How do I invest in Precious Metals?

Before you start any investment, we recommend you invest in your education on a certain investment vehicle that you would like to go into. You need a plan and a road map of your investment future. Remember, Investing is a PLAN and not a procedure!

This is usually a common question and one that needs to be answered:

Q: I have 10,000 pesos, you think I can invest in Precious Metals?
A: Of course, if you act now, silver is still very affordable and undervalued. You can either buy a metal or open a metal account. 10 Thousand pesos is a lot of silver and if you buy at current spots, with the way the market is theoretically going (BULLISH) you will have handsome returns later on.

Q: What kinds of jewelry should I invest in?
A: Even though jewelry is made up of gold and silver, most experts believe that it will not sell WELL (it will still sell) in a major recession since the premium on jewelry lies in it's craftmanship and not on the metal itself. Jewelry is EXPENSIVE compared to bullions or other forms (this includes raw gold and silver).

Q: How do I know if the gold and silver I am purchasing is true?
A: There are various ways of checking but this is beyond the scope of this blog, suffice to say, gold is etched through a 'stone' or a gold metal karat detector may be used while silver testing is done by a mixed chemical that is placed on the surface. It is better to find an assaying expert on this part. We recommend hiring one rather than doing it yourself since this is very crucial and may make or break your investment.

Q: What kinds of coins should I collect?
A: The coins department or 'numismatics' is considered to be a highly volatile market since you need YEARS of experience to spot these gems and there are just a few of them lying around. It is good only for the trained eye and people with the education to spot great value items. But let's face it, there are just so few coins in the world that are really rare and it is a principle that when there is a lot of fiat money circulating, the good money goes into hiding.

Q: Where can I open a Metal Account?
A: There are several that we recommend, GOLD MONEY is one of them but if you are based in the Philippines (like the most of us), you can open an account through paperwork and their latest software where the requirements can be electronically faxed BUT you will have difficulty 'wiring' funds to your holding since banks would question the 'purpose' of the transfer. Please see a related article in the blog archives. This can be great if you are based in a foreign country where they can transfer funds to their holding (via Bank of America) easily.

There is another account,called Anglo Far East Metals based in Peru with offices in Hong Kong which can help you as well, but the very high premiums (9.75%) tend to be less tempting but nevertheless, this is a fairly easy way of holding metals personally since you can use a credit card.

Q: Are there metals available in the Philippines?
A: Yes there are, but you will need to be careful of bandits and hoodlums that tend to con people. There are a few that can supply through a form known as 'popcorn' gold and silver, there are also gold dust. A few of our suppliers have been successful in supplying us true .999 metals, since we pay experts to assay them for us. You can get in touch with the author for more information. These forms of metal investing is more of a pang-masa approach but you still have a rare metal in your hands. For those who want to hold them in 'Bars', this too can still be possible since we also have contacts that can easily convert your metal into bars, of course for a certain premium.

Q: Can I sell my metal acquired easily when the price goes up?
A: YES YOU CAN! We can help you dispose of your metal whenever the prices go up and you want to liquidate your acquired metals. You can still contact us for more details. (pregusay@gmail.com)

If you have more inquiries, please comment and we would love to answer your questions.