Precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum are some of the world’s trusted financial vehicles for anyone wanting to save their money for the future. Of these metals, gold is one that most people know for its resilience against numerous market threats. It has proven to be a great safe-haven time and time again. The biggest consumer of gold is the jewellery-making industry, actually half of the gold produced in the world goes to the jewellery industry. Silver on the other hand is used in industrial applications, more importantly in the making of solar panels and batteries. However, silver is often undermined despite its many uses and ever-increasing demand.
According to investment experts, silver has been outperforming a lot of the precious metals lately and people are beginning to notice. The same market forces that drive the price of gold high also have the same impact on the price of silver. Silver’s rising demand largely comes from its industrial uses but gold’s primary driver right now seems to be the fear of inflation caused by the government stimulus checks they have been handing out in the last couple of months. Governments have been handing out checks to everyone from individuals, small businesses, and large corporations. Printing money is easy but it also diminishes the value of the currency, so instead of putting away dollars in the bank or under mattresses, a lot of people are learning about the advantages of putting it in safe-haven investments like silver.
People usually build wealth by buying up shares and commodities. These haven’t been stable in the last five years. For instance, oil as a commodity has had a series of crashes in the last 5 years. However, oil isn’t the only risky investment that people are getting into. These days, investors will put their money in everything from Bitcoin to unproven phone apps. This is because many are starting to wonder what the value of money really is. However, silver and gold are still popular choices for people who want to hedge against inflation. Even millennials are waking up to the value of precious metals like silver and gold. The fact that it is easy to sell silver or gold when they find themselves in a financial bind, makes these metals all the more appealing.
Silver is fast gaining popularity because it is cheaper than gold. People are also learning about its broad industrial use which makes it more sought-after than gold. The demand for silver grows as technology evolves and it has been doing so by leaps and bounds. The demand for silver will keep rising as long as the aerospace industry grows, medical and dentistry applications advance and more people take so renewable energy solutions like solar power. Because its value is driven by demand, the value of silver investments will always be higher than fiat currency. However, the value of silver tends to be more volatile when compared to gold.
The silver/ gold ratio tends to be high. You need about 80 units or ounces of silver to buy 1 unit (or an ounce of gold). This might mean that silver is currently underpriced. If that is the case then investors can look forward to big gains when silver achieves its real market value. You will get more money when you sell silver if this is the case.
The demand for silver is definitely not going to slow down. No metal has the properties that silver has moreover, it has been a safe-haven investment vehicle for eons. With the current state of the world, unexpected surges in price do happen and savvy investors know what to look for and when. Silver used to be a precious metal of choice for conservative investors who want a little bit of protection, now it is attracting investors who want quick returns. The modern silver investor will not sit with his or her holdings for years but will sell whenever it spikes and reinvest in the precious metal when there is a dip. Today’s silver investor needs to have a knack for reading not just the silver market but the gold market as well as these always move in tandem and also be comfortable with making quick real-time decisions. There are risks, which is why educating yourself is key but with big risks come big rewards. Your silver can help you weather any financial storm or reach something you might not be able to with any other financial resource.
