What I mean by free educational information

I recently became interested in investing in gold and silver coins. I contacted a dealer for some free information, and received it in the mail yesterday.

A while back I suggested getting financial information for free from your broker or your companies HR department. With what I was sent I thought I would explain the type of information you could get from a financial institution.

I received a fact booklet on investing in coins. This book included the basic history and policies of the company that sent me the info, along with the rate of diversification they recommend, what is a recommended holding period for this type of investment, some basics on how to sell your investment, the amount of risk involved in this type of investment, how their prices are developed, some basics about grading, and what the liquidity of the investments are.

I also received a fact booklet on the company itself. This included basic facts of where incorporated and when, office location, and who their bank and auditors are. It also has a brief overview of their business, products and services.

There is a brochure on precious metals in a self-directed IRA which I haven't reviewed yet.

There are fact sheets on 4 different coins, 3 US and 1 international. These sheets have background information on why the coins are of interest beyond their monetary value, the grades available and some basics about the coins themselves.

Finally I was sent some news articles on investing in Gold, and in the strength of the dollar, a fact sheet on savings bonds and a news release on the company.

All in all, while this is basic information about the investment, it still is information I got for free, and that is giving me a nice basic type of knowledge to start with. Of course, since this is all sent to me by a company that wants me to buy something, I need to take it with a grain of salt. Still, the third party news articles are pretty interesting sources of information, that I wouldn't have found as easily by myself.

Not that I'm trying to recommend any type of investment to anyone mind you, just trying to show the kind of information you can get for free, just by asking for it.

See ya!