Learn about physical gold and silver, one step at a time.

Short lessons in the order to take them: what real money is, how gold and silver work, buying and holding physical metal, paper compared with physical, selling, and building a plan. Start at the first course.

1. Start here (1 lesson): This course explains what makes something real money, what the word fiat means, and how a dollar differs from a lasting store of value. It follows the history of money from grain, shells and furs to gold and silver, and from the Roman denarius to the end of dollar-gold convertibility in 1971. By the end the reader understands how banks, central banks and interest rates fit together, and why gold and silver have been held alongside currency.
2. Gold and silver (1 lesson): This course looks at gold, silver, platinum and palladium: what each one is, where its demand comes from, and how each behaves differently. It covers gold's slow-growing above-ground supply, silver's two roles as money and as an industrial metal, and the gold-to-silver ratio. By the end the reader can explain what separates a monetary metal from an industrial one.
3. Buying physical (4 lessons): This course explains how physical bullion is priced and sold: the spot price, the premium over it, and what each part of a premium pays for. It tours the coins, bars, rounds and classic American silver on the market, then covers how to evaluate a dealer and how counterfeits and misleading sales work. By the end the reader understands what is being paid for in a bullion purchase and which questions bring it into view.
4. Paper vs physical (1 lesson): This course explains the difference between owning metal and owning a claim on metal. It covers futures, exchange-traded funds, unallocated and allocated accounts, segregated storage and digital platforms, and then the choices for keeping physical metal at home or in a professional vault. By the end the reader can say what each arrangement is, who holds the metal, and what kind of claim the owner has.
5. Selling (3 lessons): This course covers selling precious metals: why the price a dealer pays is lower than the price a dealer charges, and how local shops, national dealers and online sales differ. It also covers how the IRS treats precious metals as collectibles, why purchase records matter, and how rebalancing works as a selling discipline. By the end the reader understands the steps and costs involved in turning metal back into cash.
6. Your plan (2 lessons): This course follows the book's life stages and generations, from the young investor to the legacy keeper, and shows how the same ideas apply at each age. It describes the book's frameworks for how much is enough, a personal audit, a monthly, quarterly and annual routine, self-directed IRAs, mining stocks, and the six principles of its closing manifesto. By the end the reader has a way to think through their own situation in their own terms.