How to Start a Silver Stack With $1,000 (What to Buy and What to Skip)

You’ve got $1,000 and you want to start stacking silver. Great. Now you’ve got about fifty ways to waste it. You could buy a limited edition that costs twice what the silver in it is worth. You could pay extra for the card. You could pay shipping on three small orders and end up with something nobody wants to buy back. Or you could spend the same $1,000 and walk away with a few extra ounces and a stack that is easy to sell. The difference is mostly knowing a few things before you click buy.

What $1,000 actually buys

Start with the math, because it tells you what you are aiming for. The formula is:

Ounces ≈ $1,000 ÷ (spot + premium)

The premium is the amount you pay over the spot price. It covers the dealer’s cost of making the product, shipping, and profit. At a spot price of $50 and a 10% premium, your all-in price is about $55 an ounce, and $1,000 buys roughly 18 ounces.

This is the whole game. The lower your premium, the more ounces you get. On a $1,000 budget, the gap between a good buy and a bad one can be a couple of ounces. Keep one number in your head, the all-in price per ounce, and compare everything by it.

The three kinds of silver

For a first stack there are three main categories.

Generic rounds. One-ounce rounds from private mints. They are not government coins, they are usually .999 fine, and they carry no face value. They tend to have the lowest premium of the one-ounce products.
Bars. A 10-ounce bar usually carries a lower premium per ounce than a one-ounce product. A 100-ounce bar is lower still, but it is a large piece for a $1,000 budget.
Government coins. American Silver Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs, and British Britannias. These carry the highest premiums, but they are the easiest to recognize and sell.

What each one costs over spot

These ranges come from dealer guides this summer. Expect them to move with the market.

100-ounce bar: about 2 to 4% over spot
10-ounce bar: about 3 to 6% over spot
Generic round: about 5 to 12% over spot
Maple Leaf or Britannia: about 12 to 20% over spot
American Silver Eagle: about 15 to 25% over spot. I first said 10 to 20% in the video. The dealer guides I used put it at 15 to 25% this summer, which is why the third build below uses 20%.

Premiums swing a lot. In a normal market, an Eagle might cost $5 to $10 over spot, and in a tight market it can cost more. What matters is the price you see at checkout.

Three ways to spend $1,000

To compare the builds, I use $50 silver and the middle of each range.

Build one: maximum ounces. All generic rounds at about 8.5% over spot. That is roughly $54 an ounce, and $1,000 buys about 18.5 ounces.

Build two: a bar plus rounds. One 10-ounce bar at about 4.5% over spot, which comes to about $522 for the bar. Put the remaining money into rounds at about 8.5% over and you end up with almost 19 ounces in total.

Build three: the easy-to-sell build. All government coins. Eagles at about 20% over spot cost about $60 an ounce and give you about 16.7 ounces. Maples at about 16% over give you about 17.2 ounces.

The gap between the cheapest build and the easiest-to-sell build is about two ounces at $50, a little over $100. Whether that is worth it depends on how you plan to sell.

Rounds, bars, or coins?

If you want the most silver for your money, go with a 10-ounce bar, generic rounds, or a mix. Compare the all-in price per ounce, because sometimes the bar is cheaper and sometimes the rounds are, and it changes by dealer and by week. A 10-ounce bar gives you a lot of silver in one piece at a lower premium. Its downside is that it is inflexible. You will not want to cut it in half if you ever need to sell a little.

Rounds are the opposite. They are easy to sell a few at a time, easy to hold, and easy to count.

If you want the easiest sale later, get Eagles or Maples. Most people in North America recognize them, and nearly any dealer will take them. Eagles in particular often resell closer to what you paid over spot. Buyback terms vary by dealer, so take that with a grain of salt. Generic rounds and bars usually sell back near spot or slightly under, and that is fine as long as you know it going in.

If you can’t decide, a mix works. For example, one 10-ounce bar, three Maple Leafs, and the rest in rounds comes to about 18.5 ounces. You get cheap bulk and an easy-to-sell core.

What not to buy

This is the section that saves you the most money.

Colorized rounds, privy marks, and limited editions. You are paying for the art, not the silver. These carry premiums far above the ranges above, and the next buyer may only pay for the metal.
Proofs and graded slabs. These are collector’s coins, and their price depends on condition, not just silver content. It can be a fun hobby, but it is a different one from stacking.
One-gram and other tiny bars. Anything under one ounce is fractional, and the smaller the piece, the higher the premium per ounce. That is why you should count ounces, not pieces.
Anything that sounds too good. Be careful with prices far below the usual range. Counterfeits are out there, especially on marketplaces where you have to verify everything yourself. Buy from a dealer you can look up.
Anything from TV ads or call-in offers. If someone is pushing a limited collector offer and rushing you, walk away.

I’m not against the fun stuff. I like the designs, and part of why I started buying silver to go with my gold is that I could get more interesting designs for much less than gold costs. But I keep them separate. They are a small side bucket that comes after the core is built, not part of the first $1,000.

How to pay less

These are small things, but they add up.

Pay by e-check or ACH. It sounds more intimidating than it is. Many online dealers connect your bank through a third-party login, so you are not handing your account details to the dealer. Most dealers price silver based on how you pay. Credit cards usually cost about 3.5 to 4.5% more than ACH. On a $1,000 order, paying by card instead of ACH costs you about 0.7 ounces, or roughly $35. The major dealers I have used, including JM Bullion, SD Bullion, APMEX, and Bullion Exchanges, all accept e-checks. The trade-off is that they usually wait a week or so for the payment to clear before they ship. Your price is locked in during that time, which can work for or against you depending on what silver does.

Hit the free-shipping minimum. Many dealers ship free once your order passes a threshold. For some large dealers it is around $200, and for others it is closer to $500. If you are buying a little at a time, don’t place several small orders and pay shipping on each. Save up and place one bigger order.

Compare prices side by side. Price-comparison sites let you line up dealers for the same product. Dealers change prices daily and run specials and sales constantly, so check before you buy.

Local coin shop or online?

I like local coin shops because there is a real use for them. You can take your silver home today, inspect it in person, and skip shipping and waiting for a package. When you sell, you already have a relationship with that dealer, which makes selling easier.

The trade-off is price. Local shops usually charge more. One guide puts local premiums at about 8 to 20% and online premiums at about 3 to 8%. On $1,000 at $50 silver, that is the difference between about 18.5 ounces and about 16.7 ounces.

Here is how I would use a local shop. Check online prices first. Ask the shop what their premium over spot is on the specific piece, and ask what they would pay to buy it back. If they are close to online, buy local. If they are far off, buy online.

Don’t buy it all in one day

Silver has been on a wild ride lately, with a sharp run to a record and then a steep drop within the same year. If you are nervous, split the $1,000 into two or three buys spaced a few weeks apart. That is a version of dollar-cost averaging. You don’t have to guess the price or time the market perfectly.

After you buy

Keep your receipts. If you ever sell at a profit, you need to know what you paid and when you bought it. In the United States, physical silver is taxed as a collectible, so talk to a tax professional, but keep records either way.

Keep the stack private. Don’t post photos that show where you store it or how much you have. Check whether your home insurance covers precious metals, since many policies have limits on them. Store the silver somewhere cool and dry, which helps prevent toning and other blemishes.

The rules

Compare the all-in price per ounce, not the sticker price.
Buy bullion bars, rounds, and government coins.
Skip colorized, limited, and graded pieces for your first $1,000.
Pay by e-check if you can.
Always meet the free-shipping minimum.
Choose Eagles or Maples if you want the easiest sale later, and bars or rounds if you want the most ounces.
Split the buy if you are nervous.
Count ounces, not dollars.

With $1,000 you can end up with roughly 17 to 19 ounces, depending on what you buy. That is a solid start. After that, keep going a little at a time, ounce by ounce.

Tell me in the comments what you would buy first with $1,000. This is not financial advice. I’m not a financial advisor, so do your own research before you buy.

This is not financial advice.