This is a syndicated repost published with the permission of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Opinions herein are not those of the Wall Street Examiner or Lee Adler. Reposting does not imply endorsement. The information presented is for educational or entertainment purposes and is not individual investment advice.
Legendary investor Jim Rogers sees now as a great time to load up on gold and silver coins – and he’s not alone.
A record 7.5 million ounces of silver coins were sold in January as investors hunted for a safe haven investment.
“You can’t get [silver coins]. They sell out,” Rogers, who owns a rare 2013 silver coin, said on Yahoo! Finance’s “The Daily Ticker.” “Several mints have run out of coins because everybody’s worried about the future of the world.”
And 150,000 ounces of American Eagle gold coins were sold in January, the highest monthly total since July 2010.
“Gold has been up 12 years in a row which is extremely unusual for anything,” added Rogers. “A lot of speculators are rushing into gold right now. I’m not rushing into gold, but I’m certainly not selling it. If it goes down, I’m buying more.”
Gold and Silver Prices in 2013
While gold is only up half a percentage point so far this year, silver is up around 5%.
Many analysts, including Money Morning Global Resources Specialist Peter Krauth, see both metals ending the year higher, especially silver.
Gold and silver will be spurred by the inflationary actions of central banks, strong investor demand and decreased supplies. Krauth expects silver to outperform gold because of the added demand from its various industrial uses, and its low price compared with gold.
In fact, Krauth sees silver prices, currently trading around $31.50 an ounce, reaching $54 an ounce. He sees gold, now trading at $1,675 an ounce, hitting $2,200 an ounce during 2013.
For those interested in buying gold, silver, or both, here are a few ways.
How to Buy Gold and Silver
For most investors, physical possession of silver and gold is the only way to go.
That’s because many believe holding physical possession of precious metals is the best way to protect against the decline in fiat currencies and gain a long-term store of value.
For silver there’s one-ounce bars, or half-ounce or one-ounce silver bullion coins, which include the American Silver Eagle, Canadian Silver Maple Leaf, Mexican Silver Libertad, Chinese Silver Panda and Australian Silver Koala.
These come with premiums of 8%-10% for bars and up to 16% for coins.
Larger investors can reduce the premiums to as little as 4% to 6% by purchasing the five-ounce, 10-ounce, or one-kilogram coins offered by some mints, or buying 10-ounce or 100-ounce silver bars.
For gold investors there are bars, rounds, and coins.
The smallest bar is just one gram, while the largest are 400 ounces.
Gold rounds, which are unadorned coin-shaped pieces, are also available in a variety of sizes.
Rounds typically range from one-tenth of an ounce to five ounces. Prices range from as little as $15 per round over the spot price of gold at the time of the order for smaller pieces, to $40 over the spot price for larger specialty pieces.
Yet, for both rounds and bars there can be $5 to $25 per ounce discounts for larger orders.
Gold coins come in sizes ranging from one-tenth of an ounce to two ounces, with the one-ounce size being most popular and readily available. Bullion coin prices typically track the spot price of gold, plus a premium of 5% to 6% for the one-ounce issues to cover the cost of refining, minting and marketing. Premiums on smaller coins can run as high as 15%.
Finally, the most important thing to remember when buying silver and gold is to deal only with trustworthy, experienced dealers who have clearly stated warranties and policies.
Some reputable gold and silver dealers include American Precious Metals Exchange, Asset Strategies International, and Kitco.
For more details on how and where to buy these precious metals, check out Money Morning guides on how to buy gold and how to buy silver.
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Don’t Sell Your Gold and Silver Coins: Jim Rogers
Tags: gold coins, Gold Prices, Jim Rogers, silver coins, Silver Prices
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