Should I Buy Bullion Bars or Bullion Coins?

This is a matter of personal preference as well as your investment plan and overall economic situation. While bullion bars are generally cheaper in terms of premium over precious metals content, they are also larger (less divisible) and may in a severe situation be not as easy to sell as widely reckognized bullion coins. With large amounts to be invested, holding bullion bars makes sense. Medium-sized 100 gram gold bullion bars have almost the same low premium as the larger Kilobar variety and may thus be the choice for average investors. Smaller than 100 gram bars are not usually recommended for physical bullion investment purposes. Bullion coins have the added advantage of superb fungibility, particularly the popular internationally traded coins. In silver, it should be noted that silver bullion coins are treated more favorably than silver bullion bars and that there are a few more countries having silver bullion coins either totally exempt from VAT or sales tax or applying a low rate (e. g. 7% in Germany). This fact may also affect whether you buy bullion bars or bullion coins. (For details, see Do I Have to Pay Sales Tax… section, above.)

How Do I Buy and Sell Physical Gold and Silver?
Do I Have to Pay Sales Tax (or VAT or Similar) on Precious Metals?
Should I store my precious metals locally or overseas?
How Much Should I Pay for Physical Bullion?
Can I Earn a Higher Profit With Numismatic Coins?
What Is a Reasonable Premium Over Spot?
Should I Buy Bullion Online?
Should I Buy Bullion Over the Phone?
Should I Buy Bullion Using eBay or Amazon Marketplace?
Is Confiscation of Gold a Real Risk?
Are There Any Reporting Requirements for Gold or Silver?
Should I Buy Vaulted Allocated Gold or Silver?

How Much Should I Pay for Physical Bullion?

Precious metals bullion bars and bullion coins are commodities having intrinsic value. What they are worth is discovered by international commodities markets (gold spot market, silver spot market) and can be calculated exactly on the basis of precious metals content. That is what these pieces trade for, and there is a rather fixed amount they are “priced” at. Prices may vary locally only due to fluctuations in an underlying currency (which itself does not have any intrinsic value other than some governments “word of honor” which may well turn out to be zero) or due to local shortages in physical materials. As recently as October 2011, this has drastically been visible in Greece with bullion coins and bars selling in the streets of Athens at premiums of up to 40% over spot. This clearly demonstrates that physical bullion prices do fluctuate dramatically and that local market imbalances (either due to excessive demand, a sudden surge in demand or some actual supply shortages) immediately affect the actual paid price. In order to buy at a reasonable price, a lot depends on both timing (watch market price over a period of time) and finding sellers charging a fair premium (compare different sellers and their markups which can differ regionally; so you might want to watch prices at home as well as abroad).

How Do I Buy and Sell Physical Gold and Silver?
Do I Have to Pay Sales Tax (or VAT or Similar) on Precious Metals?
Should I store my precious metals locally or overseas?
Can I Earn a Higher Profit With Numismatic Coins?
What Is a Reasonable Premium Over Spot?
Should I Buy Bullion Bars or Bullion Coins?
Should I Buy Bullion Online?
Should I Buy Bullion Over the Phone?
Should I Buy Bullion Using eBay or Amazon Marketplace?
Is Confiscation of Gold a Real Risk?
Are There Any Reporting Requirements for Gold or Silver?
Should I Buy Vaulted Allocated Gold or Silver?

How Do I Buy and Sell Physical Gold and Silver?

Many vendors seem to strangely believe that you are somehow limited to selling back to them at a later time what you buy from them now. If so, find another dealer for someone telling you this sort of nonsense does not know the first thing about the thing he is selling. Precious metals bullion bars and bullion coins are not collectibles that need to be sold to special goldsmiths or coin shops. You may buy or sell them freely wherever they are offered. You may or may not want to sell back where you bought and it may be a nice to be able and re-sell to the same dealership at a later time, but neither any need nor any increased likelihood to do so. Rather, where you buy or sell is largely a matter of price.

Do I Have to Pay Sales Tax (or VAT or Similar) on Precious Metals?
Should I store my precious metals locally or overseas?
How Much Should I Pay for Physical Bullion?
Can I Earn a Higher Profit With Numismatic Coins?
What Is a Reasonable Premium Over Spot?
Should I Buy Bullion Bars or Bullion Coins?
Should I Buy Bullion Online?
Should I Buy Bullion Over the Phone?
Should I Buy Bullion Using eBay or Amazon Marketplace?
Is Confiscation of Gold a Real Risk?
Are There Any Reporting Requirements for Gold or Silver?
Should I Buy Vaulted Allocated Gold or Silver?
What Is a Monster Box?

Physical Gold & Silver

The time for precious metals is now — and continues to be, until the markets awash with paper money on one hand and the remains of a burst real estate bubble brought about by reckless monetary policy during the last decades on the other find equilibrium again. We are far from having arrived there, and gold and silver being literally only dumb pieces of metal are for investors who want the “insurance policy” until then. Physical bullion and bullion coins are free of counterparty risk, systemic risk and other risks that tend to materialize during uncertain times, and thus are for smart investors rather than just for goldbugs.

During uncertain times, investors buy physical bullion and bullion coins as a safe-haven investment, relying on the intrinsic value that will always be above zero — unlike paper money or stocks, both of which can fall to zero in a matter of weeks or even days, and throughout economic history repeatedly have done so.

Through our SoundMoney subsidiary, we offer both physical gold and silver bullion and bullion coins at competitive prices. We deliver worldwide via insured parcel or courier service. Due to our tax planning considerations and strategic business location we are in a position to offer silver bullion coins tax-free and without additional import duties for investors throughout all of Europe and tax-free physical gold and silver to American and international clients.

FREE Precious Metals Information

Owning physical gold and silver bullion and bullion coins may be the most prudent way to brace oneself for the economic impact that appears to be ahead. Adequate information and understanding the wider implications of doing so will be as important for physical bullion investors though.

We provide easy-to-follow FREE information for investors who already own physical precious metals or consider getting into this asset in the future. Both introductory and advanced subjects are covered and accessibly formatted into a few pages each. Our materials are available as inline text or for download as PDF-files.

The bull market in precious metals is still very much alive and running for roughly ten years now. Opportunities to buy into this market are still there and are increasingly used by institutional investors, governments, businesses and private households worldwide.

Market reports confirm this on a daily basis.

These reports need to be watched increasingly though as the bull market powers ahead. Every investment needs to be made with an exit strategy in mind. Holding physical bullion is no different. Markets move in cycles or wavs throughout history, and, to be very successful, it is essential to understand these movements and flow with them.

In our FREE materials, we cover different subjects about physical bullion investment and other asset classes. These are intended for beginners and advanced-level investors alike. Subjects include basic How Tos as well as experience from professional bullion dealers. Written by persons having real-life experience, these are true sources providing much of the information you need in order to not only protect your wealth but even increase it during the times ahead.