Precious Metals to Be Watching In 2020
Many traders focus on typical investments like stocks, funds, and bonds, but precious metals offer a number of benefits that make them a good addition to any portfolio. They have tangible value that makes them less prone to market fluctuations relative to most other investments.
This article will cover some of the most lucrative metals to pay to. While precious metals work differently from certain other investments, keep in mind that they’re still subject to market conditions—changes in supply and demand can raise or lower prices significantly.
Gold
Gold is the most common metal for investment, and it’s easy to see why so many people prefer to put their money in gold rather than another option like silver or platinum. It’s resistant to corrosion, rust, and other causes of damage, and its enduring value makes it an incredibly safe choice.
Most people think of gold as a relatively safe option, so its relative value tends to rise whenever people lose confidence in other investments. In contrast to some other metals, gold has nearly constant demand regardless of market conditions or other circumstances. It can also outpace inflation when competing investments fail to achieve satisfactory returns.
Gold is the perfect metal to consider giving as a gift during the holiday season, and buyers have more options than ever when purchasing gold. We offer both physical and digital gift cards for gold, making it easy to put gold in someone’s stocking or send it to them online.
Platinum
Platinum is another popular investment metal that typically costs more than gold under typical market conditions. It’s substantially less common than either gold or silver and is mined in much lower quantities each year.
While gold is primarily used in jewelry and other ornaments, platinum is most often applied in industrial settings. It makes automotive emissions less harmful and is used in chemical refining and computers. There’s also a smaller demand for platinum in jewelry.
Platinum’s industrial applications tie its price to the success and failure of the entire automotive industry—a higher demand for cars leads to higher costs for platinum. Environmental legislation also requires manufacturers to use more platinum in each vehicle, although some companies now use palladium to cut costs on auto catalysts.
With these factors in mind, it’s no surprise that platinum is a relatively unstable investment. Its price could increase significantly in response to changes in the market, but the opposite is also true. You shouldn’t invest in platinum if you couldn’t afford to lose a substantial portion of the money
Silver
Silver offers some of the benefits of both platinum and gold, but it also comes with some unique considerations compared to either of these. It’s similar to gold in that it’s used simply to store value in a tangible asset, although many businesses use it for industrial purposes.
Without these industrial applications, the price of silver would likely fluctuate similarly to that of gold. On the other hand, new utilizations and demands for silver have made the cost less predictable over time, and it’s impossible to tell what factors will influence its future price.
For example, silver was once used in film for cameras. Once digital cameras became popular, this usage became less important and caused silver to lose some of its value. On the other hand, its use in things like microcircuits and batteries have supported its price over time.
Palladium
As mentioned above, palladium is a metal that’s closely related to platinum and has similar industrial applications. It’s currently used in everything from dentistry to cars, although there’s also some demand for palladium in jewelry.
Palladium isn’t as well-known as the other metals on this list, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a good investment. In fact, palladium is a great way to start investing in precious metals or diversify an existing portfolio.
Palladium is primarily mined in South Africa and Russia, and different factors in each country have contributed to reduced yields, leading to increased prices. There’s generally a lower supply of metals over time, so palladium could be an extremely lucrative long-term investment.
Precious metals are a secure investment with virtually guaranteed demand, and they’re a great gift to give friends and family throughout the holiday season. These are four of the best precious metals to keep in mind.
