New from UK/London - Let it Begin!

[KibbleWatches]

Good Afternoon All!

My name is James and I am from the UK, just outside of London (Moving into London in the next few months!) - I am a Watch Dealer and have been dealing for over a year now and work in the Jewellery & Watch Industry as my day time job. So I am quite used to the collecting mindset, assessing value of items and watching how the market plays and reacts to things. But my reason for starting with Silver is completely different to my buying and selling of watches and even my collecting of watches.

For the past 2 years I've been doing my best to create some long term investments and have failed miserably, for short term investments and playing the speculation game I am already doing that with the watches. But for long term there aren't many watches I would want sitting in the safe for 20+ years so I can take out and sell, many factors for that beyond just value, service the watch in that time period and many other factors come to mind. So I've tried multiple different things, like just letting money sit in an account which is the worst for multiple factors, plus if the cash is there I like to spend it lol. So I started doing some research about 2 weeks ago and came across Silver & Gold Bullion, it made immediate sense to me and I found myself looking at how the market has changed for both and also Palladium and Platinum etc... Being in the Jewellery industry I already was aware of the value in precious metals and also knew about Bullion, but never looked into it as a form of investment for myself.

So about a week of reading and watching videos went by and I decided I would begin very small! I am not rich, heck I'm 20 and investing the majority of my money back into stock for my business so I am left with very little at the end of each month. So for me starting with Silver made the most sense and buying coins, when I read they are free from Capital Gains TAX I was immediately going to stick to coins lol. I purchased only 2 coins to begin with from Gold.co.uk, a 1oz 2018 Silver Britannia and a 1oz 2018 Silver Maple, I plan on buying 5 Silver Coins in one go next and I am currently looking all around on where is the best place to do so and how to get the best value, hence why I have made this account and plan to search these forums! (If you love talking Silver and would like to save me some time by either pointing me in the right direction or would like to talk me through it please do so!)

My plan is to invest in Silver 1oz Coins until I have enough to sell them all and replace them with a 1oz Gold Coin, from what I can see Gold is definitely king and for the LONG term makes the most sense. Would love to know what you think of this plan?

Thank you all very much for your time and reading! Look forward to meeting some of you and I have no doubt I'll probably meet some of you in London at some point during this long journey of buying Silver & Gold!

Kind Regards,

James

[MickD]

Hi James, welcome from Edinburgh.

[BackyardBullion]

@KibbleWatches Welcome to the forum!

If you are buying silver with the intention of trading them up for gold in time - be warned that silver carries heavy premiums over gold. 

Unless you buy from a european dealer VAT free you will be lucky to be paying less than £20 per oz of silver. Huge premium which will not easily translate to cash to buy that gold.

Good luck though!
 

[KibbleWatches]

Just now, BackyardBullion said:

@KibbleWatches Welcome to the forum!

If you are buying silver with the intention of trading them up for gold in time - be warned that silver carries heavy premiums over gold. 

Unless you buy from a european dealer VAT free you will be lucky to be paying less than £20 per oz of silver. Huge premium which will not easily translate to cash to buy that gold.

 Good luck though!
 

 

What are the chances? Watching your video right now! Thank you for your reply.

That is definitely one thing I noticed when purchasing Silver, the premiums are horrendous. Now my question to that point you make is will that not be something that will equal itself out over time? If I was to trade up to Gold using Silver and have paid that premium in doing so, with the growth that Gold should make in the 20/30 years before I sell it? Now I understand it would make a LOT more sense to go straight into buying gold, but my funds won't stretch that far right now and I am know how terrible I am at saving, so for me to invest what I have when I have it into Silver is far better right now. Would you therefore recommend I just stick to Silver and when my financial situation can support buying gold straight out without trading in the Silver I should then do so?

Thank you in advance!

- James

[KibbleWatches]

19 minutes ago, MickD said:

Hi James, welcome from Edinburgh.

Hi!

Thank you very much. Love Edinburgh! Been a few times for work... I say it every time but the more north you go the nicer people become lol.

- James

[BackyardBullion]

@KibbleWatches 

The problem is - you are buying silver from gold.co.uk and are paying 20% VAT

Join my group order and you can pick up 1 oz coins for about £14.75 each delivered. 

 

[BackyardBullion]

@KibbleWatches 

The premiums on silver are to some extend held - but really only by selling via eBay and often you will lose money based on the prices you are probably paying right now (unless a significant hike in metal prices). 

The problem is, if you need to liquidate the silver value any time you will need to take a lot of time to do it - you will have to wait and find a buyer at the premium price. You would even struggle to sell 1 oz silver coins on this forum at £16 - £18 per oz as a new member. 

So - mitigate this exposure as best as possible by getting cheap silver elsewhere. Be a premium member on this forum, great trades come up all the time for £14/oz or £15/oz silver (sometimes even cheaper!) or, buy from Europe with my group buys. 

Or

Just buy small denomination gold. You can pick up spot +3% sovereigns from Hatton Garden Metals or 2% second hand gold off Atkinsonsbullion sometimes. 

[HelpingHands]

Welcome.  You may be better buying small gold coins  eg.   Sovs / Half-Sovs

 

Edit:  Beaten to the click by BYB above

[KibbleWatches]

7 minutes ago, BackyardBullion said:

@KibbleWatches 

The premiums on silver are to some extend held - but really only by selling via eBay and often you will lose money based on the prices you are probably paying right now (unless a significant hike in metal prices). 

 The problem is, if you need to liquidate the silver value any time you will need to take a lot of time to do it - you will have to wait and find a buyer at the premium price. You would even struggle to sell 1 oz silver coins on this forum at £16 - £18 per oz as a new member. 

So - mitigate this exposure as best as possible by getting cheap silver elsewhere. Be a premium member on this forum, great trades come up all the time for £14/oz or £15/oz silver (sometimes even cheaper!) or, buy from Europe with my group buys. 

Or

Just buy small denomination gold. You can pick up spot +3% sovereigns from Hatton Garden Metals or 2% second hand gold off Atkinsonsbullion sometimes. 

Thank you for the great advise! In terms of liquidating I have found that a lot of my watch clients also invest in Silver & Gold, it could be something I sell through my site alongside the watches when/if the time ever came to sell.

Will definitely take a look at becoming a premium member, the prices you mentioned sound very appealing lol.

I've had a few people mention the Sovereigns to me, will take a look into those and decide whether to move my efforts over to them.

[KibbleWatches]

10 minutes ago, HelpingHands said:

Welcome.  You may be better buying small gold coins  eg.   Sovs / Half-Sovs

 

Edit:  Beaten to the click by BYB above

Thank you! I've had a few people mentioned these to me as a potential better investment, a few people I know solely buy Sovereigns. Time to do some more reading and research lol!

[vand]

I would say Don't stack silver with the intention of swapping it for gold. You may of course do so if relative prices adjust and a good opportunity presents itself, but you should be happy to stack silver for what it is. A good PM stacker should (IMHO) largely remain metal agnostic. We all think silver very undervalued right now compared to even gold, but there is no reason why it won't stay so for a long time yet, and you should be happy to hold silver for itself rather than just seeing it as a placeholder for gold.

[Stu]

18 minutes ago, vand said:

I would say Don't stack silver with the intention of swapping it for gold. You may of course do so if relative prices adjust and a good opportunity presents itself, but you should be happy to stack silver for what it is. A good PM stacker should (IMHO) largely remain metal agnostic. We all think silver very undervalued right now compared to even gold, but there is no reason why it won't stay so for a long time yet, and you should be happy to hold silver for itself rather than just seeing it as a placeholder for gold.

Don't mention the Gnostics on this site mate, ag or other wise, you won't believe where it could take you?

[Stu]

Welcome to the forum mate

[caloundracats]

Welcome to the forum with friendly helpful people to help you on your journey.

[HawkHybrid]

2 hours ago, KibbleWatches said:

when I read they are free from Capital Gains TAX I was immediately going to stick to coins

 

only recognised and £ denominated coins are cgt free in the uk.

eg sovereigns and coins with a £(pound) printed on them.

(not the maple)

 

welcome

 

HH

[SILVERFINGER]

Welcome to the forum, I love watches from the lower end of the spectrum, Casio G-Shock and Casio Edifice, I often thought about collecting them but you have to keep them running and you can only wear one at a time so I didnt bother in the end.

 

[KDave]

Buy smaller denominations, half sovereigns, sovereigns, low premium bullion. You can always swap these for a 1oz coin later. Or save up and buy, be spartan in your discipline and reap the rewards. 

Don't bother buying silver to swap into gold due to difference in spread. A bullion gold fractional will be near spot to 3% over gold price. A silver ounce will be 15-20% over spot even buying from Europe. On an ounce of gold, you can see how expensive you are making it when you look at it in terms of % additional cost. 

People will say buy and sell silver. Of course you can trade silver coins and make profit, buy and sell, get your money back, maybe this is the way to go if you have the time and inclination, but if mechanically basing it on 'when I have enough silver I will trade into gold', then no, as per above.

Hope that helps.

Welcome to the forum. 

[Roy]

Agreed, It is the voice of experience.

Nothing wrong with silver but you'll be better off starting with gold. It's easy to buy/handle/sell.

[BleyerBullion]

Welcome to the forum @KibbleWatches - as you have already discovered, it is a great place for advice! ?

[Agpanda]

Hi James, welcome to the forum from Sweden

[CoinCrazyGuru]

Welcome to the forum. From a new member of the United States.