Your gold advisory is well done, and better late than never. I had a few thoughts while reading that might be helpful to others. First, Jim Rickards advises against keeping gold in a safe deposit box. I think he’s concerned about government confiscation if things get really bad (and it’s happened before). Also, he has commented on holding paper gold and says that the “fine print” in some contracts says that in times of stress, you might not get gold, only fiat, which defeats the purpose of owning gold through contracts. There was an interesting Substack article today that addresses some of the Comex (and London) concerns that are starting to brew:
The second thing I’d like to add is about buying online. I usually use a dealer out in Southern California named Liberty Coin. I’ve purchased at their store and through their eBay store front. Their prices are pretty good (i.e. reasonable premiums, free shipping). The interesting thing I’ve noticed is that there is an extra charge to use a credit card at the store, but not online, and the coin prices appear to be the same. So, if you’ve got a card that gives 1 or 2% cash back, there’s a part of your premium (approx $60) if you buy online.
The down side to buying online, and especially through eBay, is that you’re leaving an electronic trail that will likely never go away. If the government were so inclined, gold purchased this way would be easy to track, as opposed to being purchased for cash at the store. Additionally, I worry that a crook hacking eBay’s purchase histories would know who would likely have gold on hand if they were looking to plan a profitable home invasion robbery. And, in case of said robbery, it might be a good idea to not have all the gold in one place. Perhaps enough in the safe to placate a robber, and the rest buried in the back yard, so to speak. Just some things I’ve given thought to over the years; hope someone finds them useful.
Something that might have been left out was mention of sales tax on bullion sales. Taxes vary greatly by state, from none to full rate. Google it for your state.
This is a big subject. I think it is worth expanding to discuss the various investment vehicles available and the tax aspects of each (PFICs, QEFs, collectible vs capital gain), as well as trading correlations. (PHYS, PSLV vs. GLD and SLV). The relationship between miners and they trade relative to the metal is another aspect. Another is bookkeeping, by which I mean keeping track of what you have - GoldFolio or other apps (or just spreadsheets). There are different trading strategies to discuss - gold/silver 80/50 ratio for example - I’m sure there are others. Happy to help but don’t want to reinvent the wheel if this is already out there.
Very nice summary of precious metals investing. Only thing I can think of adding would be a bit about precious metal streaming in the section about securities investing. Streamers pay dividends and seem to be a bit safer than miners but still have the multiplier effect.
I have had good luck using Doug Eberhardt at https://buygoldandsilversafely.com/ to purchase gold coins and junk silver. He has written several books on precious metal investing and his prices are quite reasonable.
For vaulted gold and silver I have used a British outfit called BullionVault. They store metals in many different locations, including London, Zurich, Singapore, Toronto, and New York. I have most of mine stored overseas although lately I’ve been wondering if that is the best idea. I set up a self-directed IRA (which I later converted to a Roth IRA so all the gains would be tax-free) to hold the precious metals account to make tax issues easier and so I didn’t need to tie up after-tax funds that I might need for day to day spending in a holding that (hopefully) I’ll never have a reason to touch.
This is great education for those who have never purchased gold or silver. The only thing I can think to add would maybe be royalty companies like FNV or RGLD. Don’t know if you want to mention that Costco is now selling gold and silver bars. Thank you for all that you do
Great info Adam. Thank you. I wrote to you a while ago asking for your opinion on pax gold. The company paxos.com offers this digital coin as a way to invest digitally in gold. They assure that they keep the physical and that they are audited by an independent company. Could this be another alternative of investing in gold ? Could you please look into it ? Regards and thanks in advance. Ricardo
major concern of holding physical metal yourself or w/ 'reputable dealer' is A. how do you know what you bought is real gold/silver? How does your eventual seller know that? Verification costs are a problem. Heck Rickards talks about in his book, The Road to Ruin how even the Chinese gov got sold diluted bullion for a while. Now, when they buy, they have the bullion shipped straight to Swiss refiners to be melted down to higher purity and thus also checked for claimed purity
Your gold advisory is well done, and better late than never. I had a few thoughts while reading that might be helpful to others. First, Jim Rickards advises against keeping gold in a safe deposit box. I think he’s concerned about government confiscation if things get really bad (and it’s happened before). Also, he has commented on holding paper gold and says that the “fine print” in some contracts says that in times of stress, you might not get gold, only fiat, which defeats the purpose of owning gold through contracts. There was an interesting Substack article today that addresses some of the Comex (and London) concerns that are starting to brew:
https://open.substack.com/pub/bagholder/p/gold-market-update?r=16pjh&utm_medium=ios
The second thing I’d like to add is about buying online. I usually use a dealer out in Southern California named Liberty Coin. I’ve purchased at their store and through their eBay store front. Their prices are pretty good (i.e. reasonable premiums, free shipping). The interesting thing I’ve noticed is that there is an extra charge to use a credit card at the store, but not online, and the coin prices appear to be the same. So, if you’ve got a card that gives 1 or 2% cash back, there’s a part of your premium (approx $60) if you buy online.
The down side to buying online, and especially through eBay, is that you’re leaving an electronic trail that will likely never go away. If the government were so inclined, gold purchased this way would be easy to track, as opposed to being purchased for cash at the store. Additionally, I worry that a crook hacking eBay’s purchase histories would know who would likely have gold on hand if they were looking to plan a profitable home invasion robbery. And, in case of said robbery, it might be a good idea to not have all the gold in one place. Perhaps enough in the safe to placate a robber, and the rest buried in the back yard, so to speak. Just some things I’ve given thought to over the years; hope someone finds them useful.
Something that might have been left out was mention of sales tax on bullion sales. Taxes vary greatly by state, from none to full rate. Google it for your state.
Prudent advice; thanks.
This is a big subject. I think it is worth expanding to discuss the various investment vehicles available and the tax aspects of each (PFICs, QEFs, collectible vs capital gain), as well as trading correlations. (PHYS, PSLV vs. GLD and SLV). The relationship between miners and they trade relative to the metal is another aspect. Another is bookkeeping, by which I mean keeping track of what you have - GoldFolio or other apps (or just spreadsheets). There are different trading strategies to discuss - gold/silver 80/50 ratio for example - I’m sure there are others. Happy to help but don’t want to reinvent the wheel if this is already out there.
Clear concise and informative on precious metals and the why and how to own them.
Very nice summary of precious metals investing. Only thing I can think of adding would be a bit about precious metal streaming in the section about securities investing. Streamers pay dividends and seem to be a bit safer than miners but still have the multiplier effect.
I have had good luck using Doug Eberhardt at https://buygoldandsilversafely.com/ to purchase gold coins and junk silver. He has written several books on precious metal investing and his prices are quite reasonable.
For vaulted gold and silver I have used a British outfit called BullionVault. They store metals in many different locations, including London, Zurich, Singapore, Toronto, and New York. I have most of mine stored overseas although lately I’ve been wondering if that is the best idea. I set up a self-directed IRA (which I later converted to a Roth IRA so all the gains would be tax-free) to hold the precious metals account to make tax issues easier and so I didn’t need to tie up after-tax funds that I might need for day to day spending in a holding that (hopefully) I’ll never have a reason to touch.
This is great education for those who have never purchased gold or silver. The only thing I can think to add would maybe be royalty companies like FNV or RGLD. Don’t know if you want to mention that Costco is now selling gold and silver bars. Thank you for all that you do
Very comprehensive! Well done!
Great info Adam. Thank you. I wrote to you a while ago asking for your opinion on pax gold. The company paxos.com offers this digital coin as a way to invest digitally in gold. They assure that they keep the physical and that they are audited by an independent company. Could this be another alternative of investing in gold ? Could you please look into it ? Regards and thanks in advance. Ricardo
major concern of holding physical metal yourself or w/ 'reputable dealer' is A. how do you know what you bought is real gold/silver? How does your eventual seller know that? Verification costs are a problem. Heck Rickards talks about in his book, The Road to Ruin how even the Chinese gov got sold diluted bullion for a while. Now, when they buy, they have the bullion shipped straight to Swiss refiners to be melted down to higher purity and thus also checked for claimed purity