New and seasoned investors alike often think of gold when they think of precious metals investing. Gold has a well-documented history of use as a store of value in investments – not to mention its use as hard money compared to today’s paper currencies and it’s constant attention in the mainstream media.
However, another precious metal is often overlooked and undervalued in today’s market, and that is Silver.
Suppose you haven’t been paying attention to Silver as an investment lately. In that case, you may want to reconsider after looking at these seven convincing reasons to diversify your precious metals portfolio and invest in Silver now.
1. Invest in Silver, It’s Inexpensive
Yes, Silver’s price is low, but not its value – and it is much easier to accumulate than gold at this point. Just take a look at the current price of an ounce of gold at $1,955.80, while at the same time, the cost of an ounce of Silver is $25.89. By looking at the price alone, you can see why Silver is a relatively easy entry into the world of precious metals investing.
2. Silver is Real, Hard Money
Silver, along with gold, can be used as a hard monetary asset because it is inherently limited in supply and has a widely accepted value among societies and cultures today. It can’t be printed like paper money and thus face depreciation or inflation. You still need to make sure you are investing in physical Silver, like physical gold. Not silver futures of ETF’s which are still paper investments.
Take a look at this guide to buying silver for a better idea of how to navigate this undervalued precious metals marketplace.
3. Industrial Use of Silver is Growing
Unlike gold, whose leading demand is from the jewelry and investment sectors, Silver’s demand comes from industrial and technology applications. Silver is on the rebound as new industries continue to find uses for it – one of the most popular uses for Silver today being photovoltaic cells or solar panels. Yes, Silver is used in the production of solar panels, and demand for solar panels is on the rise.
4. Supply of Silver Is Falling
As with any substantial investment, when demand overcomes supply, the price of that asset almost always rises. As the need for more silver increases within today’s industrial technologies, society will be forced to find other ways to recycle and obtain Silver that could prove to be more costly, thus raising the base price of Silver substantially.
5. Low Mainstream Investment Participation
If you look at Silver as a representation of overall global financial wealth, you can immediately see it’s potential as an investment vehicle. It represents only 0.01% of the world’s global financial wealth. That leaves much headroom for Silver to become a more significant part of mainstream financial wealth.
6. Silver Is Easier To Sell in the Short-Term
Silver can be used as a more practical store of value over Gold when you need to sell it for a number of personal uses in the short-term. An ounce of Gold would be much harder to sell in an emergency than an ounce of Silver. For this reason alone, Silver should be in every investor’s precious metals portfolio.
7. There Is Still an Abundance of Silver
Silver is a common precious metal – more than likely, you have handled an item today that contains Silver. It has a variety of practical uses in the industrial and technology markets of today. It can be found in large scale industrial equipment, cellphones, batteries, jewelry, and other electronics.
Its versatility in industrial and technology applications is due to its ability to effectively conduct electricity and transfer the heat created from that conductive process. This will only help increase the practical value of silver over time.
How to Invest in Silver
If you want to invest in Silver directly, your best bet is to do so through an IRA; just like with gold, there is a silver IRA. This will let you invest in physical Silver and not silver Futures or ETFs.
That’s right, real silver coins and bars. Most retirement accounts can be rolled over into a Silver IRA as well – allowing you to take those hard-earned gains and turn them into real, hard money.
