Why You Might Buy Silver Instead of Gold

Most people view gold as a safe investment and considering how much the price of gold has risen historically, it would seem that their views are not wrong. After gold has always been viewed as a precious metal, trading has been done in gold, gold coins and bars are a global currency (particularly in illegal deals), gold is used as jewelry, and till recently banks had to have reserves of gold against currency issue (though now they have much less). Gold has long been a hedge against inflation.

When you see movies and shows and see pictures of treasure of any kind they always show gold and precious stones – you almost never see silver. It is no wonder then that the psyche of gold investing is very much entrenched in people’s minds.

Why then you would you buy silver as an investment? After all, silver has many drawbacks. You would have to buy a lot more silver than gold; silver is also quite volatile – some years ago its price crashed. If you do buy a lot of silver, you may find it a problem to store it. Then again silver is not as easily saleable as gold is globally.

But with prices of both metals increasing a great deal, it is time to rethink and perhaps do a rejig of your investments in precious metals. In fact it would be a good idea, if you do not have investments in metals, and considering the volatility of the stock market and money market and recent crashes/lack of consumer confidence in paper assets, you really ought to invest in precious metals, if you have not done so.

The benefits of investing in silver

Silver is easier to buy than gold, because it is cheaper. It is an affordable investment even for the small investor.
The silver market as compared to gold is very small.
Silver has good physical properties and is used a great deal industrially.
Silver is actually in short supply in the world.
Historically the silver to gold ratio was 10:1; now it is 40:1.
Silver is under priced at current values.
Silver has anti bacterial and microbial properties, which increases its potential value.
Future mining of this metal is limited, because there are fewer chances of the metal being found deep underground and also because it is uneconomical to mine it. Because of this more silver is used annually than is mined.
Silver is actually rarer than gold, because there is much more gold than silver in the world.
Silver is a good conductor of electricity and high thermal conductivity as well so it finds its way into applications that gold cannot.
Demand for silver in technology and industries is only going to increase and this will cause an increase in price. There is no substitute for silver in almost all products that it is used in.
Silver cannot be confiscated by the US government as gold bullion can.

What kind of silver should you buy?

If you are buying silver for investment purposes, you should avoid silver jewelry because you will lose money due to making charges. Instead you will find better value for the money that you invest if you purchase

Government minted bullion coins.
Junk silver coins, so called because they have no collectible value, are usually 90 percent silver and less liable to be damaged.
Bullion bars, which are 99 percent pure silver.
Silver rounds, which re also 99 percent pure silver

So you can safely invest and buy silver, but from a reputable source or silver dealer.