Question about Silver Bullion

I've been buying my new nephew a few bars of silver for every occasion (e.g. birthdays, Christmas, Easter). My hope is that by the time he's 18, he'll have a few thousand dollars in silver to cash in. Then he can use it for college, to help buy a car, or make some kind of adulthood investment.

Is there anything unusually bad about this idea?

My Aunt gave me silver for xmas/bdays for a while. I still have it all. I see nothing bad about it at all

Nothing bad about it, unless the prices crash, but they will most likely eventually come back up.

lizzie said:

Nothing bad about it, unless the prices crash, but they will most likely eventually come back up.

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Yeah, I don't want to put my nephew's investment into lemon. I hear good things, but I'm honestly not expecting a huge return. I just think it's 'cooler' than giving my nephew cash or a gift certificate. Not that I don't get him toys and stuff, also.

Amadeus said:

Yeah, I don't want to put my nephew's investment into lemon. I hear good things, but I'm honestly not expecting a huge return. I just think it's 'cooler' than giving my nephew cash or a gift certificate. Not that I don't get him toys and stuff, also.

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To me, silver is one of those things that is sort of fun to have, and just kind of store it away and forget about it. It will never be worth a fortune, but the value will most likely go up overall.

Amadeus said:

I've been buying my new nephew a few bars of silver for every occasion (e.g. birthdays, Christmas, Easter). My hope is that by the time he's 18, he'll have a few thousand dollars in silver to cash in. Then he can use it for college, to help buy a car, or make some kind of adulthood investment.

Is there anything unusually bad about this idea?

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I would reccomend old silver coins instead. The rare dates are always easy to sell. Old silver dollars are an ounce (avoir dupois) of silver but anything with low mintage (less than 300,000) is probably collectable. Especially in silver dollar sizes. Standing Liberty half dollars are a beautiful coin. As a rule of thumb, all coins from 1920 and 1921 (except Morgan silver dollar) are good investments. Your heart is in the right spot because you are considering the youth's future.

I did the same for nephews and nieces when they were kids, but I always got them Canadian Mint Silver maple leafs not third party bars/coins. I'm just not certain of them and the government issued one's I have more belief in. Sadly when silver went up I stopped. If we can get George Soro's to drive it back down under $10oz I might start up again. Silver as an investment is a sad commodity so heavily manipulated its not funny.

Amadeus said:

I've been buying my new nephew a few bars of silver for every occasion (e.g. birthdays, Christmas, Easter). My hope is that by the time he's 18, he'll have a few thousand dollars in silver to cash in. Then he can use it for college, to help buy a car, or make some kind of adulthood investment.

Is there anything unusually bad about this idea?

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Amadeus said:

I've been buying my new nephew a few bars of silver for every occasion (e.g. birthdays, Christmas, Easter). My hope is that by the time he's 18, he'll have a few thousand dollars in silver to cash in. Then he can use it for college, to help buy a car, or make some kind of adulthood investment.

Is there anything unusually bad about this idea?

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Keep investing, precious metals hardly go down, although gold and silver prices have slipped a little, but it's pretty much a good thing to do. Buy as low as you can though. You might also want to look into silver coin investments too.

AJiveMan said:

Keep investing, precious metals hardly go down, although gold and silver prices have slipped a little, but it's pretty much a good thing to do. Buy as low as you can though. You might also want to look into silver coin investments too.

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Thanks! I intend to mix it up with coins and bars. I'm currently buying from Northwest Territory Mint.

Northwest Territorial Mint® - Custom Minting, Bullion Sales, Online Store

Amadeus said:

Thanks! I intend to mix it up with coins and bars. I'm currently buying from Northwest Territory Mint.

Northwest Territorial Mint® - Custom Minting, Bullion Sales, Online Store

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You know what I've done in the past is go to places where gold and silver prices are listed, once you know the going price for an ounce, go then to places like eBay, Ubid, etc.. and look for silver bullion bars that are either old, like a Christmas bar commemorating something of times past, which nobody might have an interest in any longer. A few years ago, I picked up a few from eBay that were from the early 80's for about 1/2 the going price because they were stamped Christmas 1981 and so forth. A good deal because they're still .999 silver.

AJiveMan said:

You know what I've done in the past is go to places where gold and silver prices are listed, once you know the going price for an ounce, go then to places like eBay, Ubid, etc.. and look for silver bullion bars that are either old, like a Christmas bar commemorating something of times past, which nobody might have an interest in any longer. A few years ago, I picked up a few from eBay that were from the early 80's for about 1/2 the going price because they were stamped Christmas 1981 and so forth. A good deal because they're still .999 silver.

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Awesome tip! I am wary of buying silver on eBay (saw an episode of Judge Judy where someone got frauded), but I will definitely check this out.

Amadeus said:

Awesome tip! I am wary of buying silver on eBay (saw an episode of Judge Judy where someone got frauded), but I will definitely check this out.

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It's good to be extra careful. Always check the seller's feedback rating. That'll give you an idea of just how honest he or she is. I believe the seller I bought from was operating a pawn shop, and had many, many transactions with all positive results.

Amadeus said:

I've been buying my new nephew a few bars of silver for every occasion (e.g. birthdays, Christmas, Easter). My hope is that by the time he's 18, he'll have a few thousand dollars in silver to cash in. Then he can use it for college, to help buy a car, or make some kind of adulthood investment.

Is there anything unusually bad about this idea?

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silver itself is a great investment,just like gold is.

however something like that its best to hold on to it,as prics fluctuate.and much like gold,it is a great investment into the future,but isnt a be all end all in investing,had i the money,id invest in gold silver and copper,as well as stocks and bonds with some other commodities to keep things diversified.

Amadeus said:

I've been buying my new nephew a few bars of silver for every occasion (e.g. birthdays, Christmas, Easter). My hope is that by the time he's 18, he'll have a few thousand dollars in silver to cash in. Then he can use it for college, to help buy a car, or make some kind of adulthood investment.

Is there anything unusually bad about this idea?

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DaveFagan said:

I would reccomend old silver coins instead. The rare dates are always easy to sell. Old silver dollars are an ounce (avoir dupois) of silver but anything with low mintage (less than 300,000) is probably collectable. Especially in silver dollar sizes. Standing Liberty half dollars are a beautiful coin. As a rule of thumb, all coins from 1920 and 1921 (except Morgan silver dollar) are good investments. Your heart is in the right spot because you are considering the youth's future.

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The problem with Silver is it's too bulky if you want to accumulate a significant investment.
Gold, at app 60x the value per ounce, is far more convenient in that respect.
$10,000 of Silver is near 500 Ounces. We're talking closet-size space for not a very large position/investment.

and if one wants to invest mainly to hold a precious metal, not numismatically, gold is also better because Gold goins, such as $20 St Gaudens is not only beautiful, but sells as little as 20% over face amount in the lower but slabbed UNC grades. (MS61/62/63)
Whereas Silver coins, you are going to pay a Large Numismatic/rarity Premium, several Hundred/Thousand percent over face, in investment grades.
This will not rise with Bullion, altho that is not to say that hasn't worked out well over the long term too.
Just that if you want Nice looking Bullion, instead of Numismatica, Gold can do both and takes up much less space.

There are also Exchange traded Funds/ETFs, GLD and SLV, which aren't as good as owning Physical metal but are very handy.
They Erode in value slightly over time because of expenses of the fund and only own a fraction of the amount in them.
There are also ETFs that own dollar-for-dollar physical metal, but they have expenses as well.

mbig said:

The problem with Silver is it's Very Bulky if you want to accumulate a significant investment.
Gold, at app 60x the value per ounce, is far more convenient in that respect.

and if one wants to invest mainly to hold a precious metal, not numismatically, gold is also better because Gold goins, such as $20 St Gaudens is not only beautiful, but sells as little as 20% over face amount in the lower but slabbed UNC grades. (MS61/62/63)
Whereas Silver coins you are going to pay a Large Numismatic/rarity Premium, several Hundred/Thousand percent over face, in investment grades.
This will not rise with Bullion, altho that is not to say that hasn't worked out well over the long term too.

Just that if you want Nice looking Bullion, instead of Numismatica, Gold can do both and takes up much less space.

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Thanks for the suggestion, and I appreciate the post. I looked at gold, but unless I give away gold shavings as a present, I think it's a bit out of my league.

Amadeus said:

I've been buying my new nephew a few bars of silver for every occasion (e.g. birthdays, Christmas, Easter). My hope is that by the time he's 18, he'll have a few thousand dollars in silver to cash in. Then he can use it for college, to help buy a car, or make some kind of adulthood investment.

Is there anything unusually bad about this idea?

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Precious metal is almost always a good long-term investment. Prices fluxuate, of course, and the only downside is that over a period of years, his silver cache could get kinda hefty, weight-wise. Actually, I would have loved such gifts when I was a kid.

DiAnna said:

Precious metal is almost always a good long-term investment. Prices fluxuate, of course, and the only downside is that over a period of years, his silver cache could get kinda hefty, weight-wise. Actually, I would have loved such gifts when I was a kid.

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Thanks! I bought my nephew a cool treasure chest and everything.

Commodities are commodities no matter what form. The key issues are rate of return and speed of liquidity. I invest in precious metals too, mostly lead and brass. 22 ammo has doubled and even tripled for some types over the past couple of years, and I can turn it in just a couple of days with no commisions or brokerage fees. Same for reloaded handgun ammo. I can cast and load 9mm for $52 per 1000 because I own an auto repair shop and have access to used wheel weights. The cheapest you can find it on the shelves is 23 cents a round. I can triple my cost and still come in under market. And when work gets slow I can pay one of my employees his normal wage to operate a press. Doing it that way I cut my margin a bit, but where else can you double your money that fast without doing anything? I can show up at a local range on a Saturday morning and make a week's pay in a couple hours.

tech30528 said:

Commodities are commodities no matter what form. The key issues are rate of return and speed of liquidity. I invest in precious metals too, mostly lead and brass. 22 ammo has doubled and even tripled for some types over the past couple of years, and I can turn it in just a couple of days with no commisions or brokerage fees. Same for reloaded handgun ammo. I can cast and load 9mm for $52 per 1000 because I own an auto repair shop and have access to used wheel weights. The cheapest you can find it on the shelves is 23 cents a round. I can triple my cost and still come in under market. And when work gets slow I can pay one of my employees his normal wage to operate a press. Doing it that way I cut my margin a bit, but where else can you double your money that fast without doing anything? I can show up at a local range on a Saturday morning and make a week's pay in a couple hours.

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Sounds like a good idea, maybe you oughta quit the car mechanic work and go full time ammo maker instead.

PoS said:

Sounds like a good idea, maybe you oughta quit the car mechanic work and go full time ammo maker instead.

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Right now I am crazy busy on cars. People have figured out I am the guy who can figure out stuff no one else can. I've got 3 cars in right now that came from other shops after they couldn't figure them out. In the mean time we collect supplies to load. It's kind of a fill in thing. Just picked up 100+ pounds of lead from a local tire shop, it needs to be melted down and cast in to clean 1 pound blocks for later use. It takes about an hour to cast 1000 9mm bullets. Brass picked up on the range goes in the tumbler overnight to be deprimed, sized and reprimed in our spare time. Just ordered 20 pounds of powder, about enough for 30,000 rounds. Cost me $220. If we get a slow day we'll knock out a bunch. So it's not a matter of one or the other, it's more about staying busy all the time. Sometimes all I have at the shop is high end technical stuff my help is not capable of. I can keep him profitable running ammo.