Friday, March 2, 2012

A Look At Silver As Being An Investment - Ways Of Making An Investment In Silver

By Eric Chamberlain


Silver is like three other precious metals (gold, palladium, and platinum) with regards to being regarded as an investment commodity. Actually, this precious metal has been deemed a form of currency and a store worthwhile for over four centuries.

You'll find different ways by which one may spend money on silver. Six are presented here:

Buying silver coins:

This can be a popular way of taking hold of silver - physically. Possibly the best example of a silver coin may be the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf, featuring its 99.99% pure silver. Silver coins can be "fine silver" or "junk silver". Junk silver coins are older coins having a lower percentage of silver. Samples of these are the dime, quarter, and fifty-cent U.S. coins minted in 1964 or earlier. These coins contain 90% silver and are 8/10 troy ounce per 1 USD of face value.

Buying silver bullion bars:

Here is the most traditional way of committing to silver. Silver bullion bars can be obtained or sold over the counter generally in most banks in Switzerland. They are often stored in safe deposit boxes in banks or placed in non-fungible (allocated) or pooled (unallocated) storage having a silver dealer.

Opening a silver account:

A trader may open a silver account and among the major banks in Switzerland. Here, silver can be purchased or sold over the counter as with every foreign currency. However, the bank client won't own the actual silver metal. Instead, he/she has a claim against the bank for a specified quantity of the metal. A silver account is backed through allocated or unallocated storage.

Buying a silver certificate:

In lieu of storing actual silver bullion, an investor may opt for ownership of your silver certificate. A silver certificate allows a trader to buy and sell the security sans the inconveniences associated with the physical silver's transfer. The Perth Mint Certificate Programme, which is fully guaranteed by the Government of Western Australia, is the only silver certificate put in the world that is guaranteed by way of a national government.

Trading in Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs):

An investor can have an easy way of gaining exposure to the price of silver through an ETF. A few of the well-known ETFs include iShares Silver Trust (with ticker symbol NYSE: SLV), Central Fund of Canada (with ticker symbols TSX: CEF.NV.A, NYSE: CEF), and ETFS Silver Trust (with ticker symbol NYSE: SIVR). Trading in ETFs means eradicating the inconveniences associated with the handling of physical silver bars.

Entering in the Contract For Difference (CFD):

Some of the noted financial services firms, especially those in the United Kingdom, provide Contract for Difference (CFD). Within this silver investment vehicle, two parties (a "buyer" as well as a "seller") enter into a contract, in which the seller agrees to spend the buyer the difference between the current valuation on silver and its value at contract time. If your difference is negative, the seller receives payment instead in the buyer. A CFD, therefore, allows an investor to take advantage of long or short positions, enabling him/her to take a position on these markets.

It ought to be mentioned here though that silver has lost its forced tender status in america since the abandonment of the silver standard, when, on August 15, 1967, then U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the U.S. would discontinue redeeming currency for silver (or some other precious metal).




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