I feel that tangible assets are smart to include as a few slices in your overall portfolio, and precious metals are an important slice within those. I like to avoid market-timing as much as possible, so I am talking about a long-term portfolio. The most market-timing I do is funnel some extra dividends and interest from other investments into the holdings that are down for that year. Keep in mind I am talking about holdings that are long-term. That being said, silver does seem attractive on a relative basis. This doesn't seem like a bad starting point if you don't have metals in your mix. Given the dangerous nature of the world we live in, it's hard to imagine that it would be viewed as a mistake in the long-run.
$SLV (and $GLD) might be worth nibbling at current price level, The significant downside to owning the metals is there are no dividends, no compounding returns. It's profitable only if the metals price goes up. I bailed on my holdings before the fade a few years ago. I am considering getting back into the miner $NG as a short term play but I haven't yet made a decision.
It's still a good back up in economic down turns. It just depends on whether or not the loss you take on other opportunities is worth it in the end. It all comes down to timing. If we have another downturn soon, it will be a good investment. I'm also wondering is silver is really rare. Look at how much the world mints have produced around the world recently. The US Mint will probably produce well over 60 million ounces of silver this year alone.
It seems that many people are interested in buying precious metals as a hedge against inflation and also to diversify their portfolios. I think maybe purchasing a modest amount of silver would be a good idea and track it over time. This might be one way to have a hedge against inflation and make certain that you have a way to beat declining fortunes of some of the other stocks.
@Onionman I agree with you @SamClemensMT Have you looked at how silver has performed the last ten years? Here is a link to what that would look like on a chart At best it could be said that Silver is probably at the level it should be valued at. Potentially you could see a run up in the market if TSHTF, in reality you could sit on this for years and see very little movement up or down. In most likelihood one might expect only small gains, so maybe it wouldn't be a great idea to put to much of your hard earned cash into Silver. If time is on your side and you have the means maybe as a hedge it could work, but as a short term strategy? Doubtful it is going way up again anytime to soon.
To the people who are buying silver (or any sort of precious metal for that matter) do you buy it so as you get a physical bar of it or do you just buy stocks of it? I've been thinking for a while of trying to buy some silver as well as gold, bullion but I also do not know where I would store it, I mean it's not the sort of thing you would just put in a draw is it.
I only hoard silver because I like it as a metal and do not think I am ever going to make any money on it. Is there a difference in price between scrap and jewelry silver? I am not too educated on stones or precious metals, and only know that diamonds and gold are the most preferred of all precious commodities. Just curious if there is a difference on what type of silver one might be interested in investing in.
Funny thing about precious stones, this one time I went to a local jeweler who was advertising how they would buy just about any sort of jewelry for the gold. I wanted to get of all things something Mickey Mouse for my mother, and while looking at the charms available I struck up a conversation with the owner. He told me that many of the rings with precious stones are simply melted down, I said "Don't you remove the actual stone?" and shockingly he told me they do not because the work involved did not justify the price of the time of the removal. It isn't that the work is labor intensive, it is just the value of the stones are not as high as you would think. many sapphires and opals are lab created these days, as are some of the emeralds. there are instances where the semi precious stone is not really even the element you are led to believe it could be, amethyst for example is really not expensive at all. To put this idea in perspective go to one of the gem shows that seem to crop up every year. You will find that you can purchase so many semi precious and precious stones for a fraction of what a jeweler in the mall would sell the same stone for. In fact if you were wise and patient you could purchase a stone and have it set at a remarkably low price and have something wonderful and very unique. Something you could possibly resale for so much more. But as with all things of this nature it is only worth as much as a person is willing to pay. Same thing can be said about coins, antiques and collectibles.
Is is also a supply and demand thing? Not just with precious stones but I've seen lots of other places bumping up the value of stuff over the years and like with a rare book I've got the price of it has soared into the hundreds within the past few years alone.
I think Silver is an excellent choice at around $16...I think the move when it comes will be astounding!! When I am allowed I will post a chart.
