Tips on Buying Silver: The "Poor Man's Gold"

Tips on Buying Silver: The "Poor Man's Gold"
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Steve_A_McCurdy]Steve A McCurdy
A prominent silver analyst recently stated that he thinks that at its current price, silver is the most undervalued commodity in history, but here are some things prospective silver investors might not know.
Buying and Storing Physical Silver
You can buy silver bullion bars and coins from many qualified dealers both in the U. S. and abroad. By "qualified" we mean dealers who offer defined buyback programs and secured storage options along with your purchases. Two popular dealers are American Precious Metals Exchange and KITCO in Canada. Both feature great selections, competitive pricing, quick delivery (if you choose), and excellent buyback policies, along with secure storage options. Bullion silver bars and coins are.9999 pure silver and trade at modest premiums to their intrinsic (or melt) values. You can also purchase what is known as "junk" silver, which means United States silver coins minted prior to 1965 (1970 for the Kennedy Half Dollar). Junk silver coins contain 90% silver and 10% copper, and are generally sold in random denominations in different sized "bags." Premiums over melt value can vary greatly among dealers, so you should shop carefully. Some dealers also offer uncirculated US silver coins, but these coins have numismatic value and so are universally sold at higher premiums over their intrinsic value.
Advantages/Disadvantages of Silver over Gold
Many anticipate a collapse of the dollar as the U.S. unit of currency at some future point. Fiat currencies (those based only upon faith) have never stood the test of time, and history is replete with almost 4,000 examples of failed fiat currencies. If and when the dollar ultimately fails there will almost certainly be a period during which silver and gold coins will be used as currency. Silver coins will have more utility than gold as a replacement currency, but gold can be more easily stored. It is not possible to predict the relative future values of gold and silver, but holding some of both metals is probably a wise policy.
Alleged Silver Price Manipulation
Many traders believe silver prices have been artificially suppressed by major money center banks acting in collusion with the Federal Reserve since 2008. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) began investigating charges made by traders against JPMorgan Chase in 2008 after the bank acquired large silver short positions as part of its acquisition of Bear Stearns, and separate federal lawsuits were filed against JPMorgan Chase and HSBC (a large foreign bank) in October, 2010, charging silver market manipulation. The suits alleged that the banks illegally manipulated silver prices by periodically "flooding the market" with sell orders to suppress market rallies. The suits were dismissed in 2011 on grounds that unless and until the CFTC completed its investigation the Courts had no basis for any findings against the Banks. The CFTC investigation remains unresolved today, five years after it began, and as of this date JPMorgan Chase still holds short positions representing over 20% of the entire Comex silver market. Veteran traders believe price suppression continues, but remain confident that demand will ultimately overwhelm the Banks' short positions, and that silver prices will then dramatically spike to their true market values.
Summary
There are many alternatives for buying silver, and decisions to enter the silver market deserve careful thought, planning, and preparation. We hope you will find this information useful if you are contemplating an investment in silver.
Steve McCurdy specializes in investing in precious metals and is a survivalist. You can check his latest website at [http://www.goldsilverandsurvival.com]Gold Silver and Survival, and also read his article [http://www.goldsilverandsurvival.com/?p=137/]Buying Silver.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-on-Buying-Silver:-The-Poor-Mans-Gold&id=7581028] Tips on Buying Silver: The "Poor Man's Gold"

Most Popular Ways To Invest In Gold

Most Popular Ways To Invest In Gold
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Anthony_Bertucci]Anthony Bertucci

There are currently 9 known precious metals but only Gold, silver, platinum, and palladium are considered investment commodities. Of the 4 gold is definitely the most popular among investors and for good reason. Gold is known world wide since its really the original currency, in fact paper currency was originally simply a promise to pay the bearer in gold. These days investing in gold is a popular way of protecting ones assets against recessions and even national and international crises. Lets face it if the world started over tomorrow after a major catastrophe and there was only 1 society gold would be the common currency as it was up until the 1800s. Below is a list and brief description of the most popular ways to add gold investments to your portfolio.
Buying gold coins is currently the most popular way of investing in gold. Gold bullion coins are generally priced based on their weight HOWEVER a premium is always added to the current price of gold. Gold coins may be bought or sold over the counter in most Swiss banks, also by special order is many other banks. You can also buy over the internet or from local coin dealers.

Buying gold bullion bars is the most traditional way of investing in gold and as with Gold coins they can be purchased or sold over the counter in most Swiss banks, also by special order is many other banks worldwide. You can also buy over the internet or from local dealers in most cases. Gold bars are becoming less popular option for investors because of difficulties such as the verification process, transportation, and storage associated with owning gold bars. They still are my personal favorite and tend to have less of a premium then gold coins.

With a gold account, gold can be bought or sold in a very similar way that foreign currencies are traded. A gold account is backed either through NON fungible (allocated) gold storage or pooled (unallocated) storage. You may even able to get leverage when buying gold however this can be risky but like anything else gold does go up and down, if you take to much leverage you may end up having to pay more money on a margin call or risk having your gold sold at a loss to you. If you use leverage you should treat the entire amount as the investment not only what you put up just in case gold happens to go through a corrective stage and temporarily dips.

Another popular choice among investors is to invest in a gold certificate rather than buy physical gold bullion which then has to be stored and/or insured to protect against theft and other such incidents. A gold certificate allows the investor to buy and sell the commodity and eliminate the difficulties associated with owning actual gold. The downside is that you never really have the access to the physical gold.

Gold exchange traded funds (knows and referred to as GETFs) are open ended funds that present a cost efficient and secure way to invest in gold without the necessity of taking physical delivery of gold bullion. Trading GETFs is similar to trading shares in any of the worlds stock exchanges such as the Dow Jones Industrial in New York. Trading in GETFs involves payment of commission and storage fees which are charged on an annual basis. The expenses incurred in relation to the handling of the fund are charged through the selling of a certain amount of the gold as represented by the certificate. Over time, the amount of gold in the certificate decreases to cover these costs with the hope of course the price of gold itself has increased therefore making the certificate worth more then the original investment.

Some larger financial service firms can provide what is known as Contract for Difference (CFD). In this type of gold investment, two parties (a "buyer" and a "seller") enter into a contract, in which the seller agrees to pay the buyer the difference between the current value of gold and its value at contract time. In case the difference is negative, the seller receives payment instead from the buyer. A CFD, therefore, allows an investor to take advantage of long or short positions, allowing the investor to speculate on the market.
Remember to Go into EVERY investment with your eyes open, you should HONESTLY way the pros and cons of all investments you make based on your personal circumstances and willingness to commit weather your investment be buying gold or starting a brick and mortar business. http://www.007aj.com provides our users expert information about wealth building, successful investing and common investing mistakes (IN HINDSIGHT). We release at least 3-4 new articles per week on a variety of topics related to wealth building, successful investing techniques and investing mistakes.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Most-Popular-Ways-To-Invest-In-Gold&id=7564747] Most Popular Ways To Invest In Gold