Not everyone naturally has a hobby. Sometimes, you need to do a bit of searching to find something that appeals to you. Fortunately, precious metal collecting provides a mix of interesting insights, wealth-building, and fun that few other hobbies can offer.

While the initial cost may seem high, it’s no more expensive than starting out any other hobby, giving you the opportunity to learn more about metals and expand your collection. Aside from a few other hobbies, it’s also one of the only ones that allow you to make some cash while you’re doing it. So if you’re looking to start a new hobby, here are some precious metal collecting tips for beginners to put you on the right track.

1. Types of Precious Metals You Can Buy

While most people think of gold and silver as the only precious metals, you have several other options for your money. Some of the most popular precious metals in terms of intrinsic and trading values include:

• Palladium
• Platinum
• Copper (semi-precious)

In almost all cases, palladium, platinum, gold, and silver are the precious metals with the most value; copper is semi-precious, but due to its high supply, isn’t a huge source of income for collectors.

Due to the fluctuating prices of these other metals, you may want to start with something like gold or silver. Both are highly liquid, so you aren’t out much money if you need to convert them to cash quickly.

2. How to Invest in Precious Metals

You have several ways to invest in precious metals depending on your tastes, storage needs, and liquidity needs. Physical specimens usually hold the most value if you’re a beginner collecting precious metals. This list includes:

• Coins
• Bullion
• Bars/ingots
• Jewelry

If you have no place to store precious metals, you can also consider paper trading investments — although almost all of them center around either gold or silver. Some examples are:

• ETFs (exchange-traded funds)
• Mutual funds
• Futures

Both physical and paper investments have advantages, so you may want to get a mix of both to balance your portfolio.

3. How to Get the Best Rate or Price

The hardest part of collecting precious metals as a beginner is timing your purchases and sales. During times of uncertainty, precious metals tend to gain value rapidly. But when markets are booming, the price of precious metals can stagnate or lower as investors are more open to high-risk options.

As such, you should always keep an eye on the market and read about the sentiment from analysts before you buy or sell to avoid blowing any money.

Always Get the Best Value for Your Metals

Buying and selling precious metals during recessions, booms, or even financial stagnancy can help you maintain wealth or find cash when you need it, but only if you get fair value for your trades.

So rather than sell your metals online, to inexperienced gold shops or jewelry stores, always trust a reputable coin and precious metals dealer.  At London Coin Galleries of Newport Beach that’s all we’ve done for multiple decades.  Always offering you the highest value when selling and the best premium when buying.

Ask us about your next purchase or sale of precious metals in Orange County.