reality says I got it all for retirement, and here I am.... Gotta do some thinking......

They say you value your stack in ounces, not fiat paper. Congrats on the long run.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Thats a crazy story didnt know that, I do remember back when silver and gold jumped way up. I guess if we knew what would be valuable later we would all be rich Im hoping for technology computers ect silver will go up?? I hope you have a good retirement sounds like at the time you did what you thought was best. Hope it works out for you my friend Tommy

Thanks Tommy, do need another vehicle.... I'll think it over and if I decide to sell a little I'll post an ad in the For Sale forum.

 

[Owassokie]

Traditionally, financial advisors recommend a 5% PM portfolio share.
They don’t make a dime off physical holdings is why.
5% is way off, when practically all else is paper.

Since you mentioned FA's... Just a bit of advice (to the general TN public) from a guy who got his degree in Finance (though that doesn't mean much). Use a fee only financial adviser. There's a website you can go to and find a fee only adviser in your area. Never take free advice that is specific to your money. Never take advice from someone who stands to gain from your decision. The pitch sounds great... you win/I win blah blah blah. Note: This doesn't mean all other FA's are crooks....but many of the "good guys" are more sales men than FA and are giving advice they've been trained to believe is...good advice.

 

[A2coins]

Thanks thats a good piece of advice.

 

[GlenDronach]

Since you mentioned FA's... Just a bit of advice (to the general TN public) from a guy who got his degree in Finance (though that doesn't mean much). Use a fee only financial adviser. There's a website you can go to and find a fee only adviser in your area. Never take free advice that is specific to your money. Never take advice from someone who stands to gain from your decision. The pitch sounds great... you win/I win blah blah blah. Note: This doesn't mean all other FA's are crooks....but many of the "good guys" are more sales men than FA and are giving advice they've been trained to believe is...good advice.

And check that they have completed certification, like a Certified Financial Planner. It means nothing if they made their own title up.

I'd never rely solely on financial advice from a planner without training and who wants you to invest only in plans that benefit them or their company.

 

[jrf30]

"I’m the only one on Craigslist here for ten years that has sold under spot. Everyone else selling asks 30-50% over. I’ve never seen any reasonable ads."

I guess out there you are the one I would be buying from then. :-)

Here, it is the same way. Most are high. Some though are like you, and when those people hit, I latch on. i buy from them, get them my information, and buy from them again when they have more they wish to sell. So it is tough at times, but yes, there are good people like you in every state, albeit rare, and they show up form time to time on CL. That's the ones I buy from. :-)

 

[jrf30]

"I might have enough to retire on...."

that's why i don't count on my silver to retire on.

I put away a bunch of BEANIE BABIES. that is my retirement right there, baby.

LOLOLOL. Okay, so I had to write it. :-)

 

[jrf30]

"Use a fee only financial adviser. "

I won't get into it, but I say I disagree with this entirely. there is no such thing as an absolute answer. I also find those fee only guys to do so in order ot be the good guy when the investments don't perform. You can fire the manager they hired instead of firing them.

Personal experience. Sometimes you find good ones out there that are not fee only.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Apmex and those big dealers are good to buy from and I've had great service.
I love to collect old constitutional silver and it's probably half my stack. Some of that I will keep but the rest is bars and rounds I could easily part with.
Avoid 40 percent kennedys and 35 percent war nickels cuz no one wants them and they dont pay much when they do. 90 percent is good stuff.
Dont hesitate to sell some metals if you can take a good profit. It's easy to get attached and have favorites (and that's fine) but have some that you keep just for selling when the time is right. Gotta be willing to take profits.

We tend to whittle away cash we have sitting around so I try to put anything extra away in my stack in metals. It can sit there for when I do need it. It's enough work to sell that I end up being more patient and by the time its payday I'm glad I saved it. Otherwise it gets spent.
Never had buyers remorse when I bought metals.
My plan is to convert silver to gold when the ratio closes.

 

[Megalodon]

Silver coins although I’m a fan, are not good investments. Well, Im watching my 401K which is up sometimes several grand a week...anyways, I’ve been in the silver game for over 40 years. I’ve bought and sold at times, but don’t consider a stack a money maker, a couple bucks up and down aren’t a concern to me. My stuff will be passed on to family, my plan.

Tommy nothing wrong with holding a little bit of everything.

Best answer so far.

Although I have some silver, I don't consider it to be an investment. It is speculation. Diversify. Buy stock mutual funds in and out of IRAS and 401K if your company has one. Your first priority should be to reach any company match. Open a low fee brokerage account and a money market with a sweep account and buy some quality dividend stocks on dips from that sweep account. Add some cds. My credit union has 1 year cds for 2.25%, federally insured and you can build a ladder of cds for cash investing.

 

[Megalodon]

"Use a fee only financial adviser. "

I won't get into it, but I say I disagree with this entirely. there is no such thing as an absolute answer. I also find those fee only guys to do so in order ot be the good guy when the investments don't perform. You can fire the manager they hired instead of firing them.
Personal experience. Sometimes you find good ones out there that are not fee only.

IMO, it is up to each one of us to educate ourselves about investing. I started a coin wholesale business when I was 10 from CRH in the mid-1960's. At night, I would ride my bike miles through the city to deliver coins to coin dealers. Usually, I made only a few dollars a day, but I saved it up. Once I had enough for a minimum purchase, I opened my first stock mutual fund - a no-load blue chip growth fund - on my own with no need for any "financial advisor". My parents, who grew up in the Great Depression, were furious, but I was right and they were wrong. I took advantage of market corrections - mostly in late 1987. I diversified and compared my investment results to our state pension fund annual returns. From 1981 through 2018, the state outperformed me in only 3 years - 2000, 2001 and 2002 - the years of the tech crash when I took a huge hit, but harvested my losses and eventually got it back and more.

I argued for years with folks who think only the wealthy can invest. The reverse is the truth. The wealthy can afford to be careless. Those of us making a pittance working are the ones who have to learn and have the discipline to really invest long term. For decades, I lived so far below my means and below what most people are willing to do (no vacations, no restaurants, etc). I invested my entire paycheck and we lived on my wife's pay which was not much. Retired now, my investments return far more every month than I ever earned working for others.

There are no short-cuts or secrets. It is easier now to do the research than it ever was. Before the internet, it was hard to do the research that is easy today.

 

[junior_propector_123]

Try running some ads on craigslist buying at or a tad below melt for these bars. You will eventually get a hit

 

[NHBandit]

I have bought from Provident Metals in the past and had good results. https://www.providentmetals.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr7rq2vvX5AIVqBitBh0TTAONEAAYASAAEgK5RPD_BwE

 

[Omega]

My credit union has 1 year cds for 2.25%, federally insured and you can build a ladder of cds for cash investing.

My credit union has 1 year cds for 2.25%, federally insured and you can build a ladder of cds for cash investing.

Just remember that if you decide to go with something like this, you actually end up loosing "wealth" or "purchasing power" year to year once you account for inflation at a rate of 3-3.5% annually. Not the easiest thing to explain, but let me try:

Say you have $100,000, and a can of soda costs $1.000. Today, you'd be able to buy 100,000 cans of soda. Now if you invested that money into a CD at 2.25% annually for one year, and came back a year later, you'd then have $102,250. If you account for inflation at 3.5% annually, that $1.00 soda now costs you $1.035. So at one year later, you are only able to buy 98,792 sodas. So even though you have more money, you actually have less wealth and purchasing power.

This is why I always strongly advise people I converse with to seek other investment opportunities vs these pathetically low ROI's like 2.25% bonds/ CDs. Of course at the end of the day, the CD is a better investment than just letting your money sit in a bank. If you did that, at the end of the year you'd only be able to buy 97,087 soda.

Now if you took that $100,000 and invested in something at 8-10% range, you would end the following year with $110,000 and be able to buy 106,796 sodas. There are a lot of opportunities like this out there, you just have to seek them out and try to find them. And if we ever hit a point where we get into a hyper inflationary period, and having a government backed CD, where the government will actually need to pay you back, it will cause endless headaches and procedures to actually get your money back, and at the end of the day you'll just get more printed worthless fiat money from the government anyways. The FDIC only insures people for $250,000. If SHTF and all the big banks went under, how do you expect the government to actually pay back 93% of Americans who have some type of holdings in these large banks? It's kind of an unrealistic expectation to hold the FDIC/ government responsible for this. In the end I think they would end up having to print more money to pay everyone back, just devaluing the dollar even more.

We are entering into a very new era here in modern history with extremely low interest rates, with the possibility of zero/ negative interest rates in the near future. While I can see the argument for negative interest rates, I think the harm would exceed the good drastically. Huge bubbles, riots, increased crime, money moving offshore, bank withdraw limits for your own cash, etc. Its going to be interesting to see how Denmark, Switzerland, and Japan economies look after 5/10 years of implying negative interest rates.

Just my 2c. Take it as you will.

 

[Owassokie]

"Use a fee only financial adviser. "

I won't get into it, but I say I disagree with this entirely. there is no such thing as an absolute answer. I also find those fee only guys to do so in order ot be the good guy when the investments don't perform. You can fire the manager they hired instead of firing them.

Personal experience. Sometimes you find good ones out there that are not fee only.

I try not to talk in absolutes all the time but I feel strongly enough about this subject that I'm not going to stick with it.

I'm not sure what you mean about "fire the manager they hired". Fee only guys simply advise and administrate based on performance, fund fees, balance, and goals of the customer. They don't have managers....that's the point. They have no reason to give bad advice.

You are correct. It is possible to find a commission based financial adviser that is good but remember this: The best advice for YOUR finances will DIRECTLY result in a commission based financial advisor making less money....period. This is fact. In other words, they directly, and usually immediately benefit from selling you poor financial instruments. So the individual would need to be of extremely high character and knowledge. A willingness to make less money to give honest, good advice.

So if you have a FA and you're happy with him...that's great. For everyone else, I recommend going to NAPFA.org to find a fee only financial advisor near you.

OO

 

[Owassokie]

And check that they have completed certification, like a Certified Financial Planner. It means nothing if they made their own title up.

I'd never rely solely on financial advice from a planner without training and who wants you to invest only in plans that benefit them or their company.

Yes Glen. I completely agree. This is why I recommend people search NAPFA.org for a financial advisor.

 

[Megalodon]

Just remember that if you decide to go with something like this, you actually end up loosing "wealth" or "purchasing power" year to year once you account for inflation at a rate of 3-3.5% annually. Not the easiest thing to explain, but let me try:

Say you have $100,000, and a can of soda costs $1.000. Today, you'd be able to buy 100,000 cans of soda. Now if you invested that money into a CD at 2.25% annually for one year, and came back a year later, you'd then have $102,250. If you account for inflation at 3.5% annually, that $1.00 soda now costs you $1.035. So at one year later, you are only able to buy 98,792 sodas. So even though you have more money, you actually have less wealth and purchasing power.

This is why I always strongly advise people I converse with to seek other investment opportunities vs these pathetically low ROI's like 2.25% bonds/ CDs. Of course at the end of the day, the CD is a better investment than just letting your money sit in a bank. If you did that, at the end of the year you'd only be able to buy 97,087 soda.

Now if you took that $100,000 and invested in something at 8-10% range, you would end the following year with $110,000 and be able to buy 106,796 sodas. There are a lot of opportunities like this out there, you just have to seek them out and try to find them. And if we ever hit a point where we get into a hyper inflationary period, and having a government backed CD, where the government will actually need to pay you back, it will cause endless headaches and procedures to actually get your money back, and at the end of the day you'll just get more printed worthless fiat money from the government anyways. The FDIC only insures people for $250,000. If SHTF and all the big banks went under, how do you expect the government to actually pay back 93% of Americans who have some type of holdings in these large banks? It's kind of an unrealistic expectation to hold the FDIC/ government responsible for this. In the end I think they would end up having to print more money to pay everyone back, just devaluing the dollar even more.

We are entering into a very new era here in modern history with extremely low interest rates, with the possibility of zero/ negative interest rates in the near future. While I can see the argument for negative interest rates, I think the harm would exceed the good drastically. Huge bubbles, riots, increased crime, money moving offshore, bank withdraw limits for your own cash, etc. Its going to be interesting to see how Denmark, Switzerland, and Japan economies look after 5/10 years of implying negative interest rates.

Just my 2c. Take it as you will.

Having done this for more than half a century, I'm well aware of how inflation works. I saw it the most in the 1980's. My point was and still is, to diversify. I have learned this lesson the hard way myself. With years of returns over 30% (and up to 70% annually), in a no-load science and tech stock mutual fund - which was diversified within its sector but not among all sectors, I rode over 10K shares from a high of $78/share in March of 2000 to $7/share in late 2002 during the tech market crash. That one fund alone decreased in value by over 3/4M. It took a long time to harvest the losses to offset capital gains from other investments and income, especially with the limit of 3K offset of ordinary income...

CD's are federally insured and one will not lose money. All investment portfolios should have some cash holdings, with the amount depending upon one's individual circumstances. You are correct that rates will be cut again, so I will be buying more CD's now, and probably selling some stock investments that are far too risky for someone my age. Nobody would recommend a retired person in his 60's to be invested 99% in aggressive stock mutual funds and individual stocks. I don't need a financial advisor to tell me this, just the inertia to stop doing fun things for a few days to re-arrange a complex portfolio. I will continue to sell investments with an eye toward minimizing capital gains and putting the cash in cash investments like CD's and treasury money market funds.

I'm far more concerned about the long-term consequences of politically driven massive deficits that will harm our children and grandchildren than I am about FDIC, of all things. And the only reason why anyone in the US is trying to lower interest rates by political interference with the fed is corruption in an attempt to lower his own adjustable rate loans by about $300M.