Silver
Like gold, silver can also provide some protection against inflation because it tends to rise in price when interest rates fall behind the rising cost of living. This is known as the real interest rate – meaning the returns you get from cash-in-the-bank after you account for inflation.
Investing in silver also provides valuable diversification benefits for your overall portfolio. That's because silver prices do not move in perfect correlation with other assets like stocks and bonds, so adding an allocation to silver can help reduce overall risk and volatility. And, by holding physical silver bars and coins in your investment portfolio, you have direct ownership of a tangible asset outside of the banking system.
In times of economic turmoil and high inflation, investors often flock to hard assets like precious metals to preserve wealth. That's because silver and gold have intrinsic value beyond fiat currencies and cannot be inflated by central bank policies. Their limited supply also helps protect against debasement.And, as clean energy initiatives accelerate and electronic device usage proliferates, the demand for silver is poised to surge. In turn, the rising industrial demand could support higher silver prices over time, so adding silver bars or coins to your investment mix now, while silver prices are low, could be a smart move.
Whether it makes sense to invest in silver, and how much of your portfolio you allocate to silver, will depend on your financial situation, goals and risk tolerance. However, given silver's status as a critical industrial material, a safe-haven asset and a potential hedge against currency devaluation and inflation, it merits consideration right now as part of a well-diversified investment strategy.