How Much of My Portfolio Should Be in Gold and Silver?
Many investors see gold and silver as stores of value rather than investments, providing real savings protection from inflation or other economic woes.
As you consider how much of your portfolio to allocate toward precious metal investments, take the following factors into consideration.
1. Gold as a hedge against inflation
Gold has long been seen as an effective hedge against inflation. When consumer prices increase due to inflation, the dollar becomes devalued and buying power for intangible assets such as jewelry or bullion increases accordingly – this is why many investors opt to maintain some allocation within their portfolio for precious metals as an inflation hedge.
However, gold may not always provide adequate inflation protection hedging strategies such as MacroBond has noted in their study on this hedging strategy; according to MacroBond research gold may lag behind government bonds and TIPS that offer this type of inflation insurance protection as far as returns are concerned.
As such, physical gold may not be suitable for everyone. Since physical gold doesn’t produce passive income streams like dividends and interest payments, allocating too much of your portfolio in this asset could prevent you from capitalizing on higher returns historically offered by stocks and bonds. I recommend taking some time to understand both your portfolio and financial goals before determining how much of your assets to put towards gold.
2. Silver as a store of value
Silver has long been recognized as a store of value and an attractive asset to have in one’s portfolio during times of economic instability or market instability. Furthermore, due to being more cost-effective than gold investment options for younger investors.
Many investors opt to include physical silver in their portfolios due to its wide-ranging applications – from medical supplies and car parts, solar panels and more – making silver an essential material across various industries. Furthermore, silver investments tend to have an inverse correlation to stock markets, meaning that their value could increase during times of market turmoil.
As part of your portfolio strategy, silver should account for at least 5-20% of its contents. When choosing how much of your portfolio to allocate towards precious metals, keep your overall financial goals in mind and allocate 5-20%. However, this allocation can vary based on factors like age, investment strategy and real interest rates on safe assets.
3. Silver as a long-term investment
Precious metals have long been utilized as money around the world and offer excellent wealth-accumulation potential over the long-term. Furthermore, precious metals don’t expose investors to credit risks like other asset classes and typically don’t correlate closely with stocks or bonds.
Precious metals don’t produce cash flow, which poses the risk that having too many in your portfolio could leave you without enough liquid assets when an unexpected crisis hits. That is why many financial advisors advise allocating no more than 10% to precious metals in your portfolio and keeping the rest spread among stocks, bonds, and cash assets.
However, this guideline doesn’t reflect your personal circumstances or risk tolerance; ultimately you must consider your goals to decide how much of your portfolio should consist of gold investments. Here are a few questions that will help you create a bullion strategy tailored specifically for yourself.
4. Silver as a form of insurance
Many investors use precious metals as a form of insurance against inflation and market uncertainty, offering protection from inflation while diversifying their portfolio. Gold and silver both possess similar storage qualities; however, there are distinct distinctions between the two that help investors decide how much to put into each.
When purchasing silver, it’s essential to evaluate supply and demand factors as well as current AISC to ascertain whether the precious metal is fairly valued or undervalued. Furthermore, taking note of historical gold-to-silver ratio and current market conditions like an increase in real interest rates or political uncertainty is also worthwhile. By asking yourself these questions as well as considering your unique savings profile and medium/long-term objectives you can create a bullion strategy tailored specifically to yourself.
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