Gold vs silver: Five key factors to consider when it comes to investing

You’ve read investment books, listened to expert podcasts, you know you need to diversify your portfolio and have decided on precious metals, but which one?

Goldco review and silver are probably the two that come to mind, but which one is the better option when it comes to:

A return on investment?

Offering the most security to your portfolio when the stock market crashes?

In gold vs. silver, we outline the five significant factors to keep in mind:

Cost

The main reason gold is more expensive than silver is because of its rarity, and it is especially regarded as a ‘safe haven’ by investors because it holds its value when other assets fluctuate. However, it is estimated that around eight times more silver is mined than gold. If it is declared that no more silver could be found or mined, it would likely push the price of silver higher than gold. Simply put, supply and demand affects the price of these two precious metals.

Volatility

As a new investor looking to dip your toe in investment waters, silver can be a good option as it’s cheaper to purchase and can often be more attractive if you are looking to speculate on short-term instabilities in the market. Understanding the gold to silver ratio can build up an investor’s portfolio of both gold and silver by switching from one to the other, and long-term can increase the original investment.

The gold to silver ratio is calculated by the gold price divided by the silver price. This indicates how many silver ounces you would need to sell to buy one gold ounce, or alternatively how many ounces of silver you could purchase from the sale of one gold ounce.

Liquidity

In terms of liquidity, gold and silver are classed as highly liquid assets. This means there are plenty of consistent sellers and buyers of precious metal; a key benefit, especially when it comes to diversifying an investment portfolio.

Industrial use

As the most versatile precious metal, the increased demand for silver is largely driven by end uses, ranging from kitchenware, electronics, medicine, cars, and solar panels to name a few. These technological and industrial use of silver accounts for more than half of our annual global demand.

Because of the relationship silver has with the economy, the value of the metal tends to increase during boom times. For instance, when new industrial innovations emerge which use silver, the demand increases and the price can rise. Conversely, when industry falls, gold is used to hedge against market downturns.

Bull or bear?

Related to volatility and cost, bull and bear markets also have an influence on the daily buying and selling of precious metals such as gold and silver. This strikes the question as to which metal to invest in when it comes to bull or bear markets? A bull market (when stocks and the economy are growing) has historically shown silver to be a good investment, only if it is during the upward spike of market growth. In contrast, the bear market (when assets fall 20% or more) – think the Global Financial Crisis – is historically a good growth time for gold.

Types of investment

Investors can choose to purchase precious metals in various forms, including:

Bullion bars and coins

Pure gold and silver coins, cast and minted bars come in a variety of sizes and buying options to suit all budgets. At The Perth Mint, all products are manufactured in Western Australia and are backed by a government guarantee.

Exchange-traded products (ETPs)

Manage your precious metal investments in a stockbroking account. For instance, Perth Mint Gold (ASX:PMGOLD) is an exchange traded product (ETP) that allows investors to trade in gold via a stock broking account as they would shares on the ASX. This is a good option if you’d rather not store gold at your home, however you can choose to convert holdings into any of The Perth Mint’s bullion bars.

Investing in precious metals and its benefits

“Precious metals have a history, a history that has lasted for hundreds of years. It is not a fashion product”

It’s getting more and more difficult to save, but there are easy and useful ways to get a return on our money goldco review. And it is that the economic uncertainty that still persists as a result of the Covid-19 and the agreements on climate change, can lead to a boost in safe havens (such as investing in precious metals). Thus, 2022 is a good year to learn (more) about this sector. 

Starting to invest in January is good, as it is a perceived seasonal trend in precious metals that prices start to rise at the start of the new year. In January 1970, when investors feared inflation, the price of gold rose to $850 an ounce. If history repeats itself, we have to find out!

Thus, when choosing the product or the precious metal, the most important thing is to ask yourself: what are you investing for? Retirement? for a quick profit? security? Once this decision has been made, an asset class can be found that suits those needs. In this way, it is good to calculate the prices of the coins and bars that interest each one and calculate the price per gram of pure gold or silver. Our website, for example, helps with the calculation and also shows the cheapest price per ounce, which is the unit of gold in which it is traded, worldwide.

Keep in mind that bars are mostly cheaper, though coins may be worth more at a later stage, simply because their images have changed and they can become collectible.

You should also consider whether you want easy access to investments. Let’s say if you have a 100g gold bar worth €4,000 and you need €1,500 in cash, you have to sell the entire bar to get it. Small coins or bars are an easier option if you need quick access to money through investments.

Our clients tend to buy a mixture of gold and silver, mainly 70% gold, 30% silver. Silver has been a great investment for a year now. The price almost doubled and many analysts say there is still plenty of room. Also, the unit price of an ounce is much lower than that of gold, which means that if your gold investment needs to be rolled into the next 100 or 1,000, add a little silver.

 

Benefits of investing in precious metals

First of all, precious metals can offer protection during global crises. When investors lose faith in paper money and other assets, precious metals tend to retain or increase in value.

Physical metals are tangible assets; you can have them in your hand. They are also portable, you can take them anywhere in the world with ease. Investments in precious metals are confidential. There are not many investment opportunities that offer such high levels of privacy.

Precious metals have a high level of global liquidity. This means that any physical metal should be easily sold at a fair and widely recognized price on the open market. This is particularly useful if you find yourself in a bind and need quick access to cash.

The demand for precious metals is increasing; they are used for a number of different products, including the automotive and medical industries. As demand increases, supply decreases, increasing the value more and more. This suggests good things for the future!

In some countries, physical metal holdings are tax-exempt, while ETFs are not. This makes an investment in physical metal a little more attractive!

Furthermore, the Spanish precious metals market is growing and the current trend shows that hard assets like gold are making a comeback. With inflation picking up across Europe, as well as in the US, the trend is in tangible assets.

And it is a safe value. This may sound repetitive, but precious metals have a history, a history that has lasted for hundreds of years. It is not a fashion product, it is not an exaggeration. And for those reasons, the value of precious metals is safer than other assets.