So you want to know the absolute truth about silver investments. You want to know if it’s a good idea, why other people are doing it, why you should consider doing it, and exactly how you can do it – if you decide to do so.
Well, I’d like to commend you for one thing: doing your research. You’re already a step ahead of every other new investor out there who would rather jump into the fray unprepared. They’re going to get slaughtered – figuratively, of course – in this tough competition if they don’t study up.
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Investing is tricky, and the same thing applies for investing on silver. Precious metals are different from stocks and bonds, and that’s an entirely different topic we can cover some other day. The point is, they’re all risky. There are risks. You are putting your assets at risk. Why? It’s because you want a shot at greater rewards – that’s why. Investing is a high risk, high reward kind of thing.
But if you’re prepared, and if you know exactly what you’re doing, then you’ll never be in the dark. You’ll know how to play the game. You’ll know what to do with your assets so that you don’t lose the money you’ve worked so hard on. It’s a gamble, sure. But if you don’t go into it with your eyes shut tight, you’re gonna reap plenty for it.
Why Silver?
Let’s Start With The Basics. Why Should You Invest in Silver?
What is the difference between silver and just plain money? Well, for starters, paper currency is extremely unstable. Its value fluctuates every so often, for it is affected by various economic factors. Some people fear that when the economy falls down, the value of their hard-earned money will take the plunge as well. And so they convert some of their wealth to the much more stable precious metals.
Gold and silver are priced high, and they usually stay that way for long periods of time. That’s not to say they aren’t affected by the economy, but their relative stability compared to paper currency makes them a suitable shield for economic problems. You can buy gold or silver, and then just resell them someday, hopefully at a higher price than you got them in the first place. It’s a good way to preserve your wealth when everything is falling apart financially.
Investing in silver is a good idea because they are stackable, easy to store, and they retain their value. Later on we’ll discuss a few more of these reasons.
For Now, Let’s Answer Your Question: “Is Silver a Good Investment?”
Yes, yes it is. But you have to make sure that you only invest on what you can actually afford. You never want to bite off more than you can chew. You don’t want to convert all your money into silver, and then later find out that it’s actually difficult to resell them. Then you’d be left with a bunch of silver you can’t use – and an empty bank account.
The main reason silver is such a big hit these days is its growing industrial demand. Day by day, people are discovering new and better ways to make use of silver. It now has medical applications, as well as uses in electronics, food processing, water treatment, building materials, textiles, paper, and even some consumer products such as soap! If you want to invest in silver you have to know that it has more industrial use than gold. Therefore, the industrial demand is high for these precious metals and the forecasts are pretty good. You’ll want to be one of those who have silver when people go running out of it.
And it runs out fairly quickly. Did you know that there is more demand right now than there is a supply of silver? That makes it rare and difficult to obtain. You know what happens when something is that hard to get: its price is bound to rise. You can check real-time price of silver here..
Just keep in mind that since silver is directly affected by these industries, it is easily affected by economic slowdowns. If the economy slows, the industries that make use of silver are affected, and the demand then shifts.
But as I mentioned earlier, more and more applications for silver are being discovered, so it covers a wide range of industries, making it difficult to actually slow down to a standstill.
Another key factor in silver’s popularity is investment demand. Most of the population doesn’t actually own any silver or gold, so it’s likely that the demand will further increase. When the demand is high, you can easily resell your silver coins for a higher price – you’ll be growing your wealth in the process, while keeping your assets preserved safely in the meantime.
The potential for silver is tremendous, and you can benefit from that later on.
Silver Bars or Silver Coins?
Silver comes in various forms. Here we’re going to focus on the physical forms of silver. If you want to find some silver worth investing in, you can be sure that silver bars and silver coins are some of your best bets. You may be willing to invest in either, but it is necessary for you to understand the differences between the two if you want to pick only one kind.
There are various advantages and disadvantages that each silver form has. You can’t really declare one as the superior of the two.
Let’s start with silver coins. Coins have the status of legal tender, meaning you can use these to pay your debt, and it will be recognized by law as a legitimate payment. Each side of a coin includes an intricate design that changes every now and then. These are produced by the government’s mint, and most of these feature a face value and year stamped on the front, while their purity and weight is inscribed somewhere on the back. Meanwhile, junk coins aren’t made entirely out of silver. They may not be pure, but they contain a percentage of the precious metal ranging from 35 to 90 percent. These make a great investment for some people because they can be purchased at spot price, or slightly below it. One disadvantage to owning coins is that the premium is usually higher than the metal’s spot price. This is mostly because of its collectability, rarity, and its status as legal tender.
Lastly, coins are easier to “barter” or trade off during a crisis. This makes them a highly liquid asset that any clever investor should consider owning.
Bars are a lot less complicated than this. They’re thin, rectangular slabs of metal that are produced by private mints. They are not considered legal tender, but they are still worthy of your consideration. Owning bars is a great way to keep your raw precious metal in 1 to 10 ounce sizes.
They are compact, stackable, and very easy to store. They also have the lowest premium over spot price. This is the reason why serious, large-scale investors are interested in owning as much precious metal as possible – often in bar form.
With that in mind, we can conclude that smaller investors should consider opting for silver coins, while larger investors such as corporations should consider getting bars. Individual investors have more use for legal tender assets anyway, while larger investors don’t need much of collectible assets – they need something that can be purchased at the lowest premium over spot price.
Still, newer investors shouldn’t completely disregard the value of silver bars because they allow them to quickly build their financial portfolio, making you a trustworthy investor.
It all boils down to your own goals and purposes. The easiest similarity between the two is their functionality: protecting your wealth. When deciding whether to go for silver bars or coins, it is important to keep track of your own needs. Now which one emerges victorious in the silver coins vs. bars debate is actually up to you.
Where to Buy Silver
So now you know the basics of silver investing. You want to find out where you can buy some. Of course, the best place to obtain silver is from a trustworthy person – an in person retailer who you actually know in real life. This makes the transaction more comfortable and more convenient. It also makes tracking them down easier if they decide to betray your trust. We are talking about precious metals, after all.
You’re going to be at ease while buying silver from an actual person. If you know someone who’s selling silver, you can negotiate with them better than anyone else. It’s safer, easier, and you get the silver right away.
If you want to retain a little bit of anonymity, you can consider your local coin shops because they usually enable that option.
Another good place to look for silver is online. Yeah, you read that right. But don’t just trust any website. We recommend the Hard Assets Alliance as one of the more trustworthy sites to obtain silver.
The Hard Assets Alliance (HAA) is an industry association of well-known economic and investment research firms that strive to help their clients and readers better understand the economic trends that affect their investments.
It provides a service that’s similar to the benefits that major financial institutions enjoy, except they are making it available to regular people. Individual bullion investors can get their silver from the HAA and enjoy some really cool benefits involving the price, service, storage options, and security of their bought silver.
Other than simply buying silver, it also allows you to sell and store all your precious metals. HAA offers great pricing for investors. Each time you order, they get at least four suppliers to provide a bid, and then the platform compares these bids in order to offer you the best one. You can be sure that the quality of silver will be great because they only offer sovereign coins and standard bullion bars, which hold their value more consistently than other forms. Numismatics or rare coins are not distributed here.
Another great option for obtaining silver is through BullionVault. It gives private investors around the world online access to the professional bullion markets, giving them a wide range of options. This allows you to enjoy the benefit of the lowest costs for buying, selling, and storing gold and silver.
It has more than 36,000 users all over the world. Here, bars are stored and insured in your chosen vault, be it in London, New York, or Zurich. These are some of the world’s most secure bullion storage facilities, and the insurance costs you pay are very low.
Wherever you choose to buy your silver, just make sure it’s not fake. Also avoid buying numismatic coins if you’re a serious investor. These coins have an added price simply for their value for collectors. These are rare coins that only collectors should have. You will be paying extra for its numismatic value while gaining nothing of physical worth.
Unless you want to try collecting coins on the side, don’t buy numismatic coins.
How to Invest in Silver
So it’s clear that the answer to your question of “should I buy silver now” depends on your current standing. If you feel like you can easily convert a healthy portion of your wealth into the precious metal, then silver investing is a great move for you.
Many people ask me, “Is silver a good investment now? Should I Invest in silver?”
If we take this question literally and factor in the current situation for silver, then yes, 2016 is a good idea right now. With the high demand and limited supply, it is clear that the price will only go up for the rest of this year, and well into 2017.
EDITOR'S NOTE
So what you have to do now is get in touch with a professional that can teach you various buying and selling techniques. Wealth adviser Minesh Bhindi can help you familiarize yourself with the many different ways that you can invest in silver through his free webinar.
Sure, you might be better off with silver coins or silver bars as I suggested, but it’s good to know your way around. Learn all about silver mining companies and how they work, learn about silver ETFs, silver futures, silver bullion, and silver coins. The more you know, the better.
Conclusion
Take your time to study the complexity that is silver investing. Maybe someday you can even answer people when they ask you: “is investing in silver a good idea?”
Only physical silver – coins and bars.! Helpful article. Thank you.