While silver is often overlooked as an investment option compared to gold, it provides a lot of opportunities to investors looking to stabilize their portfolio and gain a degree of protection amidst political, social, and economic unrest without hampering growth potential.
There are several ways for investors to invest in silver to ensure they have a safe haven asset for a later time should they choose to liquidate and turn silver bars into cash.
Exchange-Traded Funds
ETFs are a good opportunity for novice investors to get involved in precious metals. They allow participants to invest in multiple assets at once. An ETF invests in a basket of assets, whether they’re stocks, bonds, or commodities. The assets typically follow a theme, strategy, index, or commodity (e.g., the energy sector, the S&P 500, or precious metals like silver). When you buy shares in an ETF, you get an instantly diversified investment designed to track the performance of a greater sector, index, or commodity.
The Benefits of Exchange-Traded Funds
ETFs can be traded on the stock market during trading hours. Unlike a mutual fund, you don’t have to wait until the end of the trading day.
When it comes to trading in bullion specifically, investors don’t physically own the precious metal. This can be a double-edged sword. It’s a benefit if you don’t want to have to worry about storage, but it does limit your access to your investments.
The Downside to Exchange-Traded Funds
Investors in a silver ETF are exposed to risk through management. In other words, there are intermediaries involved in ETFs, which add an extra element of risk and potential costs to the buyer. Also, ETFs incur management fees that you don’t have to pay when you own silver directly.
Bullion
Bullion refers to precious metals in physical form, such as bars and coins. Bullion can be purchased through reputable dealers who are active on international markets and even from major banks, though the costs may be higher.
The Benefits of Bullion
Silver bullion provides investors with the best exposure to current silver prices. Physical ownership may provide a sense of confidence and reassurance; investors know exactly where the bullion is and can gain immediate access should they want to sell it, with little-to-no gatekeepers to navigate.
Silver is considerably cheaper than gold, and under the circumstances, it may provide more upside. There are more industrial applications for silver, including electronics, solar power, medicine, and more. This does make it more volatile than gold, but silver can benefit from both industrial demand and investor sentiment around precious metals.
The Downsides of Bullion
One may need to purchase a special safe and update their insurance policy to ensure that their silver is covered.
The price of physical silver can be higher than the silver spot price due to the premiums added by sellers. And when it comes to selling, investors need to find a reliable buyer; it’s more complex than logging online and reselling virtually. That said, if you find a reputable trading partner, they’ll have your best interests in mind.
Regardless of your choice for the long or short-term, lower fees and accessibility should be at the forefront of your consideration when weighing the pros and cons of the different ways to invest in silver.