Tangible Assets
Tangible assets are physical such as land, homes, and precious metals. This article will speak about tangible assets that are precious metals. Precious metals are those such as gold, silver, platinum,palladium, and copper.
There are many places where you can buy precious metals. One place that you can buy these metals is provident metals who have been in business long enough to be able to answer all your questions. They can help you to find the perfect investment.
Precious metals are a great investment and can add a lot to your retirement portfolio. You can buy any of these metals and put them into a self-directed IRA or you could buy them to keep in your home or personal bank. These metals are very popular with many people.
This article will talk about the different metals that you can buy. It will help you to learn a little more about them. You can also do research to find out more information.
Precious Metals
Gold
Gold is the most popular of all the precious metals. It has been around the longest and has been valuable since it was first discovered. It has been used for many things including currency, jewelry, electronics, and much more.
Gold has been called a hedge against inflation for many years. It usually increases in value when stocks and bonds begin to falter. When the economy gets bad, people turn to gold because of its value.
Gold was used as money longer than any other currency. It was used as currency for nearly 3,000 years. The closest to this is the British Sterling that has been around for 1,200 years.
The value of gold has never gone to absolute zero in its history. It will always have value and can be sold if you need currency. You can buy an ounce of gold for about eighteen hundred dollars:https://goldprice.org/. These are the most current gold prices.
Silver
Silver has been around almost as long as gold. It is another very popular metal that has been used as currency in the past. It is another store of value for many reasons.
It is a store of value because you don’t need another party to make it worth something. Silver has never been defaulted on like other investments that you could buy. Silver has also been a great tangible asset throughout the years.
Unlike gold, silver is very inexpensive to buy. It is about 1/70 of the price of gold so it is easy to buy. You can buy an ounce of silver for about twenty-two dollars.
In bull markets, silver can outperform gold. In bear markets, silver will fall faster than gold. See here to learn more. This is because just a little change in the market can affect the cost of silver in a big way.
Silver has many uses, just like gold. It is often used for jewelry and decorations but is also used for industrial uses. There are products that are made mostly of silver.
World demand for this is growing while supplies are dwindling. This is most evident in China and India who are using silver for industrial uses. Demand is growing in other parts of the world, as well.
Platinum
Platinum isn’t as plentiful as gold and silver, making it more difficult to find. Demand for platinum has been growing for several years now. The cost of platinum right now is about nine hundred dollars per ounce.
Platinum is used for many things including jewelry and industrial uses. A very common use for platinum is for making catalytic converters for vehicles. It is also used for electric cars which are being built more often.
Most of the platinum supplies come from just three countries that are politically precarious. These countries are South Africa, Russia, and Zimbabwe. South Africa produces about seventy percent of the precious metal, Zimbabwe close to ten percent, and Russia a little over ten percent.
Since the metal comes from these countries, it might be hard to get in the near future. This could make the cost of the metal rise. It could be as much as gold before too long.
Palladium
Palladium is another metal that is being used in catalytic converters in vehicles. There are other automobile uses for palladium such as in hybrid vehicles and fuel cells for future vehicles that will run on hydrogen. The automobile industry uses about eighty-five percent of the world’s palladium.
About forty percent of palladium is produced in Russia, which could be an issue considering the war with the Ukraine. This supply uncertainty could also increase the price of this commodity. Now is the time to buy it because it won’t get much lower than it is now.
Most people are also looking at South Africa for their supplies of palladium because they are refusing to buy from Russia. South Africa is also having issues lately which makes it difficult to get the metal from there. South Africa is still the preferred place to get supplies for the automotive industry.
Although palladium is mostly used for the automotive industry, it is still a precious metal that people want to invest in:https://www.britannica.com/science/palladium-chemical-element. Because of the supply and demand issues, palladium is a great investment. It has also been declared a hedge against inflation.
Copper
You might not think about copper as being a precious metal to invest in, but it can be a very popular commodity. Copper is commonly used for renewable energy components such as wiring, motors, and other key components for the blades of wind turbines. Because the world is turning more and more towards renewable energy, the demand for copper will only increase.
Copper also has a strong correlation with the economy and does better when the economy does better. Copper is used for many things that go with the infrastructure which can increase when the economy is doing well. As the economy grows so will the demand for copper.
Copper is getting more difficult to find since the older mines are being depleted and the newer ones are harder and harder to find. The depletion of this precious metal is causing the cost to rise. Right now, copper is about four dollars an ounce.
Conclusion
Precious metals are tangible assets that many people want to invest in. There are many types of metals that you can choose from. The most popular metals are gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and copper.
Gold and silver have been around the longest and remain the most popular two metals to invest in. All these metals have been increasing in price due to supply and demand issues. The ones that have been increasing the most in price are the ones that are necessary for the automobile industry.
