Protect Your Future Ebook
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Protect Your Future How & When to Properly Purchase Precious Metals Part 1 The Main Purpose Buying precious metals can be a very fulfilling thing, even if you have no idea what you’re doing! Buying a few gold coins or smaller silver bars and seeing them in person for the first time is an exciting experience, and for most people it comes from an intuitive feeling that tells them in some way, gold and/or silver will benefit them and their family. But, what if you DID have a known goal that precious metals could accomplish for you? What if a simple purchase of some gold or silver coins actually propelled your family’s safety in your desired direction? It is possible, and TRADEway is here to teach you exactly how you can do it! This concise book is designed to simply these things in a simple way, and show you how a different mindset can potentially save you hundreds or thousands of dollars in the form of protection. So, what should the main purpose of precious metals be? TRADEway’s goal and priority when educating families all across the country is showing them how to protect and preserve the money that they already have. While we have also taught how to potentially make new money through stock trading, we put just as much emphasis on knowing how to protect what you have already worked so hard to create for your family. That’s our main purpose, and exactly what your personal objective should be when it comes to precious metals investing! !1 Part 2 How to Know What’s Best for You A big problem I have with the average seller of precious metals (dealers, brokers, pawn shops, etc.) is that they are not concerned at all with telling you the particular precious metals investment that would benefit you the most. There are quite literally hundreds of options out there, ranging from government minted coins to privately minted rounds and bars, junk silver coins, numismatic (or collectible) coins and commemorative coins and medals. Here lies one of the greatest problems for the new investor — too many options! The reason this is a problem is because a new investor can be easily taken advantage of in many ways, including having a salesman pitch the most expensive coins to them, or being swindled into paying for collector coins that most likely won’t fulfill their investment objectives. You can easily bypass these obstacles by having a grounded education! You see, there are actually ways in which you can use strategy and timing to determine which coins/bars/rounds to buy at any particular time, that will best fit your investment objectives. That’s what we’re going to talk about a little bit right now. !2 When it comes to precious metals investing, TRADEway advocates doing so for the purpose of protecting or preserving your money. Another way to think of it is, what if your savings (that is, the money you leave sitting in a standard savings account in your bank) automatically adjusted for inflation? What if your savings gained in value as the U.S. dollar loses value when things like inflation begin to increase? That’s the driving force behind OUR precious metals objectives, and that’s what we want to teach you how to do as well. Bullion Coins There are actually many uses for precious metals in addition to preserving your money overtime. One of the greatest uses for precious metals is in the case of a financial crisis, when conventional fiat money1 is of no use (think of current situations like what’s happening to Venezuela, or even in recent U.S. history like the Great Inflation of the 70s, or the Great Depression when there wasn’t enough money to go around). During times like this, a stockpile of tradable precious metals can be of great use for the financial well-being of you and your family. This of course plays right into the idea of preserving your money for a future purpose. So, now that we have a good idea of the usefulness of precious metals, let’s talk about how YOU can know what is best for you and your family. Bullion, Junk or Numismatics? Let’s start with Bullion.2 It’s a great place to start for any investor! Bullion is almost totally valued at its metallic content, as opposed to a numismatic (or collectable) coin, which is usually valued more heavily for its rarity, condition, etc. That’s something to think about, as it’s wise to consider what would be most useful as an alternate currency if something drastic ever occurs, such as a financial crisis that greatly hurts the dollar. It would make way more sense to have precious metals with a lot of metallic content, over something more collectible, wouldn’t it? That’s where Bullion comes in! The premiums on Bullion coins and bars are considerably lower than that of numismatic coins as well, so it’s usually much more economical to purchase Bullion. This makes it easier to purchase precious metals in bulk, and store them away for a time in which you may need them. You will find Bullion in multiple shapes and forms, but most notably in a coin, bar or round form factor. Before making the decision on which form factor you should buy, whether it’s for gold or silver, here are a few things to consider: Coins & Rounds are generally more liquid Coins & Rounds are more portable Bars usually have the lowest premium cost 1 Fiat money is currency that a government has declared to be legal tender, but is not backed by a physical commodity. 2 Bullion is defined as gold and silver in the form of bars or ingots with purity exceeding 99.5%. !3 The next option is one of my favorites, and definitely a popular choice among investors across the country, and that is Junk Silver.3 You may be thinking, “Why would I ever want to buy something that’s considered junk?!” and that’s a great question! Here’s the thing: the term “junk silver” is merely an industry term used when referring to old U.S. coinage, specifically dimes, quarters, half-dollars and whole dollar coins, that PRE-date 1965. These coins are instilled with a large amount of silver, in fact 90% of the coins’ composition is pure silver! So, these are Pre-1965 Quarters & Half-Dollars not “junk” but actually very viable investments! Junk silver is an attractive investment for several reasons… It offers the lowest denominations available for silver It offers the smallest form factor of any other popular silver coin It is VERY portable It is worth noting that Junk Silver can easily succumb to supply and demand constraints, due to the fact that these coins are no longer in circulation and have a limited supply. Therefore, when there are times of uncertainty in the markets and investors are looking for a safe-haven investment, they will often times look to Junk Silver, which can quickly limit the overall supply that dealers carry. That’s very important to keep in mind if you are interested in buying Junk Silver someday! The third main option is what TRADEway puts the least amount of emphasis on. The reason is because we don’t feel that it accomplishes all of the important things that the other options that we just discussed do. This third option is related to numismatics.4 In a very general sense, the term “numismatic” refers to a collectible coin. These numismatic coins sell at a MUCH higher premium because they have two kinds of distinct values: intrinsic value and extrinsic value. Intrinsic value refers to the metallic content of the coin, which is worth however much the certain metal is trading for during that time. Extrinsic value (which is really what sets numismatics apart from the others) refers to the rarity, artistry, history, date, Pre-1933 $20 Saint-Gaudens overall condition, and general demand that that particular coin holds. Gold Double Eagle With all of that in mind, doesn’t it seem like if your main objective was to buy precious metals for the sake of preserving your money, and possibly even using it for trade in the distant future, that numismatics would not be the best choice? We don’t think so, and that’s why we feel Bullion and Junk Silver are the wiser choices based on the specific strategies we teach here at TRADEway, because otherwise you’re paying MORE for something that is not anymore useful than the more affordable options! 3 Junk Silver coins are dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollars issued by the U.S. Mint prior to 1965. 4 The study or collection of coins, paper currency, and medals. !4 Let’s take a look at some examples of the comparison between the price of Bullion coins and numismatic and commemorative coins: Table 1: Gold Bullion Coin vs. Gold Numismatic Coin Price Comparison Gold Coin Weight Price* Gold Kangaroo Bullion Coin 1 ozt $1,247.22 .9675 ozt $20 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle $1,407.27 Table 2: Silver Bullion Coin vs. Silver Commemorative Coin Price Comparison Silver Coin Weight Price* Silver Maple Leaf Bullion Coin 1 ozt $17.37 1.5 ozt Silver Polar Bear Commemorative $44.62 As you can see, the difference in the amount you pay for numismatic or commemorative coins and Bullion coins is considerable! In Table 1, we see that in order to purchase the numismatic coin at current prices, we’d have to pay 13% more for LESS metal! That’s because of the extrinsic value that we talked about earlier, which is where the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle gets much of its value from.