Investment in gold and silver

Precious metals have always been, are and will be a good opportunity for a profitable investment of money. In this article, we will look at all the details about investing in gold and silver.

Gold is generally one of the most important elements in the economy. For centuries, it has replaced money. Then money (coins) began to be produced from gold. For example, in 1923 the USSR issued a gold coin containing 7.7 grams of gold.

Now it is already difficult to imagine, but several decades ago the entire world system of monetary relations and settlements was tied to gold. Until the 40s, the so-called "Gold Standard" operated. The basic unit of international settlement was a certain standardized amount of gold. And even the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement, designed to modify the settlement system, still left the settlement to gold.

Since then, international settlement standards have evolved and changed several times. Nevertheless, until now, the economies of entire states are striving to extract or purchase more gold as reserves for a "rainy day". You've probably heard such a term as "gold and foreign exchange reserves"?

Silver, in truth, has a similar story. People fought for him and made coins from him. Let me remind you that an entire state is named after silver. And not some dwarf, but 8th in the world in terms of area (Argentina, from Latin Argentum - silver ) .

Investing in gold and silver: pros and cons

Investing in gold and silver has its own objective pros and cons.

I'll start with the disadvantages. I will note two points here:

Both precious metals are almost always highly volatile . No, not the metals themselves, of course. Changing their exchange rate against major world currencies. And where the price can change dramatically, super profits are possible. But possible large losses are the flip side of the coin.

Silver and especially gold are highly unpredictable . For example, the upcoming change in currencies can be predicted if fundamental analysis is carried out. We can say for sure that the rate of, say, the ruble against the dollar will fall if the Federal Reserve System strengthens the rate. For gold, such a prediction cannot be made.

At the same time, the advantages are also significant:

High liquidity . Almost every bank will gladly accept gold and silver. As a last resort, there are pawnshops for sale.
Any storage conditions are suitable for precious metals , they do not deteriorate.
Availability . Even one or two thousand rubles is enough to try investing in gold and silver.
There is no age limit . Having barely received a passport, a 14-year-old citizen can already invest. In some cases, operations with precious metals can be carried out even on an account opened for a newborn baby.

How to invest in gold and silver

The historical footprint and modern technology open up a range of investment opportunities in both gold and silver. Therefore, let's take a closer look at each of the options.

Depersonalized metal accounts

Today, this is, objectively, the most convenient and common way to invest in precious metals. Under the impersonal metal accounts (they are also called metal accounts "," OMS ") are bank accounts that keep records of stocks of precious metals belonging to the bank's clients in grams. At the same time, the metals themselves are stored in the bank. Thus, the issue of storage and logistics for investors becomes irrelevant.

All an investor needs to do is choose the required metal, see its price and buy the required amount. Then, you can sell all and part of the precious metal at any time. By the way, besides gold and silver, banks usually offer platinum and palladium.

Many banks now provide such services. Among them are Sberbank, VTB (24), Gazprombank. These are, by the way, the three largest banks in the post-Soviet space and in Russia in particular. European banks and credit institutions also provide their clients with similar services. In the Western manner, metal accounts are called "precious metals ISA", literally an individual savings account for precious metals.