Best Strategies for Precious Metals Investing in 2026?

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samuelbenjamin

New Member
Hi everyone,

I’m exploring opportunities in precious metals investing and would love some insights. With gold, silver, platinum, and palladium showing varied market trends, I’m curious about which approach balances risk and growth effectively.

Specifically, I’m looking for practical investing advice on timing, storage, and selection of metals. Are ETFs better than physical holdings, or does a mix make more sense? Additionally, how do global economic shifts impact these investments long-term?

Any personal experiences, tips, or strategies would be greatly appreciated.
 
samuelbenjamin said:
Hi everyone,

I’m exploring opportunities in precious metals investing and would love some insights. With gold, silver, platinum, and palladium showing varied market trends, I’m curious about which approach balances risk and growth effectively.

Specifically, I’m looking for practical investing advice on timing, storage, and selection of metals. Are ETFs better than physical holdings, or does a mix make more sense? Additionally, how do global economic shifts impact these investments long-term?

Any personal experiences, tips, or strategies would be greatly appreciated.
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thanks in advance for any help
 
Regarding physical v ETFs, it depends upon what investment "vehicle" you're using and where you are located to some extent, as well as your risk tolerance and appetite for reducing expenses as much as possible.

For example if using an SMSF, it's going to be cheaper to buy an ETF or allocated than physical because the storage costs can add up and compliance is a PITA. If you're in a regional area then an ETF or allocated may be a better option than storage because buying/selling will require you to travel to access the physical. Some people are averse to storing their holdings at home so choose a secure vault, others live by a mantra that "if you don't hold it you don't own it".
 
Precious metals are not investments - they don't provide a return.

Are you looking to buy PMs to speculate on the price going up or to hold as insurance against SHTF scenarios?
Answers to your questions would be very different depending on the reason.
 
trew said:
Precious metals are not investments - they don't provide a return.

Are you looking to buy PMs to speculate on the price going up or to hold as insurance against SHTF scenarios?
Answers to your questions would be very different depending on the reason.
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One of the greatest miss conceptions that gold does not provide a return.

Why? Because it does not pay a dividend.

Inflation has been anywhere from 2% to 11% plus

Bank pays 5% interest and then taxed

Shares pay dividends anywhere from .2% to 10%

Gold has increased over 11% in 6 months and over 30% in 12 months…..tax free.

Now if you look at property it cost me 384 ounces of gold to purchase my property in 2004, today that same property cost 94 ounces and the property has increased in fiat value by 150% minus all the outgoing cost.

So yes, gold is a investment
 
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betterinvestmentthanshare said:
Gold has increased over 11% in 6 months and over 30% in 12 months…..tax free.

So yes, gold is a investment
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Just because something goes up in value doesn't make it an investment.
dogecoin has gone up in value over 5 years, doesn't make it an investment.

Nothing wrong with speculation provided people are honest with themselves about what they are doing.
People seem to feel more secure/comfortable by saying they are "investing" in PMs, crypto, gold exploration stocks, art whatever.
 
betterinvestmentthanshare said:
I’m keen hear what a investment means to you with a return perspective
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An investment is something that provides a return/income. Property provides rent. Profitable businesses provide dividends or retain earnings.
You can profit from an investment without having to sell the underlying asset.
Owning your own home can kind of count as an investment as it provides rent relief.

Speculation is buying something expecting/needing the price to rise. PMs, unprofitable stocks, crypto, art, numismatics, lego etc. etc.
You only make a profit if the price of the asset goes up and you have to sell some of the asset to realise that profit.
Nothing wrong with speculation. We are all doing it. But it is better to understand what you are doing than confuse the two.

Hard assets like PMs can provide an inflation hedge to preserve capital (Shiney's point) over the long term (20+ years), but over the shorter term you are speculating on the market to reprice the asset and that can be uneven, volatile and not suit your selling timeline.
If you bought silver at $40+ per oz in 2011 you had to wait a long time to make a profit.

Guarding against SHTF scenarios like hyperinflation is a different story.
Having PMs sitting around doing nothing is more like taking out insurance in case of black swan events.
 
And a 700% increase in value over 20 years is a investment but a 150% increase over 3 years is a speculative bet?

I understand your thinking, long term with income regardless if the asset increases or decrease in value as long as it receives some sort of income is investing and short term investment of a asset when you understand the core fundamentals and the system that drives that asset is a speculative bet only.

Interesting concept……sounds very mainstream.
There’s a time and place for everything.

I might add to your speculative list…. Property and Business.

See, any investment that has gone bad is called a “bad investment” and any investment that has returned a positive increase is called a “good investment “

People just like to reinvent the wheel giving things new names to sound a more special for instant’s a cleaner is now called a domestic worker or a cleansing operative. At the end of day it’s the same thing. People love to label things, live to put people in a camp, live to divide everyone, i think it’s conditioning.

But I think your confused, not every short term investment is speculative, for example, I see the likes of State Street and vanguard etc go in and out of mining shares in 30 days with a 5-10% profit without receiving any dividends. Their called investment firms, not speculative firms.
 
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If you want a true definition of a speculative investment

Think LOTTERY, think HOPE, think CHANCE

Understand that investment and speculation is not the asset, they’re actions
 
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trew said:
Yes straight from Benjamin Graham.
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Arrr yes! How to use other peoples money to get filthy rich because it’s never enough due to our inflationary system.
I noticed WB was a student of his. Warren has made a few bad investments, I guess he was speculating on those ones

Gambling
Are casino card counters gambling?

Maybe, hoping they don’t get caught
 
I thought I’d put an end to your confusion

Gambling
the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value

Speculation
form a theory or conjecture about a subject without firm evidence
invest in stocks, property, or other ventures in the hope of gain but with the risk of loss.

Investment
the action or process of investing money for profit.
 
samuelbenjamin said:
Hi everyone,

I’m exploring opportunities in precious metals investing and would love some insights. With gold, silver, platinum, and palladium showing varied market trends, I’m curious about which approach balances risk and growth effectively.

Specifically, I’m looking for practical investing advice on timing, storage, and selection of metals. Are ETFs better than physical holdings, or does a mix make more sense? Additionally, how do global economic shifts impact these investments long-term?

Any personal experiences, tips, or strategies would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...



 
trew said:
Guarding against SHTF scenarios like hyperinflation is a different story.
Having PMs sitting around doing nothing is more like taking out insurance in case of black swan events.
Click to expand...

I disagree with the analogy.

You pay insurance premiums to protect you or your belongings from a perceivable risk greater than you can manage financially without insurance cover. Should that risk not eventuate then you know you're going to lose all the $ you've paid in premiums because the insurers take all of your cash.

Guarding your capital against both foreseen (inflation, tax) and unforeseen circumstances (market collapse) is not like insurance, it's deliberately investing your capital across a broad asset base in an attempt to minimise risk. Even if unsuccessful you're unlikely to lose all of your assets even if your portfolio declines in value.

That's why you firstly determine your objectives eg high growth, capital protection etc and then assign a % to each asset class that you are going to purchase in your portfolio. If you're protecting capital you'll likely be heavy in traditional assets such as dividend growth stocks or bonds and lightweight in riskier assets such as precious metals or crypto because they're more volatile and don't return an income.

The first strategy (insurance) is a deliberate policy to protect against any liability that owning an asset or even living may produce. The second strategy (capital protection) is a deliberate strategy to maintain and even increase the value of your assets even in the face of market downturns.

Every investment decision is speculative. The degree of speculation just depends upon where it lies along the spectrum.
 
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