Anyone who’s new to investing in precious metals will be familiar with this thought process; do they go for gold or silver? It’s a bit of a redundant question, though, as it’s perfectly sensible – and easy – to invest in both. In fact, buying gold and silver is a great way to cover a few bases.
You may already have started buying gold, so you’re familiar with the process. It won’t, then, be a great leap to buy some of the silver that’s available from this website. Silver is much less valuable than gold and its value also fluctuates much more then gold’s, but if you’re prepared to learn more about it and the way it behaves then Ag can be a really useful asset to diversify into.
Silver’s greater volatility makes for more opportunities
Silver might swing up and down more than gold, but it’s less scary because in real terms there’s less money involved. The fact that it goes up and down more rapidly means you can buy and sell more frequently than you can with gold and make a tidy little profit. Occasionally silver has a huge upswing and if you’re in at the bottom you can do very well indeed – just keep your eyes on it.
It’s also good in the long-term
Silver is seen by the Internal Revenue Service as a collectible when it comes to taxing. If you’ve held your silver for less than a year and made a gain on it, then you’ll be taxed at your usual income level on it, as a short-term capital gain.
If you sell your silver after 12 months and make a profit, then this is seen as a long-term gain and you’ll face a maximum tax levy of 28% on this gain. If you’re already in a federal tax bracket of more than 28%, you’ll be able to save a bit on long-term silver profits.
Silver is a good diversification commodity
Investing in silver is a great way to diversify your existing portfolio. It’s important to diversify because it spreads your risks – put simply, if one stock falls, you have lots of others to hold you up a bit. Silver will continue to perform really well because it has a lot of uses in industry, so if people go off silver jewelry for a year or two, it’ll still be in demand.
It can be easier to trade with than gold
The world does feel like a scary, uncertain place right now, politically and economically. Many people are turning to precious metals because you can physically hold them – they’re not on paper, or in an inaccessible vault, or stored in pixels on a virtual spreadsheet somewhere. They’re real and can be traded in person, on the street.
Th problem with gold, as amazing as it is, is that’s it’s way more valuable than silver (hang on in here…). This value makes it a bit less flexible than silver because to buy, say, a ride to the nearest big city after the banks have collapsed, is a small trade. It’s better to exchange a small silver bar for this then to carry around and cut up a gold bar. Gold is better for the bigger purchases, whereas silver is more of a groceries metal.
