Why Buy Precious Metals

Precious metals are prized for their rarity, beauty and ability to retain value over time. Economies rise and fall but precious metals always endure. Therefore, many investors choose precious metals because they are considered a "borderless currency" making them secure assets that can be accessed at any time.

Gold

No matter where you live in the world, your money only has value because governments say so. This is a Fiat money system and it works as long as governments don’t print too much and don't borrow too much. While the value of printed money is affected by either of these factors, gold has never lost its value. In Roman times, an ounce of gold would buy a fine suit of armor and, today a designer suit costs the same as an ounce of gold. Because the value of gold has stayed consistent in relation to the times for thousands of years, it is an excellent investment whether in the form of gold bars or coins such as the American Eagle, Gold Buffalo, South African Krugerrand, Canadian Maple Leaf, and Austrian Philharmonic.

Silver

As early as 700 B.C., Mesopotamian merchants used silver as a form of exchange. Later, many other civilizations also acknowledged the value of silver as a trading metal. Today, people all over the world recognize its intrinsic value which makes it popular among precious metals as a reasonably priced investment. The most tradable silver comes in the form of bars and coins, the most popular coins being the American Eagle and the Canadian Maple Leaf one ounce coins.

Platinum

Platinum is more than fifteen times rarer than gold. In the early 1900s, it was the preferred metal for all fine jewelry in America. But, the hardest of the precious metals, Platinum has more industrial uses than gold or silver. Its use in auto catalytic converters and as a catalyst in “cracking” crude oil are reasons why Platinum is in higher demand than other precious metals. In 1997, the U.S. Mint began producing America’s first platinum coin, The Platinum Eagle, which quickly became one of the most popular platinum coins in the world.

Palladium

Palladium is a precious metal with a modern-day application as a sponge for pollution. In fact, Palladium can absorb 900 times its weight in harmful gases, making it superior to platinum for catalytic converters. And it is automobiles that use most of the palladium produced today -- some 60 percent of it is taken up with this application alone.

Rare Coins

For centuries, coin collecting has been popular because it is an interesting pastime but is also a sound investment. Therefore, it is wise to choose rare coins that increase the value of your collection. There are several factors that determine the value of rare coins including historical relevance, condition and demand. In most cases, the rarer a coin is, the more the demand and the greater the value. For example, each year, thousands of bullion Krugerrands are minted and are priced based on the amount of gold they contain. In addition, a limited number of proof Krugerrands are also struck but, as there are fewer available, proof Krugerrands are worth more than bullion Krugerrands, though both contain a similar amount of gold.

Maintaining a diverse investment portfolio is important and precious metals are ideal diversifiers because economic forces determining the price of precious metals are different from those that influence other financial assets.