How to Invest in Silver for Fun and Profits
Silver is like Gold’s little brother. No one pays much attention to him. Gold is attractive, desirable, and much more expensive. The price of gold can be volatile, and it makes for an exciting investment. Investing in Silver is also a great decision.
Aside from its use in jewelry and a few electrical components, though, gold has minimal industrial use. In fact, gold’s only true value is that people like it. The amount of gold sitting in vaults already exceeds the quantity that anyone could ever use.
Silver has much more practical use. Over 40% of the demand for silver is for industrial applications. In contrast, Silver is used in electrical applications because it’s the industrial metal with the lowest electrical resistance. The medical field uses silver due to its anti-bacterial properties.
Silver can be a good investment, too. People have been using silver as a form of money and wealth storage for over 4,000 years.
The price of silver is a function of supply and demand, as well as speculation. This is true for most commodities. Hence, Silver also serves as an excellent hedge against inflation.
Consider these options for investing in silver:
- Silver bars. Silver bars can be purchased in several sizes. They are sold in troy ounces and the common weights are 1 ounce, 5 ounces, 10 ounces, 100 ounces, and 1000 ounces. The larger the bar, the lower the cost per ounce. You can purchase bars online and at retail outlets.
- Silver doesn’t have as many storage limitations as gold. This form of investment also doesn’t yield any interest.
- Most large banks in some European countries allow buying and selling of silver bars.
- Exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This permits the investor to own shares in a trust that actually buys and holds silver. You can avoid worrying about storage or insurance. The largest silver ETF is iShares Silver Trust.
- Silver stocks. Investors can purchase stocks related to various activities. Mining stocks are one such example. While most investments related to silver rely entirely on the current price, silver stocks are more independent of prices. This is a relatively conservative investment.
- Keep in mind that silver mining companies also mine other metals found along with silver. These commonly include zinc, copper, and lead.
- Options and futures. If you have an interest in derivatives, you can use them with silver to obtain greater leverage. It isn’t necessary to worry about storage. The risk is high, but the potential payoff is high, too.
- Silver mutual funds. There are mutual funds that invest in silver, silver stocks, and other investments. Some specialize in multiple precious metals. These mutual funds can vary dramatically with regard to risk and volatility, depending on the types of investments.
- Silver medallions and coins. The cost per unit of weight is greater than that of silver bars. However, Medallions can range greatly in price and aren’t as easily converted to cash.
If you’d like to invest in precious metals, for instance, silver is one of your most lucrative options. The price of gold is almost entirely dependent on the desire of investors to own it, whereas silver has actual industrial applications. When companies need more silver, the price tends to rise.
Investors can purchase actual silver more easily due to its lower cost compared to gold. Such as gold, there are also numerous other options for investing in silver.
Stocks and mutual funds are familiar to the average investor. Similarly, Investors can own silver through exchange-traded funds without burdening themselves with acquisition, storage, insurance, and disposal.
You can have fun and make a profit by investing in silver! Finally, its numerous applications offer excellent potential for long-term growth.
