It’s easy to see the attraction of buying gold when the only thing you look at its per-ounce price. Compared to silver, gold seems to redefine the term “over-achiever.” If the London Gold Fix is all you look at, you could possibly miss the fact that silver has, both recently and over time, outperformed gold in terms of investment returns. Silver also has the advantage of being more available to the small investor. In short, silver is no slouch when it comes to investment performance.
For thousands of years, silver has been recognized as a valuable currency. Today, investors have multiple options to buy silver for both personal and retirement investment goals. Investors can purchase pure silver bullion, coins and silver rounds easily. Silver can also be self-stored or stored in a special precious metals depository. Investors who don’t want to store the physical asset can also purchase silver shares in edge-traded funds.
The price of silver means that small investors, or those just starting out, can take advantage of silver’s excellent investment performance record. Silver does very well when stocks fall or record a flat performance. It also does very well when the economy is soft. Wise investors have been shifting some of their investment capital to silver, the price of which nearly doubled in 2010.
Investors turn to precious metals investments when they fear long-term economic stagnation. The prospects for a solid recovery seem dim, as the global financial crisis lingers, and more financial systems seem poised to collapse. Persistently low interest rates among the world’s banks have the significant potential to drive inflation and refuel even larger global financial troubles.
It makes sense to buy silver for at least as long as it takes for meaningful economic recovery to materialize.
Learn more about silver investments from Gold Principal.