-- Posted 5 January, 2010 | | Discuss This Article - Comments:

There are a multitude of reasons the average investor should have at least some of their assets invested in silver.  Consider these five reasons that can help you grow your assets while preserving your wealth. 

Silver Has Intrinsic Value

Through thousands of years, silver has maintained its worth and its utility, providing a currency and a means of exchange through the rise and fall of great empires.  Silver has always retained intrinsic value; indeed, silver has never fallen to zero, and it has appreciated decade after decade and century after century.  One ounce of silver today would purchase just as much as it did thousands of years ago, without any significant risk.

You Can See Your Investment

Silver coins and bars make an excellent investment that you can hold in your hands.  Unlike stocks, which are controlled by a board of directors, you make the decisions on how you should use your metals.  In contrast to futures or other complicated silver derivatives, you can be assured that the silver you “own” is actually silver – and not printed paper backed by a shaky bank. 

Silver Offers Better Returns

Silver has always been more volatile, generating higher returns than that of gold and other precious metals.  This phenomenon comes from silver's rarity.  With so little silver exchanging hands around the world, the smallest of silver purchases can have a dramatic impact on the total silver market.  Silver is one of the few investments where volatility is a positive, as any look into the history of silver prices shows that the metal can escalate quickly, often 10% - 20% in a period of just a few weeks. 

Silver Has Industrial Use

You cannot use your stock certificates to create an anti-bacterial product.  You are unable to develop film with your bank balance, and you can't patch an electrical circuit with other commodities. 

In sharp contrast, silver has literally thousands of uses that help to limit the amount of silver in circulation and increase the value of silver in your own hand.  Chances are you already own silver by the process of owning a TV, a computer and any other electronic equipment.  Silver is also in your batteries, the bearings of your car, and it is likely used in the medical devices that performed your last operation.  Silver is also used in many industries that are developing right as you read this article, including solar energy and water purification.  As the world and technology develop, silver demand will only explode.

Silver's Resurgence in Monetary Utility

Gold and silver are again gaining a footing as a global currency.  World governments and central banks alike are searching for investments that can back their more speculative investments and add value to their paper currencies.  China and India have continued to purchase enormous swaths of metals to add to their foreign reserves, with India making the largest historical purchase of 200 tonnes of gold in 2009. 

People all over the world are realizing the worth of metals not only as an investment, but as an asset with real, tangible value.  As silver investing continues to grow, prices will only rise, helping to grow the wealth of any silver coin investor.

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis

www.silver-coin-investor.com