<prompt> Human: This year I have begun my mission to save up money. I have no savings at all. I find it hard to save up and thought that by buying silver I might be able to save up more easily as I cant just withdraw cash at an ATM.My questions are...1. Does this make any sense?2. Will I be losing money in the short term or long term with the price of silver constantly changing?3. If its a reasonable idea, should I buy Silver Eaglespremium, APMEX 1 oz rounds, or something else?Please note:Im not really doing this as an investment, but the possibility of gaining a little doesnt hurt.I know nothing about silver.I intend to buy 1 oz. at a time because I have very little income.___I look forward to reading all your responses as well as suggestions of alternative ways to save up. Thanks!  <response>: Im personally not a fan of purchasing precious metals as a way of savings, but there are quite a few people who are. Its definitely not an investment in the strictest sense, as many people fool themselves into thinking, but is more like taking a wad of cash and shoving it in your mattress. My savings are almost entirely in stock and bonds, which in theory are backed by actually producing something, rather than just holding something of value. There are several fairly easy ways to get it set up so your automatically have some portion of your paycheck pulled out this way.It sounds like you dont have much in the way of savings at all though, so you probably should save up an emergency fund of several months worth of expenses first. Keeping that emergency fund at some place like Ally or ING Direct would mean that you would have to jump through several hoops to get your money back, but it would still be far more liquid than almost any other form in the case of an emergency.That said, the idea of having a safe full of silver coins is actually pretty cool, and it doesnt sound like it wouldnt be terribly expensive... I might have to actually look into keeping some silver that way. 