| Silver is a precious metal which as historically taken | | | | money to continue to own it. |
| second place to gold, but only to gold. It's valued for | | | | You can also buy shares of stock in silver mining |
| many decorative uses, including jewelry and knick | | | | companies, but then you have the additional risk that |
| knacks of various kinds. It is useful for tooth fillings, | | | | the company is poorly run or simply has an inventory |
| photographic film and various industrial applications. | | | | of poor mines. They can lose money even as the |
| However, that tends to outweigh silver's emotional | | | | price of silver is rising. |
| connotation as a store of monetary value, much like | | | | On April 21, 2006 iShares launched its Silver Trust |
| gold. Until 1965, United States dimes, quarters, | | | | (NYSE:SLV) exchange traded fund. The fund owns a |
| half-dollars and dollars were 90% silver. However, the | | | | reserve of silver. If you buy shares of the ETF, you |
| price of silver got to the point where those coins | | | | have ownership interest in those reserves -- all |
| were worth more for their silver content than for | | | | 304,000,000 of them. It has over nine thousand |
| their face value. | | | | tonnes of silver in trust. |
| Silver's price really took off in the 1970s, along with | | | | The fund's expense ratio is 0.5%. |
| gold and many other commodities. Its price rise went | | | | Anyone considering investing in silver whether |
| along with gold's fast climb to $800. | | | | through SLV or some other way, should bear in mind |
| However, silver going from $11 or so an ounce in | | | | that its price has fluctuated a lot over the years. |
| 1979 to almost $50 an ounce was due to primarily to | | | | Sometimes people say that there's a natural ratio of |
| manipulation of the market by the Hunt Brothers. | | | | the price of gold to the price of silver, and that when |
| They ultimately failed to corner the silver market, | | | | silver's price is below this ratio it's cheap compared to |
| and the price collapsed back to where it started. | | | | gold. |
| This hurt many people who bought silver on its way | | | | However, there's probably no cosmic law dictating |
| up. This event occurred at the end of a decade | | | | the relative values of gold to silver -- only the |
| where price rises in commodities were ordinary | | | | marketplace. |
| events and mainly attributable to economic events. | | | | Because silver has many industrial uses, its price also |
| Presently silver is rising, thanks partly to worldwide | | | | fluctuates with economic events in those industries. |
| economic problems. Like gold, silver tends to rise in | | | | That is, with supply and demand. |
| times of uncertainty. | | | | Therefore, it may be overly simplistic to conclude |
| However, there are practical problems associated | | | | that just because you see a lot of economic turmoil |
| with direct ownership of silver. If you own silver | | | | and the value of the US dollar going down, that |
| coins, they can be stolen. Same with silver bullion. You | | | | means silver is a good investment. |
| can store coins and bullion, but then you're paying out | | | | |