We’re living in uncertain times. Geopolitical unrest, natural disasters, international economic crises – all these seem to be making the headlines one after another.
In times like these, hedging your investments should be a priority. There’s no better way to do this than by investing in precious metals like gold and silver, and the simplest and most expedient way to invest in precious metals is through bullion coins.
Both gold and silver are considered investment safe havens, but each has advantages over the other.
Here are some reasons why silver could be the better investment for you:
Silver is money
Both gold and silver are liquid investments. They are heavily traded on a daily basis and can easily be bought and sold.
Silver and gold may also be used as currency, and have been through centuries of trade. However, silver is more commonly used in circulated coins, especially in the United States. In fact, 90% silver was used in circulated U.S. coins until as recently as 1964.
Furthermore, because silver has lower value than gold, it is more convenient to use as money, particularly for low-priced commodities. This can be very important, especially in worst-case scenarios where the value of the dollar has all but disappeared. A gold coin would be too valuable to pay for such expenses as plumbing services or grocery items. Silver coins, on the other hand, would be more practical for day-to-day use.
Silver costs less
An ounce of silver costs much less than an ounce of gold, so for the same amount of money, you can have more silver than gold. This makes silver the more affordable investment option.
Storing and handling a large volume of silver may prove to be challenging, however. If you plan to invest a large amount in precious metals, find out how much you would spend in storing gold or silver. For larger investments of, perhaps, more than $1,500, it may be prudent to buy more gold than silver.
Silver’s prices are seen to go up
The market tracks the value of silver against the value of gold using the gold to silver ratio. Traditionally, the gold to silver ratio is around 16:1. However, this has gone to as high as 83:1 at the start of 2016. After Brexit, both silver and gold performed strongly, but silver even more so, bringing down the gold to silver ratio to 66:1.
Analysts say that this ratio is not supported by the ratio of global silver reserves to gold reserves of 10:1. This indicates that silver is currently undervalued, and the price is bound to go up to reflect the metal’s true worth.
Furthermore, silver has many industrial uses, with 50% of the demand for the metal coming from various industrial applications. Manufacturing, led by China, is seen to rise in the next few years. U.S. manufacturing is also seen to remain steady. With a robust manufacturing sector, greater demand for silver can be expected in the near future.
Additionally, silver is not as recyclable as gold. Once used in an industrial application, it likely can never be recovered. As the supply of silver goes down with greater industrial demand, the metal’s value has nowhere to go but up.
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