Silver maintains its value over the long term and does well when interest rates are low and fixed-income investments don't generate much profit. In this way, silver works like gold as an investment and performs a similar function as a safe haven. You can buy silver through local dealers and pawnshops or from online retailers such as APMEX or JM Bullion. Be careful if you buy collectible coins, as you are likely to pay more for the collectability of the coin, meaning that you overpay for actual silver content.
Although no major economy is using gold or silver as the basis of its currency anymore, investors continue to view these two metals as active deposits of value. Silver futures are an attractive way to play in the silver market due to the large amount of leverage available in futures contracts. However, with an ETF you can avoid some of the biggest risks of owning physical silver, namely the risk of theft, lack of liquidity and low trading prices. Interest in the silver market tends to grow every time the price of silver increases, and investors are starting to wonder if the time is right to add physical silver to their investment portfolios.
Investors like silver for many of the same reasons they like gold and precious metals in general. Investing in silver isn't a good option for everyone, and some investors prefer to focus on companies with cash flow rather than investing in the metal itself.
Gold and silver
are especially popular commodity investments, largely because of their historical relationship with money. This is especially true in the case of silver, since it is a very small market and is not as serious as gold.Holding physical silver, whether in the form of coins or ingots, is a psychologically and emotionally satisfying way to invest in silver. Until the current system is redesigned to discourage the rampant creation of currencies and politicians become more financially responsible, history has it that silver will continue to be an important asset to own. If demand remains at current levels, it will be difficult for everyone who wants silver to get all the quantity they need. That means that if you want to buy silver in the form of a coin to use as a currency, it will be easier to break than a gold coin because it has a lower value.
Part of the explanation for the fall is that about two-thirds of the supply of silver mines comes from operations with base metals (copper and zinc, for example). As Mike Maloney says in his best-selling book, A Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver, “Gold and silver have appreciated over the centuries and have used the fiduciary role to make them accountable for themselves.
