Gold and silver are popular choices when it comes to investing in precious metals, they generally hold their value and remain safe investments. The prices will fluctuate from day to day but they do hold their own when it comes to long term investing. Like any other investment you can buy gold and silver online but you need to be very cautious about doing so. Before you start investing, always learn about the market first. Once you understand the precious metals market now you are ready to trade. Here are some tips on buying and selling gold online.
How Precious Metals are Valued
Gold and other precious metals are valued based on purity and weight. Using gold as an example the closest thing you will get to pure gold is 22K. Jewelry and coins are never pure gold the metal is too soft for that. Gold is weighed by the troy ounce and that is what the price of gold is based on. A troy ounce is a little bit heavier than a traditional ounce. The value will change from day to day, you can find the price of gold here. Wherever you end up buying gold from make sure the price is in line with the market price. Here is what you can expect in the coming year.
Vet the Seller
Never buy gold from some random website without doing some due diligence first. Look through their website and make sure there is some method of contact beyond a form, ideally you want an address and phone number. Someone that only communicates through email is somewhere you want to steer well clear of. Check with online review sites to see their reputation and how they treated previous customers.
Read Over Everything Carefully
Be wary and cautious if this is a seller that you have never worked with before. Read over the description of the precious metals and look for weight and purity. Make sure that there are pictures and if you are buying bullion look for a stamp. Yes it is difficult to determine the weight or purity but a picture but this all goes toward determining if the seller is credible or not.
If it is too Good to be True
If you find a super crazy deal that is too good to be true then you probably want to pass. Don’t make impulse buys because you see a crazy low price. Double check absolutely everything.
People invest in precious metals for all kinds of reasons. Some want to diversify their portfolio, others are hedging against another financial meltdown and then there are those that thing buying gold or silver is a get rich quick scheme. Making money with gold and silver is more of a long term strategy and you should try your hand at precious metals thinking you’ll be rich by next week. That is one of the more common mistake among others. Don’t make these mistakes when buying gold and silver online.
Not Doing Your Research
This is like any other investment and you need to do your research before you start investing. You need to learn more about investing and investing in precious metals in particular before you jump in. There are tons of website online where you can learn you can check out seekingalpha.com or cointalk.com for lots of information. There are forums where investing is discussed and groups on Facebook or LinkedIn where you can talk with experts.
Quick Fix Strategies
There are people who spend their lives chasing the next “get rich quick” scheme and trading precious metals is just another strategy they are following. More often than not it is the investor that is the problem more so than the strategy. You need to take a step back and realize that investing in gold and silver is a long term strategy so budget your investing accordingly. Which brings us to the next point.
Throwing Everything You Have into Gold/Silver
Never invest all of your savings into one investment, that is pretty much rule number one of investing. First you need to figure out your financial goals and then determine how much you are willing to put into precious metals. Plan to develop your portfolio over time investing regularly over time. Never borrow money to invest and neither should buy using leverage either. You can get into investing with very little money today so there is no need to borrow.
Investing in precious money can help you build wealth but give your investments the attention and respect that they deserve. These are some of the more common pitfalls that new investors fall prey to not to mention there are plenty of unscrupulous dealers out there. Take the time to learn how these investments work and listen to experts, that is how you make money investing, don’t jump on every trend that you think will make you money.