You should invest in anything you think others will value at some point in the future (except anything that is against your own ethical values). If you think certain sticks with stones will be highly valued by others, then go for that. Since I believe certain traditions die hard, I believe that silver will be highly valued by enough people in the future to make it worth my time and energy to exchange some of my cash for silver coins....so that's what I invest my money in. .
The question isn't Is silver a good investment Will it be valuable in the future What is intrinsic value What makes things valuable. All interesting questions though. Its does siver store value well No it doesn't. Gold in aud is at 90% of its highest value, silver at 50%. All PMs are not equal in this capacity. Just my opinion.
You may be right that silver isn't a good store of value but that would only be in a snapshot context. I think the "why" is much more interesting and more important because then we are better equipped to discern whether or not our presumptions make sense in a snapshot context and in a broader (non conventional, geographically larger, long term, mixed variable, etc, etc) context. The more knowledge and understanding we have of the many things that drive value (to a significant extent meaning what drives supply and demand), the more informed our decisions are likely to be. .
The problem with determining if value is being held will be solved when pricing of gold and silver starts being determined by physical trading. Just my opinion.
BUT - and this was pointed out to someone who got hit first hand - the spread changes depending on the spike. A 4% buying spread (dealer buy price) turned into a 15% buying spread. So the be aware the graph you are looking at above is going to be different to what you can sell for.
Throughout human history the shiny rocks and metals that have always been worth something no matter where you are. This is why I buy PM's
Can we have a chart going back to 1970 with inflation adjusted prices. I think it will look a bit different with some obvious similarities between the 70's and now.
http://www.kitco.com/ind/Saville/images/jun122012_5.gif Sorry, I am not good at posting charts. I believe the current re-tracement is in line with the 1974-1976 re-tracement. The big one is still brewing.
For me, silver (and gold) stacking isn't simply about risk mitigation (though that is the primary incentive), it's also a means to collect lovely things that I enjoy fondling. I truly get pleasure out of going through it and looking at it. There is some sort of simple pleasure in handling gold and silver, an enjoyment worth paying for, IMO. That these bits of metal might one day prove to be a small salvation when I need to pay the bills is icing on the cake.
Not nearly as much as gold though. If you had to pick between gold or silver (or cash, or some other object) to bury in a time capsule to pass down your wealth to your grandkids in 40 years time, would you really put silver in there? I'd bet on gold every single time.
Sure: http://www.macrotrends.net/1470/historical-silver-prices-100-year-chart Also: From http://www.kitco.com/ind/Saville/20120612.html
The purist stacker in me agrees with you but I am also a collector and there's reasons why to that collector in me, silver makes more sense than gold. 1) Silver is far more affordable to me and those whom I might want to sell what I get extras of (then flip) or get bored with 2) I believe (though I have not bothered to gather empirical evidence to support this belief) there is greater upside potential to most collectible silver coins/products than there is to collectible gold coins/products in part because of the lower base price of silver 3) There's a far greater variety of products that are available in silver 4) Because of "3)", there's going to be significantly more cool coins/medals/rounds that are made from silver but not available in gold and a big part of the reason I am still buying pm's is because of the collector in me.....not the 100%-sure-of-an-imminent-global-currency-collapse/end-of-days fearful stacker that I used to be. If I was still that person, I'd be stacking other things rather than pm's at this point .
I am sure there's plenty of manipulation and corruption in many areas of our lives, that doesn't stop us participating in life. Even tho I don't understand much about stocks and graphs doesn't mean we don't make decisions what to invest in. As someone's motto on this forum says if we are as stupid with PMS as we are about saving generally then we will still have trouble. Storms earthquakes etc happen, we can make provisions but we still have many other great value things to invest our lives in.
In the last 3 years... ...bought Lunar Snakes for $27 ...bought Lunar Horses for $26 ...bought 2014 Wedgies for $38 ...bought Gold @ $1400 Depending on the silver you buy...the store of value may vary...silver supply is vast, numismatic releases...not so vast.
