Looking for a way to protect your portfolio from inflation and volatility? Precious metals have value that isn’t tied to the marketplace, and they retain and gain value over time. Gold and silver can’t be inflated, and they have a long history of use as currency. Whether you’re just looking to protect your wealth from market instability, or you’re hoping to safeguard your savings in the case of political upheaval and economic turmoil, an investment in precious metals could help you reach your goals.
The most common means of investing in precious metals like silver and gold is to buy quantities of the physical metals, including gold and silver bars, ingots, and coins. But that isn’t the only way. You can also invest in mining securities, exchange traded funds (ETFs), or gold streaming companies. Let’s take a closer look at your options.
Purchase Physical Bullion
Purchasing physical bullion is the most straightforward way to invest in precious metals. You can buy gold, silver, palladium, and platinum bars and coins in a wide range of weights and values. If you want to buy precious metals as a way to protect your wealth in tumultuous times, investing in gold coins is a great way to make your wealth portable and protect it from inflation. If you want to invest in precious metals to protect your money from inflation or your investment portfolio from the vagaries of the stock market, then buying physical precious metal bullion and coins can work well as an investment strategy.
You can buy as much or as little gold, silver, platinum, and palladium as you want. If you only have a little to invest right now, silver is an affordable precious metal with industrial applications. And if you want to take delivery of your metal and keep it in your possession, buying bullion and coins is the only way. However, it can be hard to liquidate precious metals if you need to sell them in a hurry, so you may not want to invest in bullion if you know you’re going to need that money back soon.
You’ll also need a place to store your gold and silver coins and bars. You can get into precious metals investing and buy a 10 oz silver bar, but where will you put it that will be safe? If you don’t have a fireproof safe at home, you need to put it in a safe deposit box at a nearby bank or even keep it in a precious metals depository. In fact, it’s usually easier and safer to never take delivery of your bullion and coins, instead keeping them in a secure depository vault where they’ll have an unbroken chain of custody, making them easier to sell.
Buy Stocks in Mining Companies
Mining stocks tend to pay good dividends and have a lot of potential for growth, so many investors forgo buying actual bullion and instead put their money into mining equities. Mining companies benefit from rising commodity prices for metals like silver, gold, platinum, and palladium – but those aren’t the only metals mining companies dig up, and so your stock prices will also reflect the value of metals like copper, cobalt, and lithium.
Invest in ETFs
Precious metals ETFs are funds that are traded on the stock market. They derive their value from holdings in mining companies and direct holdings of precious metals. If you want to add some precious metals stocks to your portfolio, but want to diversify across types of holdings, an ETF is for you.
ETFs can be a great option because they combine the benefits of owning precious metals with the benefits of holding stock. You won’t have to take delivery of any bullion or make arrangements to store it. You can sell your shares of your ETF whenever you want, so it’s easy to liquidate when you’re ready to see a return on your precious metals investment. You can earn dividends and enjoy the potential for your assets to grow considerably in value. And you can still benefit from precious metals’ inability to inflate, and its degree of separation from market volatility.
If you haven’t started investing in precious metals, it’s time to add some to your portfolio. You can protect your money from inflation and keep the value of your portfolio more stable through down markets. Put some of your money into precious metals, and enjoy a little insulation from the vagaries of the economy.
