Buying silver

slopemaster

Looks like I could buy a roll of 25 Canadian Maples on holiday, and bring them back within my £390 limit for "gifts and souvenirs", so no VAT payable.
So that might be a plan...

slopemaster

Perelandra wrote: »

If you buy physical bars the spread is far higher than for coins- there is effectively a high cost to check/confirm the bar is what you claim it to be.

Thanks, I hadn't figured that out.

And yes, as you and others have said, something physical would be much nicer than some electronic numbers....

slopemaster

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

i would forget about the investment aspect, and just treat it as something to commemorate your anniversary.
...presumably you wouldn't want to sell it anyway, ...

Maybe sell for our golden anniversary and spend it on something nice!

markj113

have a check on coininvestdirect, they link to a sister site that deals with silver coins only at a lower rate than they charge themselves.

p.s. I would also consider 10oz / 1kg coins over bars as you will have a numismatic
factor in the future over plain bars. The perth mint lunar series are worth a look.

shaun_from_Africa

slopemaster wrote: »

Looks like I could buy a roll of 25 Canadian Maples on holiday, and bring them back within my £390 limit for "gifts and souvenirs", so no VAT payable.
So that might be a plan...

Don't forget that if you have one item that is over the £390 limit then you can't split the cost between two or more people but this wouldn't apply with the coins.
If you spent £400 on silver coins, you could bring back £200 worth and if you were travelling with another person, they could carry the other £200 worth.

Where are you planning on going on holiday as I might be able to suggest a place to buy from.

slopemaster

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Where are you planning on going on holiday as I might be able to suggest a place to buy from.

Vancouver...

ColdIron

markj113 wrote: »

The perth mint lunar series are worth a look.

I'd second that, beautiful coins. Perhaps get a set of each denomination for the last 12 years

planteria

interesting move into coin collecting, and what might be wise, rather than the silver purely as a metal. i'm not a collector really, but have inherited some stamps, and have added the silver coins i have bought to a small coin collection. is there a good forum re. this that anyone can recommend, or is the knowledge here?:) if it makes sense, i might trade some of what i have to create a smaller portfolio with more 'quality', perhaps with some gold within it. [my girlfriend is here laughing at me]

slopemaster

I was also tempted by the idea of buying 9 or 10kg of 'virtual' silver from the likes of BullionVault as a speculation.
But I worked out that if you bought 10kg and stored it for 5 yrs then the total commission + spread + storage comes to well over 10%. So, to break even it has to go up by inflation + 2% every year.
Which dampens my enthusiasm a bit.

Then there's the Q of risk. I mean, not the intrinsically risk nature of investing in silver, but the risk of your silver somehow disappearing! I'm struggling to get a handle on whether that's a real risk.
According to their website, if BullionVault failed your ownership and title would not be affected, and a liquidator could not claim title to your bullion because you are the legal owner of all gold and silver that you buy through BullionVault.
But still...

planteria

as it happens, BullionVault is walking distance away from me.
if i was buying i think i would look to hold the physical metal myself.