Silver?

[mortalpawn]

I know Silver is not part of the PP plan, but with the shiny stuff hitting a four year low, I'm wondering if adding a few coins to the safety deposit box might be a good idea?

Thoughts?

[murphy_p_t]

hopefully you.ll need more than a few coins to make an impact on your portfolio

[barrett]

I always hear that silver is an industrial metal as opposed to a precious metal. Just wondering what folks think... is the current low price a reflection of industry just not needing as much of it at the moment?

I guess my answer to mortalpawn's question would be that adding some silver might not be a bad thing, but that it shouldn't be confused with adding more gold.

[WildAboutHarry]

I like silver.  And I think the whole "industrial metal" thing is a red herring.  Silver is a precious metal.

For much of the 20th century, most coins in reasonable economies were made of silver.  You can almost measure economic misdeeds (or misfortune) by the degradation of silver content in a country's coinage.

Silver may not be HBPP certified, but it was part of Harry's predecessor portfolios, and it is still part of PRPFX (1 part silver to 4 parts gold).

And it is currently relatively cheap.

[Bean]

All good investments should be able to achieve a few mental hurdles at or before the point of purchase. 

My approach to Silver is:
Objective: Speculative hedge against what is in my opinion unrestrained currency manipulation.
Entry Approach: Dollar cost averaged purchasing to a set number of ounces.
Rebalance: I have no plan to rebalance silver; I am treating it as a stand-alone asset.
Exit: Have it forever and hope I never need it.  If I never need it, then my heirs acquire something with the potential of no “oversight”?

Not sure if this helps, but wanted to give you points to ponder before you jump into silver.  Since at the end of the day…it is just a rare lump of metal.

[dualstow]

Silver bullion would take up precious box space that we need for gold!

I suppose I would buy numismatic silver coins if something interesting came along.

[TripleB]

Any suggestions on interesting numismatic silver coins, other than "mint"/"proof" style which are not very interesting. Maybe some historical coin that's largely silver composition, and doesn't cost much more than silver content (maybe 2x silver content value)?

Also, I dislike silver for the PP because of the spread. If you buy and sell silver coins, you're going to pay something like 10% transaction fees. Whereas if you buy and sell gold coins, the spread is around 3%. Silver has to go up 10% for you to simply break even on selling it. As soon as you buy it, you throw away 10% of your money.

If you're some kind of survivalist then having a few hundred dollars in junk silver seems reasonable. Because gold is pretty expensive and hard to break up into much smaller units. Even 1/10 ounce gold coins are still $120 in today's cash terms. What if you wanted to barter for $10 in today's present value? Can't do it in gold coins.

[murphy_p_t]

it is just a rare lump of metal....it felt different when it went from sub 20 to 50 in short order in 2011...its prone to wild swings...great for speculating and taking profits...or reminiscing abt past runs.

[l82start]

i keep a little bit of VP silver for both of the reasons given in the previous two posts, its a nice survivalist world means of exchange, with a monetary history that indicates some potential for it being restored in times of duress, and its a wild ride speculation that i may be able to take profits from someday...

it is not a candidate for the PP or gold replacement in my opinion, but i think both of the above make it a easy choice for a VP, and it has an in your hand "pretty pretty precious" appeal similar to gold. 

[dualstow]

Any suggestions on interesting numismatic silver coins, other than "mint"/"proof" style which are not very interesting. Maybe some historical coin that's largely silver composition, and doesn't cost much more than silver content (maybe 2x silver content value)?

Nothing specific. I always like to look at the historical coins my dad buys, although I've never bought any numismatic coins, gold or silver. (Except a few coins from the mint which I don't consider an investment).

[Bean]

Any suggestions on interesting numismatic silver coins, other than "mint"/"proof" style which are not very interesting. Maybe some historical coin that's largely silver composition, and doesn't cost much more than silver content (maybe 2x silver content value)?

Government minted coins with low mintage.  Could be old or new.  Also, coins that change their face every year.

Examples of what I  buy (getting both slabbed and un-slabbed versions)

Silver:
Walking Liberties
Seated Liberty, Morgan, Peace, Ikes
Pandas
The Baseball Hall of Fame coin (this thing has gone through the roof)
Semi-Rare American Eagles
Perth Mint Lunar Series and Kooks (these are my favorite coins)
Rolls of Mercury dimes, always liked how they look

Gold (I like getting some numismatic value on this also):
Double Eagles / Slabbed (amazing coin, imo everyone should have at least 1 if you buy gold)
Semi-Rare American Eagles / Slabbed (very close to spot, but still some rarity)
Sovereigns / just in an Air-Tite (so much history and recognized everywhere)

[TripleB]

I wanted to get into sovereigns because of the cool factor, and because of the 1/4 ounce is smaller and easier to rebalance factor, but the spread seemed to be a lot higher. Offhand I think it was around 6% to 8% spread versus a 3% spread on regular 1 ounce coins of modern mintage.