Posted: 12/7/2007 9:28:08 AM EDT
| In the spirit of being prepared, I'm considering dumping a large amount of money into silver. I'm curious as to how easy it would be to cash out of a silver market if I needed to. Is silver a pretty liquid asset? |
As long as we have the internet silver is very liquid. You can get spot price for bullion or coinage on ebay and sell in small lots or bulk. In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, silver would be difficult to value. One vendor might give a high premium for silver coinage (Morgan, Peace dollars) another might give face value. In a rebuilding of society silver will be the preferred coinage (500 million Morgan dollars were minted although only a fraction are held by citizens). In my opinion, Silver bullion is worthless without the net. |
Don't hold me to this, bit I am pretty sure silver (and gold) were worth something before Al Gore invneted the internet. I'll go check to make sure I'm right... |
Man you gave me a setup, but I'll only take it to the gutter so I'll try and stay on topic. Joe Citizen knows that silver and gold have value. Everybody knows that it's worth something. A limited amount of people know the dollar to oz price. In the sense that it's valuable, it's liquid. -JTP |
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The problem with gold, silver, diamonds etc...is yes, they are liquid, but you will NEVER get face value for them. If gold is trading at $800 per ounce, try and take a 1oz. gold bar somewhere and get that money for it. Same is to be said for silver, platinum, diamond or any other commodity. For us chumps, the best we can do (outside a SHTF scenario) is try and get the best deal from the local jeweler or pawn broker. But at best they may give 25% of its actual value. With that in mind, it isn't that liquid, nor is it that great of an investment. |
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I have some insight on this. Yesterday I bought a roll of 'scruffy' Silver Eagles. I paid spot +.50ea. I went in looking for 90%, but they were sold out. I've been buying here for years and this has never happened. Should I be scared? Anyway, while I was there I asked what they buy 90% for. They said $8-9 x face. It sells for a tad over $11 x face right now. To me this makes silver extrememly liquid. Maybe not profitable, but I can always get cash instantly. The internet often guarantees you can get at least spot. |
 Bull... Last year I turned some in to a metals dealer who paid cash on the spot. Spot price. Didn't even have to haggle with him to give me a fair shake. Every city has coin/metals dealers who are always buying - spot price most times. Most smaller towns have them too. The net only adds convenience and you can get more exposure to buyers/sellers (like eBay). |
| I live 60 miles south of Chicago. I have been buying, junk and bullion for the last couple of years. You can tell that more people, are investing in gold and silver, just by seeing how fast they are selling it. The average price around here for silver is 10x face for junk and most of the bullion is at spot or spot + $.25. All I know is, I would rather be stuck with, gold and silver, then the green back during a shtf event. |
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The interwebz helps connect buyers and sellers, making silver more commodotized. However, there would still be buyers / sellers / traders as it would be a pretty acceptable currency after the fact. Why? Because you can take it and turn it back into whatever currency gets established when things settle down. |
| If you want to keep your silver investment on the more liquid side, you should buy bullion silver coins. The US mints has them, they will charge you a preimium for the coinage, but you will always know that you have so many ounces of real silver. Sometimes bullion coins will also have numistic value, ie a collectible, which will add even more value. The PRC gold Panda coins are an example. |
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+1 on bullion coins Most coin shops also deal in silver/gold to some extent anyway, esp with bullion coinage, that's generally where I have bought mine. There will always be liquidity in metals. Whether or not it's a good investment is dependent on other factors but IMO it's good to have some $$ in precious metals, esp gold & silver. J |
are you talking post SHTF or now? now I get whatever the spot price is. after I think I will get what ever my negotiating skills will bring me. and I won't be selling my gold to the local supermarket for food. I will be selling it to people who have lots of money and know what the value of my gold is. even in the great depression, there were still people with lots of money. unemployment was only around 30%, so the rich were still rich. |
Try buying low and selling high and you'll get more than you paid for them back. Beyond that dealers charge a small spread which is how they pay their rent and bills. If you dont like their spread then do a private sale. Silver and Gold are extremely liquid. I could walk into any of my dealers in town and they would buy every piece I had to sell right now. I asked my dealer last time if he'd buy a certain gold coin on my last visit and he told me he'd buy 100 of them. Dont be a chump. |
just a thought....how would owning this benefit you if you were unable to call/make contact your broker in New York? In that since, this route is less liquid than the coin route. |
SLV is the most pragmatic and cost effective way to own significant amounts of silver. i own more oz. of pure silver in having a $15K position in SLV vs. pretty etched hard coin if you're the ammo and food hoarding survivalist who is waiting for the sky to fall and does not believe in the finanical system anyway (read not active in IRAs and 401ks or investing in general), there is nothing i can say to make you think otherwise. edit to add: to answer your question: your implied SHTF scenario and urgency to covert to cash is only a very remote possibility. see last paragraph. |
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sooo, ownership to you is defined only as physical possession? |
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