KWN weekly metal wrap

The KWN Weekly Metals Wrap - They have added new segments to the KWN Weekly Metals Wrap covering gold, silver, trading and other factor affecting the precious metals markets. King World News listeners have global access to what has long been their secret weapons in researching where gold and silver are headed directionally. This covers the commitment of traders Report in detail as well as a number of other factors which can influence the gold and silver market price action.


Global Minerals Ltd.
The foundation of Global Minerals business model is to acquire attractive, near-term producing assets while continuing to explore for world-class gold and silver mineral deposits in geopolitically stable countries.  The company occupies a market niche by focusing on the development of advanced-stage, highly profitable, mid-tier size ore bodies. This segment of the mining industry has been abandoned by the major mining companies in their quest for "World Class" mineral deposits.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, CMI Gold & Silver Inc. is one of the oldest and largest gold and silver dealers in the United States and has played a major role in introducing investors to the gold and silver markets. Although domiciled in Phoenix, Arizona, CMIGS buys and sells gold and silver with investors across the United States.

Arizona is the nation's largest copper producing state and the nation's fifth-largest silver producer, Phoenix is also the home of major mining companies. In 1973, when silver was only $2.00, CMIGS' founder, a longtime Phoenix resident with ties to Arizona's mining interests, recognized the growing uses for silver and the dwindling silver stockpiles would result in higher silver prices. Consequently, CMIGS was launched to sell silver bullion to investors. In 1980, silver topped $50.

When Americans regained the right to own gold bullion on December 31, 1974, CMIGS became one of the first dealers in country to recommend buying gold. The following year, gold averaged $160 and in 1980 hit $850.

I am not advocating investing in CMIGS, but do your own homework; it could pay off in the long run.

New Silver Mine in Nevada

Today Cypress Development Corp. (CYP) announced the results of a surface magnetometer survey and the assay results of surface samples collected on its Twenty-One silver-gold property located in Mineral County, west central Nevada. Cypress Development Corp. is a diversified precious and base metals exploration and development company with properties in Red Lake, Ontario, Canada, and in Nevada, U.S.A.


The assay results show that quartz veins contain very high grade precious metal mineralization, particularly silver and gold. Sampling of quartz vein material from historic workings returned silver assay values from 203 to 2100 g/t of silver (67.7 oz/t) and the high silver values are accompanied by gold values of 3.4 g/t of gold.

Discovery of a new area of mineralized outcrop has been made; outcropping, iron and manganese oxide stained limestone located over 750 metres NNW of the vein area returned 17 g/t silver along with strong lead, zinc and manganese values

Cypress Development plans to commence a drill program in April.

The property covers the contiguous ENE extension of silver and gold mineralization mined at the Mindora deposit. The Mindora deposit is reported to have over 1 million ounces of silver and gold based on shallow drilling done in the 1980's. The Mindora deposit is based on drilling done in the 1980's no drilling has ever occurred on the Twenty-One property.

Gold and silver assay results for the surface samples collected at the Twenty-One property in January showed very high grade silver assays (up to 2100 g/t Ag and gold values (up to 3.4 g/t Au), from surface samples of exposed quartz veins and from dump material in an area containing a series of historic pits and trenches in the south central portion of the property.

To find out more about Cypress Development Corp. you can access their website at www.cypressdevelopmentcorp.com.

I am back

I am writing this short post just to let readers know that after a years hiatus, I am resuming posting articles that pertain to the future of silver.  I still believe that as a finite commodity that silver is going to be one of your best bets for a tremendous increase in value in the near future.  I will be adding posts about physical silver, paper silver and silver mining, so look here for information about silver and how it could make you wealthy.

Red Stick Coins and Metals is a Reality

I finally quit my job working for someone else and started my own coin and PM business.  I also have order silver ingot molds that are engraved with Red Stick Metals, so I will be pouring my own silver and gold ingot. I have been pouring ingots in the past but these will be more professional looking. I am working on getting my website up, so for right now this blog is my main means of communication outside of coming to my 3000sf building.  I have plenty of room to grow, and plan to one day get the equipment to press my own rounds.

My contact info is:
Greg Lacy
Red Stick Coins and Metals
14617 Perkins Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70810
225-753-1150
glacy@globalecotec.org

If you would like to get on my mailing list, please send me an email at the above address.

Warning to Precious Metal Dealers and Interested PM buyers

Beginning in 2012, I suggest you start buying your PMs in $599 increments.  The Obama administration slid another little surprise by us in their Health Care Law. The passage of the national health care legislation by Congress will have a big impact to the Nation’s coin collectors, silver and gold dealers, or anyone else who buys and sells coins, or silver and gold bullion.

Effective Jan. 1, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service will require that 1099 tax forms will be required for all transactions involving coins and PMs  that are bought or sold in excess of $600. The arbitrary $600 or more number (I believe that is the same number at which a casino’s IRS agent takes their share of your winnings, on the spot), is not a very high level and one that has already started sounding alarm bells. It doesn’t matter in what form payment is made; cash, check, credit card, or PayPal, the $600 threshold still applies.

IRS Form 1099 is used to report independent contractor income, income from dividends, and income from many other sources.  It is kind of a catch-all form to collect taxes on income received but not specified on other forms.


Section 9006 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) that was signed into law by President Obama this spring, is where you will find the relevant part. Look under “SEC. 9006. EXPANSION OF INFORMATION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. (a) IN GENERAL. – This is where Section 6041 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to require a 1099 issued for any transaction of coins and bullion in excess of $600.

The old exemption against corporations is also gone. If you buy or sell more than $600 of coins, or whatever, from, to or with a bullion dealer, for example, you have an obligation under the new law to issue 1099s.

On the hopeful side, there is a bill being introduced, H.R. 5141, by Rep. Dan Lungren , that has gathered over 80 members of Congress as co-sponsors to repeal this section of the Obama administration’s Universal Health Care farce . However, the drafters of the initial provision believe there is a $17 billion loophole that the requirement plugs.

Call or write a letter to your representative and urge everyone you know who invests in, purchases, sells, or collects silver or gold coins and bullion, expressing your outrage at this sneaky, underhanded tactic utilized by the Obama administration to pay for a Health Care Law that we did not want in the first place.  Hopefully dealers, collectors, investors, and the public at larges cry of outrage will lead to a ready modification before the law becomes operational in 2012. Potions of this article were taken fro NumisMaster.com and Numismatic News.

The Silverbug Round Will Begin Production Today

After numerous emails and phone calls between me and Jim Little, owner of Quality Silver Bullion we are ready to start production on the 2010 Silverbugs .999 Fine Silver round.  The obverse die cam in a few days ago, but needed to be treated and cleaned.  In the meantime, Jim and I looked at several possibilities for the reverse side.  I have to give Jim props for being very patient with me.  I did not want anything too plain, but I did not want a reverse imprint that detracted from the Silverbugs side. We finally settled on this:

Jim also sent me a photo of the unpolished Obverse (Silverbugs) side.  Remember this is unpolished so it will look much better before minting begins.

They go on sale tomorrow!  So If Jim does not have them up QSB's website, you can call the contact number and order!  This is a great day for Silverbugs, how many groups have their own .999 Fine Silver round?  So I encourage you to buy these, since Jim had the artwork touched up and die made and did not charge us a cent. Plus he had to put up with me for a month or so, and I was like a picky dowager in a shoe store.  I wanted to see every possible combination of obverse and reverse sides.

Also, you do not have to be a Silverbugs member, to purchase these rounds, but I think Silverbug members will get a discount on the premium!  So buy silver NOW!

BTW, look for our coin in one of Jim's YouTube productions soon.

Silver Deal of the Day

Monday, June 14, 2010, is Flag Day and APMEX has a special offer to help you show your true colors. APMEX has recently acquired an allotment of 1 ounce .999 Fine American Flag Silver Bars. These bars are a great way to show your patriotism while at the same time saving big $$$ on silver. Between now and Tuesday, June 15, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. (CST), or while supplies last, purchase these American Flag Silver Bars for only $0.69 per ounce over spot in any quantity.
Buy Silver Bullion 1 oz Silver Bars

Dealer and Mint Premiums vs Ebay Prices

I was checking in on a friends blog, Gold Wars, and the latest post is titled Why Are There Premiums On Gold and Silver, in it author  Kirsty Hogg stated "Another good thing to do is a quick comparison on Ebay for a similar item. Whatever you are looking for, type it into the Ebay search field and It will come up with the price they are being sold for that day/week".  Don't get me wrong I am not knocking Kirsty's article it is good.  I just had one thing to say about using Ebay as a guide.


I buy and sell silver on Ebay as well as buy from dealers and mints. I do not know if you have noticed but often the prices on Ebay for a particular piece will be higher than if you ordered it from the mint.

I have a few theories why this happens:

1. Bidders get caught up in the momentum. Ebay is addictive, you have been watching and bidding on an item, and you get the mindset that your are going to win that item.

2. Many people on Ebay are both buyers and sellers and  usually have money in our Paypal account. It is so easy just to push a button and pay from Paypal.

3. I think is many start out buying silver on Ebay because they do not know how to shop the online dealers and mints for specials.

4. The last reason I think that some people price their items higher on Ebay is that they make money off of what few items they post, and I think sentimental value plays a large role in what they would accept. 

Dealers and mints sell on a whole other scale and that is why they have premiums, but can often sell silver bullion less than you can buy it on Ebay.  Jim Little, owner of Quality Silver Bullion commented on the Gold Wars article writing "When we buy large silver bars and silver shot, there is already a premium tacked onto it, along with the freight costs." They also have a lot of overhead costs. He went on to explain "From the premiums we charge, we end up being able to keep just a small portion as profit. That is why quantity plays a huge part in the pricing of a bullion round".

Because of the reasons above, I suggest if you are going to buy an item on Ebay.  Decide what is the most you would pay for it before you ever place a bid. You do not need to place the whole amount on the first bid, actually I suggest you put the minimal bid on it and wait until closer to the end of the auction

One thing to keep in mind is if you use Ebay as a pricing guide, you have to look at the final sale price.  Some items may list at a certain price but never sell or you might catch the auction before the end.  Most prices increase dramatically in the last few minutes.

That said I still shop Ebay as well as dealers and mints for the lowest prices.  Be careful on Ebay for fraud, but that is a whole other post.

Contest To Design The New Silverbugs .999 Silver Round!!!!!!!

If you do not know already, there is a group on Facebook called “Silverbugs”. It is for people who have an affinity for Precious Metals, especially Silver. This group is growing at an extremely fast rate. We have over 200 dedicated members, with more joining everyday, and it is open to the public.

The admins at Silverbugs are always looking for ways to make Silverbugs the best group on Facebook. So with that in mind, our next great accomplishment is that Silverbugs is going to have our own, professionally minted silver rounds produced, thanks to one of our members, Jim Little, owner of Quality Silver Bullion (QSB). But that’s not all! Not only are we going to have our own round, but we are going to let our members design and choose the Silverbugs logo that will go on the face of the round. That’s right, we are going to have an art contest, open to all Silverbugs members. Then we will let all Silverbugs members vote on the winning logo. The logo with the most votes wins!

The winning member not only gets bragging rights, but will also get a QSB .999 silver 1 troy ounce round. So if you’re not a member but want to submit an entry, join Silverbugs on Facebook. If you are already a member, get out your pencils, pens, computer art programs, etc. and get to work. The submitted artwork must be on a template that looks like this:

Your submission should go in the large circle, diameter approximately 7”, and the winning submission will be put on the face of the round that will be the size of the smaller circle. The template is on 8.5” X 11” paper. I am in the process of setting up a site where you can download the template in pdf format. The XXX’s on the template are for you to remember to leave room within the circle for lettering, as we there will be a phrase on the round as well as a link to our group.

There really aren’t any rules; except every member is limited to one submission and it must fit within the larger circle on the template. So create what you think would look best on a round. The round will not be colorized, or shaded, but if you want to submit a colorized or shaded version, the die maker can trace around it. I suggest a detailed line drawing.

I believe this contest is something we all can have fun with and the final product will be a work of art that we can all own and be proud of! I know that I will want plenty for myself. I have to give kudos to: Jim Little, who is having the die made at no cost to us and Darrell Head, who, along with Jim came up with the idea for our own round. Of course, the contest was my idea ;). We will discuss how to obtain the freshly minted rounds at another time, but for now be creative and remember Silver is Money!

Detailed Explanation to a Good Question from "The Golden Truth"

One of the blogs I follow, The Golden Truth, received a comment in the form of a question today.  I thought it should be shared, and I hope Dave does not mind.

The comment:
Dave,
Any thoughts as to why gold and silver have been moving in opposite directions to each other the last couple of days?

Dave's reply:
Good question. Primarily because this is what is known as "roll" week in the futures market. The last day you can hold May silver contracts is tomorrow, unless you fully fund your account for delivery. Since most long positions are speculative funds who have no intention of taking delivery, there is usually heavy selling in the week prior to "first notice" which is this Friday.

Typically the gold/silver manipulators (JPM, HSBC, GS, etc) will try to force the market lower during "roll" week, because they know they have a large amount of natural sellers. In fact, it can be argued that silver is performing much better than usual right now and I think because it seems that a large number of the longs are rolling forward to the next front-month, which is silver. Typically in the past, on a day like today during roll week when you wake up and silver is getting hammered, it just stays down. Silver has been bouncing back all during the last trading week.

The Golden Truth can be accessed at: http://truthingold.blogspot.com/
Go there and read today's post: Physical Gold Buying vs Paper Fraud

In it Dave states "It is becoming more readily apparent to anyone observing and participating in the trading/investing of gold and silver that the physical market is beginning to overwhelm the fraudulent, fractional bullion practices of the Big Wall Street Banks. This is a scandal that ultimately looms much larger than anyone realizes and will take gold and silver to prices that will shock even astute, long-time precious metals market participants."

The Top 20 Silver Producing Countries in 2008

Top 20 Silver Producing Countries in 2008 (in millions of ounces)

1. Peru - 118.3

2. Mexico - 104.2

3. China - 82.8

4. Australia - 61.9

5. Chile - 44.9

6. Poland - 38.9

7. Russia - 36.1

8. United States - 36.0

9. Bolivia - 35.8

10. Canada 21.5

11. Kazakhstan - 20.2

12. Turkey - 10.1

13. Argentina - 9.9

14. Sweden - 8.4

15. Indonesia - 8.0

16. Morocco - 7.8

17. India - 7.1

18. Guatemala - 3.2

19. Iran - 3.2

20. South Africa - 2.7

Source: The Silver Institute. 2010. http://www.silverinstitute.org/supply_demand.php#supply

Learning Corner: Silver in Other Languages

Language		Language		Language		Language
Afrikaans:	Silwer	Finnish:	Hopea	Latin	Argentum	Scottish Gaelic:	Airgead
Albanian:	Argjendi	French:	Argent	Latvian:	Sudrabs	Serbian:	Сребро
Amharic:	ብር	Friulian:	Arint	Limburgian:	Zèlver	Serbo-Croatian:	Srebro
Arabic:	فضة	Galician:	Prata	Lithuanian:	Sidabras	Sicilian:	Argentu
Armenian:	Արծաթ	Gan:	銀	Lojban:	rijno	Slovak:	Striebro
Asturian:	Plata	Georgian:	ვერცხლი	Low Saxon:	Sülver	Slovenian:	Srebro
Azeri:	Gümüş	German:	Silber	Luxembourgish:	Sëlwer	Spanish:	Plata
Basque:	Zilar	Greek:	Άργυρος	Malay:	Perak	Swahili:	Agenti
Belarusian:	Серабро	Guarani:	Itatĩ	Malayalam:	വെള്ളി	Swedish:	Silver
Bengali:	রূপা	Gujarati:	ચાંદી	Manx:	Argid	Tajik:	Нуқра
Manipuri:	প্রাটা	Haitian:	Ajan	Maori:	Kawata	Tamil:	வெள்ளி
Bosnian :	Srebro	Hakka:	Ngiùn	Marathi:	चांदी	Tatar:	Kömeş
Bulgarian:	Сребро	Hebrew:	כסף	Min Nan:	Ag	Telugu:	వెండి
Catalan:	Plata	Hindi:	रूप्यम्	Nahuatl:	Iztāc teōcuitlatl	Thai:	เงิน
Cebuano:	Silver	Hungarian:	Ezüst	Norman:	Ergent	Turkish:	Gümüş
Chinese:	銀	Icelandic:	Silfur	Norwegian :	Sølv	Ukrainian:	Срібло
Chuvash:	Кĕмĕл	Ido:	Arjento	Occitan:	Argent	Urdu:	چاندی
Corsican:	Argentu	Indonesian:	Perak	Persian:	نقره	U.S.A :	Silver
Croatian:	Srebro	Irish Gaelic:	Airgead	Polish:	Srebro	Uzbek :	Kumush
Czech:	Stříbro	Italian:	Argento	Portuguese:	Prata	Venetian:	Arxento
Danish:	Sølv	Japanese:	自然銀	Quechua:	Qullqi q'illay	Vietnamese:	Bạc
Dutch:	Zilver	Javanese:	Perak	Ripuarian:	Silber	Welsh:	Arian
Erzya:	Сия	Kapampangan:	Pilak	Romanian:	Argint	Yiddish:	זילבער
Esperanto:	Arĝento	Korean:	은	Russian:	Серебро	Zhuang:	Ngaenz
Estonian	Hõbe	Kurdish:	Zîv	Sanskrit:	रूप्यम्	Zulu:	Isiliva

http://www.mindat.org/min-3664.html

 

The Most Dangerous Man in the Mid South: The-moneychanger.com

I cannot take credit for finding this unbelievable article.  Kirsty Hogg, author of Gold Wars gave me the reference. This article should be required reading for anyone who barters or is thinking of bartering with PMs.  Since there is a demand for such legalized bartering, or paying for goods and services with silver and gold, everyone should read what happened to this man when he tried to do that very thing.   The article is entitled "The Most Dangerous Man in the Mid South?" and can be found at the-moneychanger.com/articles_files/dangerous.phtml.

Silver Predicted to Outperform Gold This Year

Investors were buying PMs today seeking the safety that the shiny stuff brings over a pandemic of struggling currencies. The EU's multibillion-euro bailout for Greece is sketchy on details and now Spain is at risk for losing its triple-A credit rating from Moody's along with the U.S., U.K., France and Germany. If the EU continues to follow the precedent that no member of the eurozone can be allowed to default, many analysts are anticipating further euro debasement and subsequent inflation.

That is thought to cause today's silver price jump.  Silver increased $0.23 per Troy ounce to close at $17.34.  Also, today there was  a very interesting video on TheStreet.com that I recommend everyone watch.  In this video, Alix Steel reported that David Morgan, founder of Silver-investor.com expects that silver will outperform gold by as much as 30% this year.  The link to the video is here.



A book on silver investing by Harvey Snyder
Investors which way to go, silver: Truly one of the best hedges against inflation

One Reason Why Silver Prices are Manipulated

I have been saying for a while that silver is undervalued and its price is being artificially manipulated. Why would someone try to keep silver prices down, you might ask? The best example is demonstrated by industrial applications of silver, which there are many. If you use silver and its cost goes up, you will not make money if you cannot increase your selling price. When any commodity's price go up, companies who use the commodity as a non-substitutable component in their product, but cannot raise their prices to meet the commodities price increase will end up losing out (unless they are able to keep the price artificially low). "This is why gasoline stations close despite increasing oil prices. They cannot increase their prices very much, at the same time the big oil companies increase the prices to them. The reasons they cannot rais fuel prices very much is that competition between stations creates price pressure downwards and consumers are somewhat price-sensitive, even to gasoline, which doesn't have a mainstream alternative (TheStreet.com)." This is a really good example why the price of silver is being artificially held down. However, I believe there will come a day when silver becomes in such demand and becomes so scarce that the man behind the curtain will no longer be able to contain the price of silver. I just hope I live to see that day; but, at least my beneficiaries will be well taken care of. Now I will give credit where credit is due. I do not plagiarize, if I use another's article I give them full credit. I was already writing this article and saw some good examples in a general article on commodities on TheStreet.com. I did use their example and cited them as a reference. Buy silver while it is low!

Why silver premiums?

Premiums on PMs such as silver are supposed to cover mining, refining, and minting costs. A good example of how much mining costs can be can be seen in Silver Standard Resources Q4 report. This mining company reported a (Dec) loss of $0.13 per share. The Pirquitas Mine produced 1.1 M ounces during the year. Since December 1, 2009, the date of achievement of commercial production, the mine produced to year-end 545,600 ounces of silver at a cash production cost of $8.99 per silver ounce. Total cash costs, including transportation, treatment, refining, export taxes and royalties, were $16.57 per silver ounce. During the month, the company sold 460,100 ounces of silver at a realized price of $17.49 per ounce. This kind of loss may not be typical of all silver mining companies but just shows many of the costs of getting the shiny stuff to us. Now, dealers have to make a profit also but some of their tack-ons can be outrageous. A good place to find information on the best dealers and mints (besides here) is the FB group “Silverbugs.” It is not public, so you have to ask an admin to allow you access. We are pretty lenient in our restrictions, but we DO NOT allow any marketing schemes. Check us out!

Silver Up On News: Greece's Plans and Jobs Data

An article on Forbes.com reported that silver futures moved higher this morning as the Euro strengthened against the US dollar, and an employment report showed improvement in the U.S. jobs picture. Silver spot price was up to nearly $17.40 per Troy ounce around noon today. The high this year was $18.44 on January 11th.  Today's price was the highest since silver fell to $17.68 on January 21st and continued downward to bottom at $15.14 on February 8th (Kitco London Fix).  Greece's plans to rein in its debt gave strength to the Euro and thus weakened the US Dollar. Furthermore, the ADP jobs report stated the U.S. private-sector employers cut 40,000 less jobs in February than in January.  To read the entire article:
Gold Rallies As Dollar Dallies
Greenback falls on Greek belt-tightening, provides boost to metal prices, stocks.
By MarketNewsVideo.com

http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/03/gold-barrick-anglogold-markets-equities-silver-marketnewsvideo.html?partner=email

Silverbugs-Group for Silver Lovers on Facebook

There is an up and coming group on Facebook called Silverbugs.  This group is primarily for interaction between people who love, buy, sell, trade and invest in silver.  People interested in any of theses things may be invited to join.  IMO it is not for the profiteering from fellow members or the advertisement of the newest get rich by making me rich scheme. 

I am not the group leader, so as I said this is only my opinion; however, if this group get floooded with join my new NUMI, snowballing, pyramid or other silver business and make millions posts, I am out.  I have nothing against people in the silver NUMI business, I just do not want the group to be a place to advertise your business.  I am not trying to be a  hard ass, and if you announce that your program is looking for people once, I think that would be fine, but as of now it is fairly balanced.  It really depends on who members invite to join.  If a member constantly invites off-topic members to join, I think they should be banned.  They can always form their own group and keep me out. 

I do not advocate censorship, I just think the group should stay on topic without preying on the other members. I am not saying not to sale or trade between members or announce an ebay item that other members might be iterested in, just stop the internet marketing, pyramid, snowballing whatever you want to call them plans. 

I put this on my blog because I hope that my fellow silverbugs and other friends on FB look at what I post occasionally.  Yes, I have some ads on the page, but I am not pressuring anyone to click.  It helps me if you do but I don't care if you don't.  I just like to keep informed and when I see something that interests me, I share.  I will end my announcement/invitation/rant now.  Carry on, and I cannot stress it enough, NOW is the time to buy physical silver.

The Glitter of Precious-Metals ETFs - Kiplinger.com

By Laura Cohn, Associate Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance


Published February 4, 2010

In this article Ms. Cohn identifies five exchange-traded funds that give investors a stake in gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Unfortunately she leaves out my favorite, SIVR, an ETF that tracks the spot price of silver. When silver went below $16.00 and ounce I started buying shares in SIVR, paying as low as 15.35/share. You can buy it through your online broker just like stocks, I paid $4.50 per trade, no other fees. I prefer to hold physical silver which I also bought today, but the ETF shares I bought with OPM (other people’s money). Yes, I bought on margin. I believe this is a temporary dip and when the price increases I will sell. I never hold paper silver very long, and frankly I have never had to. Anyway this is not my article so read on.

"For decades, gold bugs have argued the bullish case for their favorite metal. In recent years, they’ve actually been right. The price of gold has climbed steadily for the past nine years, from $277 an ounce in 2001 to a record high (not adjusted for inflation) of $1,213 in December 2009 as investors piled into the yellow metal because of its reputation as a safe haven and as a hedge against a falling dollar. Gold closed at $1,115 on February 2.

The rising price and the rise of exchange-traded funds have attracted investors in droves. Thanks to ETFs, investors can buy gold without having to open their own Fort Knox. Last year, investors around the world bought 51.2 million ounces of gold, and 35% of that amount came through ETFs. In the case of silver, the figure is even more astounding. Investors snatched up 172 million ounces of silver last year, and 87% of it was via ETFs. Silver closed February 2 at $17 an ounce, well below the record of $50, set in 1980, but far above the $5 level of recent years.

The best way to get a piece silver, buy the iShares Silver Trust (SLV), which charges 0.50% per year. Both GLD and SLV provide a stake in the metals, which are housed in vaults located in London. That way you don’t need to buy bars and worry about where to store them safely."
To read the entire article go here.