Turner Jones Precious Metals and Crypto Finance

Investments In The Platinum Group

You cannot be blamed if you think of precious metals and only remember silver and gold. These two metals have long histories with human civilization. Their significance and value are practically burned into the racial consciousness of humanity by now.

There are, however, other members of the precious metals family. They are all a part of a separate group of precious metals known as the Platinum Group. The metals in this group are very valuable but they have shorter histories of familiarity with humans because they were only discovered in the last few centuries.

What Is the Platinum Group?

Platinum itself was discovered by Europeans in the 16th century but no one did any sort of investigation into it until the 18th century. The term platinum is derived from the Spanish word meaning little silver. This phrasing was used because platinum does have a luster similar to silver.

However, the Spaniards of a few centuries ago just considered it an impurity in silver which they tried to draw out. While all precious metals are rare, platinum is extremely rare.

Subsequent centuries brought the discovery of other, even rarer, precious metals to be added to this group. The group was named after platinum itself because these additional members all bear some similarities to platinum and its properties.

Platinum shares some qualities with silver and gold. It is dense and malleable. Like silver, it is ductile and can be fashioned into wire shapes that retain a high degree of integrity. Platinum also lacks reactivity, making it very valuable in various applications.

Other members of the platinum group are palladium, ruthenium, iridium, osmium, and rhodium. All of them are extremely resistant to wear and even chemical attacks. This is part of what makes platinum so valuable as a material from which to manufacture catalytic converters for automobiles.

The other five members of the platinum group are often found in platinum deposits themselves, though in smaller quantities. Interestingly, ruthenium, rhodium, and palladium are found after fission reactions in nuclear reactors. Thus, the nuclear power industry is turning into an alternate source for these metals.

Investing in the Platinum Group

Platinum has usually had a higher per-ounce value than even gold throughout history. The present conditions are unique and have pushed the gold price narrowly ahead of platinum.

This exceptional value for platinum surprises many first-time investors, who often assume that gold sits atop a pinnacle of value not approached by any other. All of the members of the platinum group have high values, especially when compared to silver.

At present, platinum is worth a little more than $1,600 per ounce, trailing just behind gold. Platinum has been closing the recently-formed gap between itself and the price of gold for some time now.

Investing in platinum is not difficult. Many of the same avenues for investment that are available for silver and gold also exist for platinum. For example, many countries that produce silver and gold coins as legal tender and as investment targets also mint platinum coins in higher denominations. You can also buy bars of platinum from many of the same vendors that make bars of other precious metals.

An easy source of platinum coins is the United States Mint. The American Platinum Eagle is a coin offered yearly in sizes ranging from one-tenth of an ounce to a full troy ounce. The one-ounce coin is given a face value of $100. This should be disregarded by investors because the coin sells for higher prices that are well above spot value.

Choosing to Buy Gold and Precious Metals

Many of the people investing in gold and precious metals are not the traditional buttoned-up investment types of people either. These are people who have grown increasingly mistrustful of governments that continuously manipulate the value of paper money and interest rates. They’ve become disenfranchised to some degree with rates of inflation, the idea of deflation, and trying to pay their bills and just get by. More and more of these people are searching online for the best place to buy gold and precious metals. Many of them are also interested in where to sell gold and precious metals as well.

People investing in gold and precious metals are not the traditional buttoned-up investment types

These people are not at all interested in learning more about the gold bullion IRA accounts they can have. They’d rather just invest in gold and precious metals with the understanding that if the worst case ever does take place then they are prepared – to some degree – to deal with the financial fallout of a dollar collapse and will have something of value to exchange for goods and services. For the average “non-investor” type of a person, it’s enough to make your head spin especially if you’re trying to find out how to buy gold and precious metals for the first time or just beginning to wrap your mind around the precarious nature of our current currency. What you need to know though is straight up and simply put how to purchase gold and precious metals.

For people who fear the government and the growing control the government is taking over all things money, a single gold bullion ounce represents security and even freedom. They aren’t concerned with finding ways to get the best rate for gold and precious metals. This isn’t about increasing their net worth or filling out their portfolio. This is about survival to them, and feeling as if they are the ones (finally) in control, pure and simple. (Some of these people may be the same sort of people who are considering building a chicken coop in their backyard, so they know they can feed their family, no matter what happens.) Besides, the gold and precious metals price today unfortunately is not likely to be the price you’ll pay for gold and precious metals tomorrow. The price is constantly changing. But the good news is that even if the value of dollars or yen or anything else falls, gold values will be even higher.

It’s possible to find gold and precious metals for sale that are fairly easy to transport and store as well. The problem most people come across with gold bullion selling and buying is that they must go out of their way to make the transactions. It is possible though to buy silver bullion online as well as gold. When you buy gold online you can get Canadian gold bullion for a decent price as far as shipping is concerned. You can also buy gold bullion direct from local retailers that specialize in gold and precious metals.

It doesn’t matter why you’ve decided to buy gold and precious metals

It doesn’t matter why you’ve decided to buy gold and precious metals or what the gold index has to say about the value of gold today. What matters is that you can get the amount of gold and precious metals you feel you need to feel financially secure today and in the future. There’s a lot of gold and precious metals selling going on across the world. There’s no reason you can’t get in on it and enjoy the peace of mind that goes along with the feeling that your family’s financial future is secure.

When to Buy Silver And Precious Metals

Learning how to buy silver and precious metals in a bar, or bullion form is the first thing you need to do once you decide to invest in precious metals.

When you learn how to buy silver ingots, you will find that they range in size from quite large, down to fractions of an ounce. Buying silver bars, or ingots, generally gives you more precious metal for your investment dollar. This is because you pay a much higher price per ounce for silver coins, or jewelry, by weight. The markup is much greater due to the artistry and labor involved in putting out a coin, or jewelry. Silver bars are the cheapest to produce of the common forms of investment silver and precious metals.

When learning how to buy silver and precious metals, look to see what bars are popular in your area.

You want to do this so that it is easier to sell your silver bars when you choose to do so. You also want to consider that if you buy too large a bar, you may have trouble finding a buyer later on. Unless you turn into a huge buyer, you usually want to stay with bars that run one ounce or less. If you do buy larger bars, make note of other people and other businesses in your areas that do a lot of trading in the larger ingots, to give you an idea of where you could sell when the time comes.

Once you learn how to buy silver, you need to learn where the best place to buy it is.

You can always buy from a private party, and you can always hit a place like eBay on the web. I would recommend that if you do buy from a private party, you enlist a reputable company that can verify the weight and purity. There are bad people that you might meet in any situation, and you need to have protection against any unscrupulous individuals.

When you find a good company to buy from, research its reputation before developing a relationship.

A good company will be very willing to provide references. You can also easily check to see if they have been mentioned negatively in the media. Government investigations are readily reported in the news. Once you find the company you wish to deal with, I suggest you make your first purchases smaller ones, even if you have more to invest. A good company will walk you through how to buy precious metals: even small ones, because they know if they provide good customer service, you will be coming back for more later on. This also allows you to learn the ropes by doing with the smallest risk.
When you learn how to buy silver and precious metals, always insist on checking the weights of any metals that you purchase. The closer your attention to detail, the safer you will be, and the more respect you will garner from those you deal with. When the company you choose sees that you intend to take an active and involved role in your gold investments, you will find your dealings go easier.

Once you know the “what” and the “how” of investing in silver and precious metals, you will start wondering about the “when”.
When should you invest? Is there a time, or circumstance that is better than others when investing in silver and precious metals? The idea in all investments is to buy low, and sell high: this is how you make a profit. That makes the answer to this one twofold:

1.) You do not want to sink all of your money that is available to be invested into just one area. Investing in smaller amounts of precious metals regularly is a good plan. One week, when you buy the price, may be up, which means you will walk away with less weight of the metal for your money, but the next week the price may have dropped, so you will then get more metal for your money. Doing it this way will average out, and you will do quite well. You will also find yourself being educated as to the “normal” fluctuations in the price of silver (Look at you: you’re becoming an “expert”!). You will also maybe be able to make some mental connections between the price going up or down, and what is going on in the news, with the banks or the stock market, which will, later on, give you an idea of what the price might do in different situations.
2.) If you have a chunk of money to invest in gold, silver, or other precious metals, then I recommend doing small weekly buys, always keeping tabs on the price. This way if you see a big dip in the price, you will notice it right away and know you can invest a larger amount that week.

If you have been paying attention while making your smaller weekly investments, you will be able to make an educated guess as to why the price dipped, and be able to guess if it will come right back up, or might continue down. Many people panic when the prices drop even a little and stop buying, but if everything you see tells you the price should come back soon, then that makes it an ideal time to buy more than you usually do. If you do so, then you will get far more metal for your money than you would have. When the price comes back, you will be a happy investor!

Note……… silver price Canada!