Buying Silver or Gold in Ireland

[landlord]

I believe that they are VAT free, (sales@europeanmint.com) but It almost doesn’t matter.
What’s important is who is the cheapest when you include the TOTAL cost with delivery etc... and I am pretty sure you won’t find anyone else cheaper.
Yes they can be stored underground.

 

[Daddy Ireland]

Thanks Landlord.

 

[Laughahalla]

Thanks Laughahalla. Do you recommend one coin over the other like if I was buying a once off €15k worth or should I buy a mix of the coins you state ?

you should just probably buy the cheapest you could get because silver is silver. When resold you will get the spot price or spot price + % whether they are American eagle , Canadian maple leaf or Austrian Philharmonic. Saying that, it is nice to have a variety but if they're going to be buried that doesn't really matter.

 

[Daddy Ireland]

Thanks again.

 

[Marc]

Lol. These threads really make me laugh.

An investment has two characteristics

An income made up of interest, rent or dividends and;

An expectation of a capital gain based on the discounted present value of the income stream.

Chocolate coins don’t pay a dividend, can’t pay a dividend and never will pay a dividend.

The valuation is therefore a wild guess.

To avoid losing your shirt when anyone mentions silver at $32 an ounce feel free to google “hunt brothers corner the market” or “Russian invasion of Afghanistan”

You’re welcome

 

[Grizzly]

Are all coins on sale 24 karat gold?

 

[joe sod]

An expectation of a capital gain based on the discounted present value of the income stream.

but what about the "investors" buying german long dated bonds at negative interest rates now, surely that deserves a bigger laugh, the height of insanity in my view, they are paying 101 euros now for a bond that returns them only 100euros in 10 years time. When that is happening the guys buying silver and gold are rather sane

 

[Sarenco]

But will €101 worth of gold coins be worth €100 in 10 years' time? Who knows?

All investment returns are relative.

 

[noproblem]

But will €101 worth of gold coins be worth €100 in 10 years' time? Who knows?

All investment returns are relative.

Hope not One thing's for sure though, it will have value

 

[joe sod]

@Sarenco imagine if you bought a 100 reichsmark bond in 1913, in 1923 you you redeemed your bond and got back 100 reichsmarks, which was worth nothing because of the hyperinflation, yes this is an extreme example. However the guys paying over 101 euros today for a 10 year 100 euro german bond are taking an enormous leap of fate. In 1913 if you bought an ounce of gold you still had that ounce of gold in 1923, hopefully if it was not robbed, but you were not going to be robbed of the 100 reichsmark bond in 1923.

 

[Sarenco]

However the guys paying over 101 euros today for a 10 year 100 euro german bond are taking an enormous leap of fate.

Why?

Are you suggesting the German State will default?

Personally I think that buying a lump of yellow rock and expecting it to retain any value requires a much greater leap of fate.

 

[joe sod]

Are you suggesting the German State will default?

no, but the weimar republic also did not default , they just repaid you with a worthless currency, yes I am using this as an extreme example. However if you are crazy enough to pay a 101 euro for a 100 euro bond, maybe you should also buy some yellow metal to protect you , the future is unknowable but the guys buying those bonds for crazy prices are pretending that they can.

 

[Sarenco]

I'm pretty confident that one of the most highly rated sovereigns on the planet will not default on its obligations.

I'm also pretty confident that the deepest, most liquid market in the world will do a better job than me of assessing future inflation expectations.

I've zero interest in buying blobs of yellow metal with no intrinsic value. But thanks for the (unsolicited) advice.

 

[joe sod]

'm also pretty confident that the deepest, most liquid market in the world will do a better job than me of assessing future inflation expectations.

but they clearly got it wrong in 2007,2008 with irish, greek and italian soverign bonds, and also bank bonds. If the market had worked properly they would have been defaulted on, but as we know they were not defaulted on not because of the "wisdom" and foresight of the bond markets but because they were protected by the european governments and the ECB. It is that intervention more than anything else that has resulted in the negative interest rates of now. The emperor now has no cloths but the bond markets are pretending he does have or are unwilling to look, if inflation takes off again the emperor wont be able to put back on his cloths again because he threw them away.

 

[Sarenco]

Government bond yields of the PIIGS spiked in the wake of the financial crisis due to default concerns - nothing to do with an unanticipated spike in inflation expectations.

We have been living with negative yields in Europe for around five years now. In that time, the FTSE EMU Government Bond Index has returned an annualised 3.66%. Not too bad as things turned out.

But you're right - bond investors are paying for safety. Nothing wrong with that - it's certainly not "crazy" as you keep insisting.

Pretending you know something that has escaped the attention of institutional bond market participants is just silly.

 

[tecate]

Here's another way of purchasing gold and silver.

 

[AileenWalsh]

Why?

Are you suggesting the German State will default?

Personally I think that buying a lump of yellow rock and expecting it to retain any value requires a much greater leap of fate.

I held is value pretty well over nearly 5000 years.

 

[BoscoTalking]

At the risk of sounding very thick; Where would one keep a stash of gold or silver? When one lives in the average three bed semidetached and does not have an acre to bury, or a seller seller to lock it away...

Genuine question as it seems daft to have cash on deposit and yet there are very few alternatives gold and silver being reasonable enough on paper.

 

[cremeegg]

Some interesting perspectives here.

In 1913 if you bought an ounce of gold you still had that ounce of gold in 1923,

This is obviously true, for any dates.

I'm also pretty confident that the deepest, most liquid market in the world will do a better job than me of assessing future inflation expectations.

This is clearly sensible advice. However the probability of significant inflation in the medium term cannot be described as nil. It is not unreasonable to allocate a portion of your assets to protecting yourself against it. It is also not unreasonable to think that precious metals will hold or even increase their value in real terms, if inflation rises. Even if you think blobs of yellow metal are preposterously overvalued, there is no reason to think they will not continue to be. In fact if inflation takes off they are very likely to hold value.

but what about the "investors" buying german long dated bonds at negative interest rates now, surely that deserves a bigger laugh,

No doubt they have their reasons, I suspect that the buyers of these bonds are not actually investing as such. They may have future obligations to meet and wish to know that the funds are in place, without any view to a return.

But I agree that it makes no sense for the average investor. Bits of paper with no yield are like blobs of yellow metal, you hope they will be worth something in the future. A €1,000 bond will be worth €1,000 in 10 years time I have no doubt, but there is a small possibility that a loaf of bread will cost €1,000 by then. An ounce of gold will still be the same ounce of gold, whether it will represent a weeks wages or the price of a loaf in 10 years time, who knows. Though if inflation takes off that in my opinion will increase the chance of gold holding its value. people would lose faith in currency and turn to gold.

If only someone could identify an asset that would have an intrinsic value which would remain the same irrespective of inflation, and if it could pay a dividend along the way that would be great. Now what could that be.

 

[joe sod]

only someone could identify an asset that would have an intrinsic value which would remain the same irrespective of inflation, and if it could pay a dividend along the way that would be great. Now what could that be.

Well I presume you know the answer to that, property, utilities, defensive shares, brands ( although in today's world brands are losing their power), oil (it's not going away you know)
But in a period of high inflation the best performing asset is gold and precious metals, they don't just hold their value they way outperform everything else, that's why even having just a small portfolio of gold makes a huge difference in an era of high inflation.