| Ten Commandments For
Buying Gold & Silver :
I.
Always take delivery
II.
Never buy premium if you can avoid it.
III. Buy bullion for business, numismatics for
fun.
IV.
Buy silver first, then gold.
V.
Buy small gold first, then large.
VI.
Never buy exotic coins or modern rarities or anything you don't
understand.
VII. Know your dealer.
VIII. What governments can't find, they can't
steal.
IX.
Never swap bullion coins for U.S. $20 gold
pieces.
X.
Never break the law.
Four Bullion
Portfolios & FAQ
Please note that our recommendations vary depending on your concerns
and the market.
If
you want to invest in gold and silver to protect your assets and have
something easily divisible and spendable in the event to hedge
currency depreciation or collapse, then:
v
If you have $5,000
or less to spend
put half in US 90% silver coin, and half in British Sovereigns, French
20 Francs, or 1/4 oz. American Eagles. (All references to “ounces”
below mean troy ounces of 480 grains or 31.1034 grams).
v
For $10,000
buy
two-thirds US 90% silver coin, and the balance in British Sovereigns,
French 20 Francs, or 1/4 oz. American Eagles.
v
For $25,000
buy
3 bags of US 90% silver coin, $2,000 worth of Sovereigns, French 20
Francs, or 1/4 oz. American Eagles, and the balance in one oz.
Krugerrands, Austrian 100 Coronas, Mexican 50 Pesos, or American
Eagles.
v
For $75,000
buy 10 bags of US 90% silver, $5,000 worth of Sovereigns, 20 Francs,
or 1/4 Eagles, $5,000 worth of platinum Nobles, and the balance in
Krugerrands, American Eagles or 100 Coronas.
For over $75,000 simply
do multiples of this portfolio.
If you
want to invest in precious metals to simply protect your assets and
don’t think you’ll ever need to actually barter with them, then
v
If you have $5,000
or less to spend
put half in US 90% silver coin, and half in one ounce Krugerrands or
American Eagles, or in Austrian 100 Coronas or Mexican 50 Pesos.
v
For $5,000
through $25,000
put
at least half of your money in US 90% silver coin. Put the rest in
one ounce Krugerrands or American Eagles, or in Austrian 100 Coronas
or Mexican 50 Pesos.
v
For $75,000
buy 10 bags of US 90% silver, $5,000 worth of platinum Nobles, and the
balance in Krugerrands, American Eagles, 100 Coronas, or 50 Pesos.
For over $75,000
simply do multiples of this portfolio.
FAQ
Moneychanger, what is US 90% silver coin and why do you recommend it?
US 90% silver coin is quarters, dimes, and half dollars
minted before 1965. Each face value dollar (4 quarters, 10 dimes, or
2 half dollars) contains 0.715 of an ounce of silver. Coins are
traded in “bags” of $1,000.00 face value containing 715 troy
ounces pure silver. (We refer to a “face value dollar,” the value
stamped on the coin’s face, which is always less than from the “paper
dollar” cost you must pay. So if you have $1,000.00 in paper
dollars to spend, you will never get $1,000.00 face value.)
You can purchase any portion of a bag that you wish.
We recommend 90% silver coin simply because right now it is
the cheapest, most divisible, most widely recognised and traded form
of silver.
Moneychanger,
why do you recommend gold coins like Krugerrands, Austrian 100
Coronaes, and Mexican 50 Pesos, and what are they?
We recommend these foreign coins because they cost less
per ounce and give you more gold for your money than the
American Eagle gold coin series. All of these coins are well known in
the industry and any dealer will readily buy them.
The 22 karat South African Krugerrand gold coin
contains exactly one troy ounce of fine (pure) gold. The American
Eagle copied the Krugerrand’s specifications, and is minted to exactly
the same weight and fineness.
The Austrian 100 Coronae is an official re-strike
from the Austrian mint. It is 20 karat (90% pure) and contains
exactly 0.9802 troy ounce fine gold.
The Mexican 50 Peso is an official re-strike from the
400-year old Mexico City mint. A 20 karat coin, it contains exactly
1.2057 troy ounce of fine gold.
These three coins take turns as the cheapest coin on our
price sheet.
Why
do you recommend older-issue, foreign fractional gold coins instead of
modern issues or American Eagle fractionals?
Modern issues like American Eagles, Maple Leaves, Philharmonics, and
Nuggets include half, quarter, and tenth ounce coins: the smaller the
coin, the higher the cost per ounce. With the smallest coins,
premiums over the gold content approach 15%. That makes no economic
sense because gold is gold. British sovereigns (containing
0.2354 troy ounce fine gold), French 20 francs (0.1867 oz.), Swiss 20
francs (0.1867 oz.), German 20 marks (0.2304 oz.), Netherlands 10
guilders (0.1947 oz.), the whole series of Mexican peso coins, and a
number of other gold coins offer lower cost per ounce and good
liquidity. Not recommended are gold coins so infrequently seen in
this country that you will suffer a big discount when you sell them,
such as Iranian Pahlavis (0.2354 oz.) or Saudi guineas (0.2354 oz.).
If you can’t sell them, they’re not a bargain.
Moneychanger,
nowhere in your recommendations do I see anything about pure gold
coins like the Canadian Maple Leaf or Austrian Philharmonic. Why not?
Gold is one of the softest and most ductile metals. Pure
gold coins scratch and scar very easily unless handled with extreme
care. Throughout history gold coins have generally been alloyed with
copper or silver, hardening them to withstand circulation. Customers
often unwittingly damage pure gold coins and therefore receive up to
5% less for them when they sell. In our opinion the purity of 24
karat gold confers no benefit and in fact often creates drawbacks.
Franklin Sanders
Franklin Sanders / THE
MONEYCHANGER P.O. Box 178 Westpoint, Tennessee
38486-0178 (888)218-9226; Fax: (931)766-1128 Franklin@The-Moneychanger.com
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