When it comes to the world of investing and preparing for our retirement once we can finally stop working, not everyone is on an equal footing in regard to the knowledge that they have about it. There is a lot of mixed information out there, for one thing. It can be hard to know what to believe or not.
That is why I am here today – to shed some light on this topic and allow you to understand how it works a bit better. Were you ever taught about gold investment in high school or even college? Probably not.
Now, do not get me wrong. I am not necessarily saying that it should have been in your curriculum in specific. Rather, I think that there should be a bit more emphasis on investing and how to prepare for the future in general. With that being said, let us dive right in!
The Basics of Investing
Before you can really understand gold and silver investing, I do think it is a good idea to at least get a basic overview of the concept as a whole. You can utilize guides like this one, https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing, to get a basic introduction. I will be providing some details as well, of course.
Perhaps the most critical thing to remember is that investing is meant as a way to have your money “work for you.” What does that mean? Essentially, you put it into certain opportunities or fields that you think will be able to generate more profit for you over time while you do not have to interfere or constantly monitor it. Passive generation of income is the goal overall.
How does that look like in practice? Perhaps the most obvious example is to look at stocks and bonds. When we buy stock of a company, the expectation (or hope) is that it will raise in value over time, netting us some extra cash and allowing us to sell it later at a massive profit. That does not always happen the way that we want it to, of course, but that is just something to keep in mind as a practical example.
Not everyone decides to put their assets into the stock market, though. There are alternatives that you can place into your investment portfolio as well. Real estate has been fairly popular in the past few years. What I will be focusing on today, though, are precious metals.
What are Precious Metals?
Put simply, they are the group of metals that fit into this category on the periodic table of the elements. They qualify thanks to some of their special properties, namely their attractive luster and useful conductivity. After all, many of them are used in manufacturing of certain goods such as electronics.
The “big four” as I like to call them are palladium, platinum, silver, and gold. Many vendors exist out there on the internet such as Rosland Capital, which has a fair amount of reviews that you can check out if you are interested. Generally speaking, it is probably not a bad idea to look into the companies that you purchase from if you are going to start investing.
Now, you may be wondering why this is something that I am talking about in the first place. Is there really a ton of value in these precious metals, and can they be a worthwhile investment? The answer is yes but allow me to explain why that is the case.
Value Over Time
If you know anything about making investments, you probably know that one of the key components is to put your money into assets that will retain their value over long periods of time. Precious metals certainly fall into this category. Can you think of a time in history that gold has not been considered one of the most valuable raw materials?
For centuries, kings, queens, pharaohs, and emperors alike have all sought it. You can see some of the historical prices by checking out this page, if you would like something for reference. Just know that there has almost never been a time where it has not been considered a highly prized metal.
The same goes for silver, platinum, and even palladium. Of course, we are not here to talk about history, but the future! The reason that I mention it at all is because it gives us some statistical data in which to make predictions for how the prices will shift in the coming years.
Because of how often they are used in the manufacturing of other products, it seems highly unlikely that we will see the decline of precious metals any time soon. Most of our electronics contain them to some extent, especially in the motherboards for cell phones and computers. This is all without even mentioning jewelry, which is a huge industry.
Thinking about it for even just a moment, it is hard to deny that gold and silver jewelry are both highly prized and symbols of status. That is even more true for platinum. Coinage in many countries also contains gold or silver, so that is something else to keep in mind as well.
Worth Your Time?
For our final points of discussion, let us cover whether any of this is even worth your time. Honestly, it will probably depend on where you are right now in your life, and if physical assets are something that you are interested in in the first place. If not, then yeah – this may not be for you.
However, if you are looking to expand your current portfolio of assets and have not been sure what direction to go in, this could be the answer for you. Hopefully you have found some of this helpful today, and may it serve you well as you look for a broker, custodian, and additional storage options or ways to store your wealth. While it can get kind of complex, you are well armed with knowledge now!
