Gold and silver are universally valued precious metals that will likely retain their worth if fiat money implodes.
Buying gold and silver is definitely something you may consider adding to your emergency prep plan, as long as you avoid the following seven common mistakes.
7 Common Mistakes Made When Buying Gold & Silver (and How To Avoid Them)
Disclaimer: We’re not investment counselors and aren’t equipped to give personalized financial advice.
Please do your research before buying precious metals, and especially before you invest large amounts of money in silver or gold.
However, having some gold and silver around can be useful in an SHTF scenario. Precious metals could protect some of your wealth and potentially serve as currency.
Just make sure you buy smart and be aware of these pitfalls.
1. Outstripping Your Budget

If you have a limited preparedness budget, start with stockpiling food, fuel, medical supplies, tools, weapons, and ammo.
Setting up a safe bug-out location or equipping your homestead to be more self-sustaining should also be high on your priority list.
Please make sure you have the essentials covered before you move on to stashing gold and silver. For instance, if you must choose between an emergency water purification system and a gold bar, clean water comes first.
Also, keep in mind that some time may pass before people start using metals as a currency in a crisis.
In a short-term emergency, whatever you can eat, drink, use as a medicine, or defend yourself with may be much more practical items for bartering.
2. Overpaying for Gold and Silver

Check the spot price of gold and silver before you buy.
Spot price represents the current market value of precious metals, but when you buy from dealers, you’ll also pay a premium tied to manufacturing, storage, and shipping costs.
Spot prices tend to rise and fall (especially for silver, which is more volatile than gold), so wait for the right opportunity to buy precious metals.
If you buy when there’s a huge spike in demand for gold or silver, you’ll end up seriously overpaying for your metal.
You want to get as much metal as possible for your money. Skip fancy limited-edition or collectible coins, since those come with huge premiums and will lose much of their value in an emergency scenario.
Stick to plain bars, rounds, or legal tender coins.
3. Buying Large Metal Bars

You may buy 10-ounce or 1-kilogram bars at a low premium, but using them as an alternative currency would be a challenge.
If you plan to exchange your gold and silver for useful goods in a crisis, you need small, lightweight, easily tradable pieces.
1-gram and 1-oz gold bars are comparatively more expensive per weight unit but have the advantage of high liquidity. Overall, coins, rounds, or bars up to one ounce offer a good balance between liquidity and price.
You may also consider CombiBars, flat gold or silver bars that you can easily break into small one-gram units.
Junk silver, i.e., previously circulated coins minted before 1965, is another affordable option for stashing silver. True, these coins only contain 90% or less silver, but they still hold metal value and are easily recognizable.
4. Buying Only Gold or Only Silver

If you don’t have the budget to stash gold and thus focus on silver, that’s a valid choice.
However, if you can afford to buy both metals, I recommend doing so. Both gold and silver may potentially be useful in a fiat currency collapse scenario.
Gold is a highly stable and valuable metal. A small quantity holds a lot of worth, so it’s easy to hide and transport.
However, silver is far more useful for small everyday transactions. Silver will work much better if you’re bartering for a dozen eggs or some garden tools.
When pitting gold vs silver, both have advantages and disadvantages to consider.
5. Falling Prey to Fraud

Counterfeit gold and silver are less of a problem with reputable dealers but can be an issue if you purchase your metals elsewhere.
This doesn’t mean you should pass on buying gold and silver from private people. You can sometimes score amazing deals on silver flatware or gold and silver jewelry at garage, yard, and estate sales.
You just need to make sure you’re buying genuine metal.
Pro tip: if a deal is too good to be true, it probably is.
You can use various methods to test gold and silver. First, of course, you should look for purity stamps and hallmarks, but be aware it’s possible to fake those.
Another option is using a strong magnet: if the metal sticks strongly to the magnet, it’s not genuine silver or gold.
Silver and gold coins also make a distinctive sound when they hit a hard surface. You can compare them to a verified genuine coin or download a designated coin test app.
6. Keeping Your Metals Outside the Home

Many articles about buying gold and silver caution against keeping your precious metals at home.
True, keeping gold and silver in a designated storage facility can protect against theft and natural disasters, but it also makes your metals less accessible.
A major point in buying precious metals for emergency prep is making sure you can quickly get your hands on gold or silver when disaster strikes.
If roads are blocked or banks are closed, you might be unable to retrieve your stash.
Split your gold or silver across several secure but easily accessible locations around your home.
You can hide precious metals inside walls, behind decorative molding, under loose floorboards, or in a drawer with a false bottom.
7. Storing Metals in the Wrong Conditions

You don’t need to baby precious metals, but you do need to provide the right storage conditions for your gold and silver.
Gold is easier to store long-term because it’s a highly stable metal and doesn’t tarnish. Jewelry items dating back to the Roman era or earlier have been found in near-pristine shape.
However, high-purity gold is prone to scratching, so you’ll want to stash your bars or coins carefully.
Jewelry is typically less useful than coins or bars for emergency prep purposes, but if you have the chance to buy gold jewelry cheaply (e.g., at an estate sale), keep it in soft pouches or padded storage boxes with compartments to prevent scratching, bending, or tangling.
Silver is more finicky than gold since it tarnishes more easily.
Store it in cool, dry conditions, preferably in a tightly sealed container with a few silica gel packets to reduce moisture.
Anti-tarnishing strips can also help keep your silver shiny. However, if silver does tarnish, don’t worry: it will still retain its metal value, and you can always polish it up.
