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Get started with silver

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Have you heard those ads about buying silver, the ones where radio personalities insist it’s the only smart thing to do with your money?

It sounds great, for sure, to have a stockpile of silver in a hidden vault, especially because since June, silver has gone up 24 percent, but there’s more to it than just buying silver.

What exactly do you buy?

For example, there’s a question of …

Silver Bullion vs. Junk Silver

That word “bullion” comes up often in heist movies, but isn’t often defined. It’s a simple as this … pure. Bullion is 99.9 percent pure silver (also known as .999 fine, which sounds even cooler).

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Now the question is about the form silver comes in.

Silver bars

Since bullion is simply 99.9 percent pure silver, you could theoretically get a huge lump of the stuff. But for the sake of convenience, you’ll find silver molded into either bars or coins.

Silver bars are the most convenient to buy. They are compact, easy to move around and even easier to store. They come in sizes from 1 ounce up to the massive 1,000-ounce bars. The most popular size bar, however, is the 10 ounce because it is flat and uniform and fits nicely in a safe.

Silver Rounds

Though silver bars may be the most convenient, silver rounds are far more popular. Silver bullion rounds can be broken into two categories. The first and least expensive is the generic 1-ounce silver round. This is privately minted and comes in a variety of designs. The other is the government-issued 1-ounce silver coin, with a currency value attached to it. There are a number of countries that put out this type of bullion coin, and some are very collectible, but the most popular is the U.S. Silver Eagle.

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Junk silver, though, is coins with a “junky” 90 percent purity. The name might be a put-off, but this silver is a far cry from junk. In fact, the reason it’s called junk is not the 90 percent purity, but because the coins have no collector value. The value is the silver content.

When you’re buying junk silver, the most popular and common form is pre-1965 US dimes, quarters and half dollars. You can buy junk in any quantity, too, from a single dime to a large bag with a $1,000 face value (face value is simply the printed value, like 10 dimes equals a $1 face value).

So what’s a good place to start? Take $20 or $40 out of your paycheck and head over to a local coin shop. Buy a little bit of silver each time. A few rounds here, a bar there, and the silver stacks up quickly, perhaps providing a little exhilaration and peace of mind at the solid, tangible investment you’ve made.

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