intelligencer said:
Just don't put money you can't afford to lose in anything including metals.
+1
Honestly, if you get panic attacks at the thought of silver (or anything) falling in price by more than 50%, then you aren't an investor - you are a gambler or a flipper or a trader. Hey, this isn't a bad thing because this is an art and it's how some people earn a living or a tactic to make (or lose) some quick profits.
I've done this in the past with both physical and paper silver, and I will continue to do it in the future, but I only use money I can afford to lose. I also have a core stack of physical that I just refuse to sell at present because this is my long term investment - my insurance if that's what you want to call it.
Listen, there is a chance that PM's could be much lower in the future - and if you think otherwise then you're kidding yourself. I really don't know what price PM"s will be in the future, but I do know that prices certainly won't be going up or down in a straight line. There will be huge volatility in both directions in the future. So if you can't sleep at night when prices fall, then maybe you've over stretched yourself financially.
So before purchasing any amount of physical you need to ask yourself... if the price of silver fell $10 per oz next week, would it cause me any undue financial stress? If not, then go for it. But if the answer is yes, then you need to have a plan in place to scale back your investment as necessary.
One option could be that you use 75% of your stack as your core holding and then trade the other 25% (sell higher and hopefully buy back lower) to help you sleep at night. Whatever works for you. Everyone has a tipping point and it's important you know what yours is before you get too deep.
There will come a time when even the most ardent physical PM investor will sell their stack, but for me that day is not coming anytime soon.
