Silver

The development of civilization has relied heavily on the discovery of metals. Prehistoric man used metals to build tools and weapons and as our knowledge of metallurgy has developed, metals have played an essential role in the advancement of agriculture, transport and arts & crafts - forging the path to today's modern society. This infographic presents that timeline.

$200 or $400 silver is outrageous when we think in terms of today’s dollars, euros, and yen but what if

If you own physical gold or silver as your failsafe store of wealth it is prudent to “look under the cover” so that you know, not assume, that it is indeed genuine gold or silver. [Up until now there has not been an easy and inexpensive way to detect counterfeits but a revolutionary new personal precious metal verifier has come on the market that can do just that.]

The global financial system is increasingly unstable and fragile, even more so than in 2008. The important question these days is: How will governments, central banks and financial systems respond to the ongoing crisis? Future prices for silver are dependent upon the answer to that question. I suggest three possible scenarios.

Gold and silver generally move in sync with each other and tend to move in the same direction. The relationship is such that there’s even an indicator that measures it – the gold/silver ratio. Many investors use the ratio to spot extremes in the pricing of either precious metal, and to spot trends, whether up or down. The ratio currently sits at approx. 80:1 and suggests that silver has some catching up to do.

We all want the best price we can get on our gold and silver purchases so I looked at the historical data to see if I could identify the best time of year to buy. I suspected January would be best, but what I found was interesting.

Silver is not a safe investment. Just because prices are low now does not mean the bottom is in. Investing in this metal is pure speculation with very little fundamental support. If the U.S economy stays strong silver has little upside and may lose speculation premium when interest rates are cut but if the economy collapses silver prices will crash along with every other commodity.

Silver “supply concerns” could “boost the metal’s price nine-fold”, according to the CEO of the best-performing producer of the metal as reported by Bloomberg.

I believe that we are on the verge of an epic sell-off in silver that will take the price of gold's little brother down to the $10 level quickly. I have a strong sense that the price action over coming months will shock many, just as they were shocked by oil over recent months.

The 70s pattern for silver is very similar to the pattern that currently exists. Therefore, I do not think it is wishful thinking that silver will reach the target of $675 as a minimum. Now, you have an opportunity to go back in time to 1978, without a “time-machine,” and make a similar but bigger gain.