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How to Invest in Silver [Types, Prices, & Strategy]

Team GoldSilver 
FEB 13, 2024

Investing in silver bullion is a way to protect your portfolio against inflation and downswings in the market because it historically retains its value. Even during financial crises or tumultuous times, silver has always had value as real money, which is why investors use silver as a hedge against risk.

Silver is tangible wealth that belongs to you. That is the best benefit of owning silver.  Your silver is 100% yours and is not an I.O.U. or held on deposit at a bank.

Silver is a hard asset, scarce in supply, that’s been a trusted store of value since the dawn of civilization.

In fact, silver is so synonymous with money, the word silver means money in dozens of languages around the world. “Argent” in French being a notable example.

And in addition to being a universal safe haven, silver also has huge industrial demand that affects its pricing and availability.

But how do you invest in silver, and what is the best way to get started? Here is an ultimate guide to the types, prices, and strategies you can use when investing in silver bullion.

How to Invest in Silver

The silver market has a lot of options. Here’s your chance to get to know what everything means so you can make an investment that best fits your budget and needs.

Silver Bullion

Silver bullion is any piece of refined silver that is at least 99.9% pure silver. Bullion can be shaped as either bars or coins, which each have pros and cons when investing.

Silver Bullion Bars

Silver bullion bars are made in various sizes made from refined silver. Silver bars do not have the intricate designs of silver coins, so they have lower premiums, making them the best way to invest in silver.

When buying a silver bar, consider what size to purchase. The bigger the bar, the smaller the premium, and the more silver you get for your dollar. However, it’s impossible to split a bar once it is purchased, making it likely you’ll have to sell more silver than needed. For example, if you only need to sell $200 worth of silver, but you have a bar worth $500, you have to sell the whole bar. When selling silver bullion, smaller bars are more practical to sell and can be easier to find a buyer for than larger bars. Unless you own InstaVault Silver, low-cost fractional storage silver that allows you accumulate ounces in any quantity you wish with the flexibility to sell as little or as much as you want later (or convert to whole ounce products for delivery).

Because the silver market regularly fluctuates, it’s keeping an eye on the spot price of silver before you buy or sell any may be a good idea to find the best opportunities to purchase. Traditionally, the best month to buy silver bullion is in March or late June. Early January can also be an excellent time to buy silver.

But just as with stocks or any investment, it never hurts to average-in over time… buy the dips... and let your allocation grow without worrying about timing the market precisely.

Silver Coins

Silver rounds or silver bullion coins are both made of silver bullion but are in the shape of a coin. Some silver bullion coins can be used as legal tender but their face value is much smaller than their intrinsic, pure silver content value.

Because silver rounds are generally smaller weights than silver bars, they are more affordable, making them a great starting point for investing. Silver rounds are typically much cheaper than silver coins and serve as an easy, low-cost way to start investing in silver.

Silver Bullion Prices

The price of silver bullion is continually changing because it reflects the current needs and supply of the global market. Even while you’re reading this, the spot price of silver is fluctuating.

To get the most up-to-date price of silver, consult our silver price chart.

Silver ETF

A silver exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a bit different than owning and investing in silver directly. Rather than purchasing the silver and holding and managing your silver, ETFs work like owning stock in a company.

ETFs are traded on the stock market as investments in silver held by a fund manager or trust. When you buy shares of a silver ETF, you’re buying shares of a trust that owns the silver, not the actual silver itself. That means, you can get some price exposure to silver but you don’t actually own any of the ounces yourself.

While ETFs can be one way into investing in silver, they come with higher risks compared with owning physical silver outright.

Because ETFs are sold like a stock, they are closely tied to the success and failure of the market. If you are investing in silver to hedge against a crash or even collapse of the market or fiat currency, ETFs don’t provide the same security as owning real, physical silver.

Silver Jewelry

Silver jewelry is difficult to invest in because it comes with such a high manufacturing premium. While silver jewelry requires a remarkable level of craftsmanship to manufacture, it doesn’t add any true value to the weight of the silver. While you might pay $200 for a piece of silver jewelry, the actual weight value of the silver could be only $50. This creates a huge problem when selling because you will lose $150 of the initial investment.

Another issue with investing in silver jewelry is jewelry isn’t as pure as bullion. Even top-end silver jewelry from luxury brands does not have the same purity of silver found in bullion. High-end jewelry can reach 92.5% purity, while bullion is 99.9% pure. The difference in purity will reduce the selling price of jewelry compared to bullion of the same weight.

Jewelry should never be used as a primary silver investment. It looks great but it is extremely difficult to see a return on investment, and, in most cases, investors will suffer a net loss. But on the other hand, because gold packs so much more value into a smaller amount of metal, owning gold bullion jewelry may be a good idea as an investment.

Silver Bullion Investment Strategies

Silver should be seen as a way to store wealth. If you buy 10 ounces of silver today, 20 years from now, you’ll still have that 10 ounces of silver, although its market value will likely have kept pace with inflation and be worth much more. This is different from investing in stocks that can devalue, split, be bought out, or go bankrupt. Silver can never go out of business.

Because silver is seen as a store of value, it typically performs well when the economy is struggling. Global economic and geopolitical events can directly affect the price of silver. If you track the cost of silver closely, you can correlate spikes or drops in the silver price directly to globally important events like presidential elections, military coups, and global trade agreements. Even natural disasters can impact the price of silver, with more people turning to silver during catastrophes.

Because silver is highly valued during times of emergency, make sure it is protected and easy to access in proper storage. The times when you need the silver the most, crises, are the times when you want to know your silver investment is safe and so you can sleep soundly at night.

But how much silver should you invest in? This is a complicated question because each advisor will give a slightly different number. Some people choose to only invest 1-2% of their total portfolio in gold and silver, while others prefer to invest more heavily in precious metals and will have over half of their total portfolio in silver.

Invest in Silver Today

Whichever you choose, at GoldSilver, we make it easy for you to securely purchase the silver you want. Browse online today to expand your investment portfolio.