Investing in Silver

For those who lost money in the stock market over the last two years in the aftermath of the banking and real estate debacles, the prospect of investing again can be somewhat frightening. Of course this assumes that we have money left to invest! For the sake of argument, we will assume you do.

In addition to their homes, most Americans have increasingly invested in the stock market. While many of them may have researched in detail the companies they selected, the reality is that most did not and that many individuals did little more than invest in a piece of paper labeled stock. That being said, why not invest in something tangible that has passed the test of time and been used in countless cultures and eras?

Gold first comes to mind and indeed this is the tangible metallic investment of choice. But the reality of the cost, about a thousand dollars at the time of the writing of this article, makes this somewhat steep for most people. This is where silver comes in. Silver is quite affordable and like gold offers the bearer something which never falls to zero unlike its paper cousins in the stock market.  

Silver has historically been used in coinage and most investors typically purchase their silver in the form of Silver Eagle dollars or Morgan and Peace Silver dollars. The beauty of these coins, and in particular in the case of the Morgan coins, the historic value they hold adds a tremendous amount to their holder. Actually holding something in your hands which is a hundred or more years old creates a unique sense as to the long standing worth of these pieces. For more than four thousand years, silver has been regarded as a form of currency.
In 1964, it lost its role as legal tender in the United States when its intrinsic value rose above the face value of the coins! 

Coins can also be easily divested with any coin collector or at many jewelry stores. The security of investing in a hard asset should be clear and the reality of something whose value should increase if the dollar falls in value is something to consider. As with any investments, it's important to remember that the price of silver has been volatile at times and can fluctuate between industrial and store of value demands.