Silver is more volatile than gold. Silver is currently cheaper than gold. Precious metals such as gold and silver are attractive investments, especially as a hedge against inflation and as a store of value. A person may consider investing in physical ingots (coins, ingots, or metal jewelry), mining stocks, or ETFs.
Precious metals such as gold and silver can be a valuable and significant gift. You can consider offering your beneficiary an indirect investment in precious metals through an ETF, investment fund, or shares of mining companies. However, part of the appeal of gold or silver as a gift may lie in giving the recipient a physical and tangible asset. In that case, you can give away precious metals in the form of ingots, coins, or jewelry.
In addition to the tax implications of valuable gifts, if you plan to give physical gold or silver as gifts, it's important that you buy from a reputable dealer and that you consider the costs associated with delivery, storage and insurance. You can easily see that, in percentage terms, silver rises much more than gold in bull markets and falls much more than gold in bear markets. ETFs, mining companies, futures and options are ways in which you can invest in gold or silver, but they may not be the most interesting gifts. When buying gold or silver jewelry, it's helpful to know that items that are marketed as gold or silver can have significant variations in the purity and quantity of those precious metals.
If the need for physical silver suddenly increased (a currency crisis, a shortage of industrial supply, or an increase in investment demand), governments would not be able to meet these needs with such small reserves. It is not intended to be investment advice and should not be relied upon to form the basis of an investment decision. Jeff regularly speaks at conferences on precious metals, sits on the board of directors of Strategic Wealth Preservation in Grand Cayman, and provides exclusive market analysis and commentary to GoldSilver clients. Historically, precious metals such as gold and silver are considered “safe investment options”, especially after the pandemic and high levels of global inflation.
As the son of an award-winning gold panther, with family-owned mining operations in California, Arizona and Nevada, Jeff has deep roots in the industry. Recipients of precious metal gifts may also have to pay capital gains taxes if they sell gold or silver at a future date. There are reasons why an investor might choose to take this approach, including the fact that mining companies could benefit from an increase in the price of those metals. Fees, expenses, and other factors will create significant differences between the return on an investment in masterpieces stocks and the appreciation rates of historic works of art.
Meanwhile, silver offers a weaker return on investment and has high premiums, making it a less attractive investment. A key element to keep in mind is that many pieces of jewelry labeled as gold or silver may have metals of much lower purity compared to ingots or even coins. While both precious metals experienced short-term declines during this period, gold continued to achieve higher long-term returns. Indirect exposure to gold, silver, or other metals can also be offered by investing in shares of companies that mine those metals.
