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You definitely want to buy the physical metal, not paper surrogates. There is a retail shortage that has hamstrung conventional sales by the treasury etc. This is not a total shortage but a market distortion caused by speculators. Try coin shows where it's cash on the barrelhead, and make gradual purchases to increase your stash. Forget about ETF's they do not have the metal to back up their shares, in violation of SEC regulations (except CEF, I believe, the Canadian metals fund). And do not expect to make a windfall overnight. Precious metals do not follow obvious free market expectations because the actual total market cap is small and can be effectively manipulated by a few large commercial speculators. But, if you go the private purchase route and buy real metal to have and hold, at least you will be invisible to the gubbermint. And that makes it the safest move available.

Thanks.
Pretty much what I intended anyway, but you supplied some details I wasn’t aware of.

I’m going to need a precious metals broker. That’s why I started this thread; Just to see who other people have dealt with, rather than just general investment advice... Got the what and how covered, I mostly just need to know the who ;-).

Thanks again.

You definitely want to buy the physical metal, not paper surrogates. There is a retail shortage that has hamstrung conventional sales by the treasury etc. This is not a total shortage but a market distortion caused by speculators. Try coin shows where it's cash on the barrelhead, and make gradual purchases to increase your stash. Forget about ETF's they do not have the metal to back up their shares, in violation of SEC regulations (except CEF, I believe, the Canadian metals fund). And do not expect to make a windfall overnight. Precious metals do not follow obvious free market expectations because the actual total market cap is small and can be effectively manipulated by a few large commercial speculators. But, if you go the private purchase route and buy real metal to have and hold, at least you will be invisible to the gubbermint. And that makes it the safest move available.

That depends on what you want to do.

ETFs are great for speculating on price movements in metals and other commodities, but you are right about cashing them in for real stuff that will hurt your foot if dropped.

Bullion is great as a hedge against total economic collapse, but getting in and out rapidly is a problem.

Different tools for different problems.

When it all boils down to it, copper jacketed lead could be more valuable than gold.

But, if you go the private purchase route and buy real metal to have and hold, at least you will be invisible to the gubbermint. And that makes it the safest move available.

Fly under the radar and buy casting grain, 14 or 18K. If worse comes to worse, you can weigh out small amounts and use it for currency to buy food, the way miners and gold panners payed for their whiskey. Why pay the value-added for minted coins and have the paper trail?