Whenever you sell old jewellery, silver heirlooms, or coin collections, it can bring a welcome influx of cash. Unlike other old belongings, precious metals have enduring value, and there will always be a buyer willing to pay for the metal contents of gold and silver items.
Finding a good local silver buyer can help you maximize your returns. Most of them will provide a free evaluation where they check the purity of the silver and weigh the items. Silver buyers won’t just rely on a hallmark, but should test the purity of your pieces with an XRF machine. Once you get an offer, you may want to consider getting multiple quotes to get the best price. It’s a straightforward but profitable process that anyone can follow.
Credit: Mr.Autthaporn Pradidpong via Unsplash
Whether selling your precious metals has netted you a few hundred dollars or a few thousand, these are some of the smartest ways you can spend (or save) it.
The Pros and Cons of Mutual Funds
Investing in your retirement is a very smart way to spend those funds. Mutual funds are portfolios of different stocks put together by professional fund managers to achieve certain levels of growth with certain levels of risk.
They are much easier to manage than trying to pick stocks yourself. Mutual funds are meant to be the kind of investment that you can set and forget.
Paying Down Debt: Stop Paying Interest
Getting out of debt is one of the best financial goals you can set for yourself. Investing generates money in one of two ways: appreciating values (i.e., stocks and commodities) and generating income (interest rates, rents, and dividends).
When you’re in debt, you’re the one paying those interest rates to somebody else. Once you’re out of debt, you keep more of your own money. Suddenly, you can start putting those debt payments toward your own savings.
Bonds: How Interest Rates Can Help or Hurt
Bonds are considered one of the safer investment options available to you. They tend to offer very low risk for your principal (the amount of money that you invest in the first place), but they offer limited returns.
Interest rates from bonds depend on risk levels and prime lending rates. Lending to higher-risk borrowers can give you higher returns.
For most investors, though, the biggest risk you face when you invest in bonds is inflation. When inflation is higher than the interest rates on bonds, your cash can slowly wind up losing money.
Investing in Precious Metals: Turning Jewellery into Bullion
There may be another path you can take as well. Many investors like to dedicate a portion of their investment portfolio to precious metals like gold and silver. It’s a great alternative asset that hedges against inflation and can maintain its value in times of crisis when faith in fiat currency falls.
This can mean one of two things: holding on to your jewellery and heirlooms, or selling it and buying bullion instead.
You might be curious as to why it makes sense to exchange one type of silver for another, but as a general rule, jewellery tends to sell for a lot less than its purchase price. You’re paying for the design and the brand, and the purity tends to be lower. Bullion coins and bars are made of a higher purity (typically 99.9%) and retain their value better when you sell.
When you sell your silver, have a plan for what to do with the proceeds. That way, you can make the absolute most of it.