Small investments

When thinking of investing, many people believe you need huge sums of money to get started. The reality is quite different; you don’t need to be rich to begin investing, and gold and silver can be a great way to start making small investments.

Small investments in precious metals are entirely achievable, whether you have £100, £1,000 or £10,000, investing those savings - rather than leaving them in the bank - could benefit you in the long-term. There are a surprising amount of options available even for investors on a budget.

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Small investments for beginners

Precious metals are a great small investment for beginners, they're simple to understand and buy, and don't require thousands to invest.

Having saved up a small amount of money, and decided to invest in precious metals, it might be daunting when checking the gold price to think you need to immediately give more than £1,000 for your first investment.

Whether you're good at saving or not, by putting aside just £10 a month – the average price of a meal in a restaurant – you will have £120 after a year. With just £120 you can easily take your first step in precious metal investment, but you can do so with even less.

Silver is roughly £17 per ounce at the time of writing, and could be considered undervalued. £120 would buy you more than four ounces of silver, beginning your investment without breaking the bank.

If you prefer gold to silver, then £120 is still more than enough to get started. With bars weighing as little as 1 gram, and coins at one tenth of an ounce, there are still options for virtually any initial investment. Whether you buy coins or bars is up to you, but with even £20 a beginner can make their first small investment in precious metals.

For an investor looking to make an investment of £1,000 then the options increase substantially. For those favouring silver, there are bars in larger weights, or you could buy multiple silver coins (reducing the overall margin and giving you more silver for your money overall).

The gold Sovereign is one of the most popular gold coins for UK and global investors, and fits perfectly into this price range. VAT-free, exempt from Capital Gains Tax, and with low premiums, the Sovereign is a great choice for anyone looking to make a small investment in gold.

As your small investment increases in scale, so too do the options in gold and silver; larger bars or coins, or higher numbers of smaller weights, there is something to buy that will suit any need.

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Small investments UK

In the UK, we recommend customers looking to make small investments choose gold coins made by The Royal Mint. These coins enjoy tax benefits on both VAT and CGT, helping you to make the most out of even the smallest investment.

The Royal Mint’s gold Sovereign is one of the most popular investment coins in the world as mentioned above. At roughly a quarter of a troy ounce, the Sovereign is an excellent choice for small investments, but for those on a tight budget there are half sovereigns and quarter sovereigns. These smaller denominations offer incredibly low costs for those looking to buy gold.

The Royal Mint’s Britannia coins are traditionally one ounce, but once again have smaller denominations specifically for those customers looking for the flexibility and reduced risk of a small investment. The gold Britannia has smaller denominations of half-ounce, quarter-ounce, and even tenth-ounce, fitting a range of small investment brackets.

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Precious metal small investments

Gold and silver are not only safe-haven assets that hedge against inflation, but they can also garner significant returns. In the long-term especially, both metals have performed well.

View Gold Price History | View Silver Price History

Though guarantees on future price fluctuations are impossible to give, below are some examples of how small investments in gold or silver would have performed, over a range of timeframes as of 2019.

As the chart above shows, silver had a slightly shaky five-year return but still made a profit, and performed well in the initial three-year period – gaining £143.70. An ISA over the same three year period, with a 3% rate, would have made only £92.72.

Investing long-term is the best idea for most assets and silver is no exception, gaining £460 in ten years. Returning to our 3% ISA sees just £343.92 made in the decade.

Gold fares better and more consistently than silver, but once again it is in longer-term investments that real gains can be made. In our example ISA, a £1,000 investment made £343.92 versus an impressive £760 for gold, more than doubling the money you would have made in the same ten years.

All of the above examples don’t even include any further investments you might make. Treating investments as an additional way to bolster and protect savings means that you can slowly grow your portfolio, expanding and diversifying over time, leaving you a nest-egg for the future and a potential source of income.

Whether it's your first ever purchase, or you’re a seasoned veteran that enjoys making small, carefully considered investments, don’t hesitate to add gold or silver to your portfolio. Our customer support team is ready to help you on 0121 634 8060 or you can email us at support@bullionbypost.co.uk.