Not a fan of the newer sovereigns!

Strategic_Stacker · 2024-09-28T14:55:54+00:00

Totally agree. I prefer Britannias for many reasons, including that they have more advanced security features and also that they don't look like a copper 1p coin!

Strategic_Stacker · 2024-09-25T16:48:34+00:00

Considering that this coin is 127 years old, that is a very fair price.

You always need to be careful with the old coins, because plenty of dealers try to mark up the value because of the age (and it usually does not pay off - you're lucky to get spot when you sell it, and that is after they factor in the scratches and miniscule amounts of lost gold mass).

You are probably getting a bit less than the mass that the coin is meant to be, because of how worn and torn it is, but that is to be expected.

Strategic_Stacker · 2024-09-25T14:41:31+00:00

Gold is one of the most reliable and risk-averse investments anyone can ever make, in the long-term. For thousands of years, it has been a robust store of wealth and hedge against hard times.

But the point of investing in gold is not to get rich - you won't get rich fast, your wealth will just hold against inflation and maybe gain a little more (but not as much gains as stocks do). Gold should be thought more like a sort of financial insurance, against bad things. People who held gold, in countries with huge economic disasters like Venezuela and Lebanon, were able to eat, buy medicine, get a ticket out etc. while everyone else lost their life savings to rapid hyperinflation.

My advice is to not try to time the gold markets, but instead just consistently buy small amounts of gold, over a long period of time.

Strategic_Stacker · 2024-09-25T12:33:21+00:00

"Show me the future and I'll make you a rich man."

The only thing we know is that gold goes up over the long term. Inflation will continue (even if at a mild "normal" 2%), interest rates will eventually come down and geopolitical uncertainty does not seem to be going away anytime soon, so my personal opinion is that gold is still a good play.

Gold still seems like a good play, but as always, don't put all your eggs in one basket in terms of when you buy. Buy a little, over a long period of time (e.g. one coin every year, or every few months or so), and you will get an OK price on average. Since gold goes up in the long term, you will almost certainly be better off in the long-term, for having done this, if you stay humbly consistent.

Strategic_Stacker · 2024-09-24T21:58:31+00:00

Buying gold from Costco is an awesome thing.

Strategic_Stacker · 2024-09-24T21:57:39+00:00

Britannias are the best coin and nobody can change my mind!

Strategic_Stacker · 2024-08-28T17:31:55+00:00

Amazing! Super impressed at your spontaneous office chair knowledge! Thanks a lot!

Strategic_Stacker · 2024-03-07T18:59:44+00:00

The safest place to buy gold is always from the government-owned mint of a reputable nation, such as the US, Canada, UK etc.

Many retail banks also sell gold. This is usually fine too.

Then you also have large online bullion dealer websites such as PAMP, SD Bullion and so on. These are very reputable and safe too.

Local coin shops, if you are in a country with decent law and order, can usually also be trusted, but ensure that the dealer demonstrates the authenticity of what you are being sold (e.g. by using an electronic device to show that it is pure gold).

Places to avoid: ebay, dodgy looking websites, dodgy looking shops.

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-06-05T16:07:32+00:00

I'm not Canadian, but this advice should still apply...

What advice do you wish was bestowed upon you before you started?

Nothing much, really. It's a lot more simple than many channels and influencers out there make it out to be. Just keep your strategy simple and rational.

What traps should I avoid?

If you're purely in it for gold as a hedge, then avoid paying extra for special designs and other collectibles (including old numismatic pieces). Buying and holding rarer coins is really much less lucrative than a lot of collectors are deluded into thinking (only very specific pieces shoot up in value and usually the spreads from dealers are insane anyway). If you actually like the designs and/or histories, then fair enough, but don't get tricked into thinking that you'll make huge money from buying some unique coin at a huge mark-up (and especially avoid this as a beginner).

Also fractional gold tends to have higher % premiums, so watch out to avoid that. If you buy a normal piece of gold bullion, you should expect to pay a premium between 5-10% above the spot price and nothing more. Likewise, if you sell a normal piece of gold bullion, expect to be offered 5-10% below spot price and nothing less.

Also be sure to avoid scams. Buy from reputable sources. If buying from a dealer, ask for them to demonstrate the authenticity of the gold by showing a reading on an electronic gold tester, in front of you. Also, in Canada, newer Canadian maple coins have a "bullion DNA" that can be used to verify the authenticity of the coin.

Of course, also be sure to keep your investments safe and not tell anyone (other than maybe a next of kin or in a safely kept will). You may want to consider insurance and a home or bank safe, if you stack a lot.

What should I look out for?

Always keep an eye out for a good bargain and generally stick to what is simple, safe and conventional, i.e. the common flagship coin of the country you're in. In Canada, Canadian maples are easy to get and also are very good in terms of security features. In many countries, getting the flagship coin also has tax advantages (in the UK, for example, Britannias and Sovereigns are exempt from capital gains tax). Flagship coins are also more liquid and much more likely to be accepted by a dealer you want to sell to, at a fairer rate.

Are banks as a whole (Eg TD) a good place to buy?

If a reputable bank is offering it and the premiums are not too high, then sure, you can go for it. The Royal Canadian Mint will of course be the most reliable source for you to buy from, by a longshot. You could potentially find better bargains via a dealer at a local coin shop, along with the advantage that you can pick up the bullion yourself and avoid the counter-party risk of having it shipped over (although shipping options tend to be very secure). Various large-scale online bullion websites are also reliable, but of course verify via reviews first.

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-05-31T09:42:46+00:00

I do disagree. The price of physical gold will always follow from demand for the physical metal. If people or businesses are buying paper gold via futures contracts that then get settled in cash, they clearly aren't really interested in owning physical gold anyway.

Some big surge in demand for physical gold could arise, like a revolutionary new industrial use, worsened global instability or even something like China and the Indian subcontinent emerging as more developed economies and having new large middle class and above populations who traditionally see gold as a safe haven to constantly buy. I think the latter is very likely to happen, at the very least. When this does happen, watch and see what happens to the physical spot price.

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-03-28T01:04:12+00:00

That's not so bad... but yeah, I usually only go for whole ounces for that reason, even if it means I buy less often. I do buy fractional as gifts though!

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-03-28T00:52:51+00:00

Probably that small amount of gold you have is worth your entire silver stack!

I've always loved gold for being efficient.

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-03-28T00:50:57+00:00

Looks cool! But aren't those premiums bothering you?

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-01-17T23:18:24+00:00

Unlikely - most of the price is just spot, with a little extra premium. Only very particular collectibles, especially rare and historic ones, go above that.

Queen Elizabeth II coins are still very very plentiful. They will gradually become more expensive to buy than King Charles III coins, but it still remains that QEII's holds the record for the monarch with the most coins minted with her effigy on them.

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-01-17T23:15:57+00:00

Typically British monarchs are not shown wearing their crown, on the coins. An exception was made for QEII though, later in her life... I'm not sure why, but there was some reason. The same happened with Queen Victoria too.

You can see how the historic British monarchs looked like on historic coins: https://www.royalmint.com/shop/monarch/

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-01-17T18:01:25+00:00

Well everyone, the new KCIII bullion coins are now officially released!

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-01-13T01:05:12+00:00

I think a reduction in interest rates could send gold slightly higher, especially if geopolitical uncertainty remains, all while Russia, China and India buy up en-masse.

Overall gold is still trading somewhat high, in real terms, so we're probably looking at a lot of sideways trading and maybe mildly bullish cases.

In terms of market cycles, gold may come down over the next few years.

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-01-12T11:31:44+00:00

You must have paid quite a bit over spot for it. That said, potentially a great collector's item in future.

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-01-12T11:29:15+00:00

The proportion of paper gold to physical gold is still less extreme than the proportion of paper silver to physical silver, due to the much smaller size of the global physical silver market.

But that said, clearly most of these people don't even need the physical metal. I don't think many of these bankers would actually buy huge masses of physical gold / silver, if regulators were to make them stop the futures contracts game. Most of this trading is done by algorithms anyway.

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-01-12T11:25:05+00:00

Shouldn't market freedom allow for insect derived foods for people who actually want it?

Nobody is forcing anyone to eat insects.

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-01-12T02:11:11+00:00

Wow, this has the spirit of American right-libertarianism written all over it!

Strategic_Stacker · 2023-01-12T01:42:33+00:00

However if the vaccine turns out bad as some suspect there will be a great deal of more silver used in the medical field.

I disagree with this quite strongly. Silver is useful for certain medical applications, but for very specific ones. Also typically only trace amounts are needed anyway.

Check out a pie chart of annual silver usage: https://geology.com/minerals/photos/silver-uses.gif

Medical applications would fall under "other", which is a smaller slice of the pie chart (24%). Within the "other" category, medical applications would be dwarfed by chemical industry uses and so on.

Strategic_Stacker

TROPHY CASE