LargelyIgnorant

Just found a good thread on buying silver in the UK on Kitco: https://www.kitcomm.com/showthread.php?t=17978&page=7 (link is to page 7 of the thread where they are discussing VAT)

Maybe think about your timescale, what you're trying to accomplish and the risks you're prepared to take. I'm looking to swap gold for a house in the UK in about 5 years time, but also want gold as disaster insurance (the probability of a paper gold default over the next 5 years are, imo, relatively high*). Unless you are able to accurately predict the price of gold (have a look at the people on kitco who spend much of their lives trying to), the spread between spot and the price you can buy physical will probably end up less than the commission you pay for each trade. I've been pound cost averaging into physical gold & silver since '05 (avoiding loading up too much on parabolic spikes) and it's worked well. Some of my numismatics have vastly outperformed bullion, too. * In the situation where paper gold is defaulted on, it is likely that inflation & money supply will be high. You will end up getting your money back, but there will be such a long lag between the default event and the return of your money (valued on the default event date) that your returned stake will be worth far less.

So, this is where you ended up, GF How are you? All going to plan, isn't it?