People who are considering entering the silver investment market often wonder, “How can I learn where to buy silver?” Sure, they can ask their friends but if their friends are not shrewd investors they can easily be led down a dangerous path. The first thing to learn is you should never buy silver from a telephone number you see advertised on television. The companies who sell silver this way almost always have a markup of anywhere between $50 to $100 per ounce more than the silver is actually worth. They will market it as being rare or a limited minting but these coins are almost always mass produced and anything but rare. You will be paying top dollar for coins that have very little value.
Never purchase a silver exchange traded fund. These are funds that invest mostly in silver assets. These are held in trust by a fund manager or custodian. These are usually established as a grantor trust and each share of the ETF guarantees a specific right to a precise amount of silver which is measured in ounces. Silver ETFs try to track as closely as possible the price of silver on the silver open market. If you purchase a silver ETF you will not actually own the silver itself because it is an unaudited asset and therefore can not be owned. You are purchasing your silver because you want to own it, not because you want to have a promise that you will own it someday. If you own a silver ETF you can never withdraw your silver. You may only sell it. Chances are the company that sold you the silver ETF will go bankrupt anyway and then you won’t even be able to sell it.
Do not purchase anything called a silver certificate or any type of “paper silver”. This should be adhered to even if it is backed by a government somewhere. Any kind of government is the least trustworthy when it comes to backing a silver certificate.
Once you have actually purchased and received your silver, never let anyone else store it for you. This means a third-party storage system is not a good thing.
Do not buy a “leveraged” silver products and this includes a futures contract. They can default and you should expect them to default. Most futures contracts are major scams and should be avoided at all cost.
So just where to buy silver then, you might be asking?
Only buy silver from a trusted numismatic dealer or an online dealer that is certified to do business in silver. Beware of online scams. There are hundreds out there. You must conduct aggressive due diligence if you are going to purchase silver online.
The best place to buy silver is from a local dealer. Pay cash for it. Knowing where to buy silver is probably the hardest part of investing in the silver market. With a little bit of careful research you will be able to determine where to buy silver in a way that will surely satisfy you a great deal.
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