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Is it a good idea to buy gold and silver?

It all depends on your position in the market and the state of your portfolio. This is a semi-predictable speculative asset that can make you earn real money. Buy gold if you invest for when times are bad. Both silver and gold can function as safe haven assets, but gold tends to have a better track record over longer periods of time.

To ensure you make the best decision, it is important to do your research and read reviews of the best gold IRA companies. That said, in shorter periods, the specific dynamics of each market end up being more important for their respective returns. Regardless of the asset you buy, remember that neither asset generates cash flow, so the best thing for long-term investors would be to take a buy-and-hold approach with a profitable and growing portfolio of stocks. Therefore, silver is ideal for investors with small budgets and also for any small financial need that may arise in the future. Gold is more suitable for larger purchases.

Mining stocks make it possible to leverage the price of gold or silver, so a profitable miner will be much more profitable as the price of metals rises. Just like when you have a one-dollar bill in your hand, you are sure to be able to have your investment in the form of gold bars or silver coins in your hand (or keep it in your safe deposit box). By contrast, central banks have more than 34,000 tons (1.090 million ounces) of gold in official reserves. When it seems like the world is going crazy and the news cycle is filled with a constant stream of bad news, you may be tempted to make foolish financial decisions, such as opting for a “better bartering system” based on commodities such as gold or silver.

All I'm saying is that it makes sense for people to own at least 5% of their portfolio in gold and silver (in addition to other investments, such as stocks, etc. There are other reasons why buying gold may be a good idea), but the main reason is usually to protect yourself against inflation and protect the value of your money over time. If you buy physical silver, not ETFs, certificates or futures contracts, which are paper investments, you can get the same benefits that gold offers. The prices of gold and silver are so unstable (and have been so over time) that, in an economic crisis, their only use would be to wait for someone to take your silver coins or watch in exchange for a package of toilet paper or a can of gas.

Therefore, if the economy falls into a depression and demand for specific metals increases, prices should rise accordingly if gold and silver are purchased. The correlation between silver and inflation is also high, Agrawal says, but not as strong as in the case of gold. There aren't many times when you can take a bag of gold chains to the gas station and exchange it for a gas tank. Gold and silver are two popular investments for those looking for assets that can be both a store of value and a hedge against inflation.

If you think about the global obsession with gold, it's easy to get carried away by adventure and mystery, such as searching for gold during the gold rush, pirate ships and treasure maps. It's relatively easy to hide some gold coins in a sock drawer or cookie jar, but those same hiding places aren't practical for the same investment in silver. However, he points out that “the marriage between gold and inflation can sometimes break in the short term, as interest rates react to rising inflation and divert investments to the debt market. The relatively high price of gold per ounce makes it easier for investors to store value compared to silver, making it cheaper to store an amount equivalent to the value in dollars.