Yes, we all love to hold ( err, fondle is probably the correct term) gold and silver. Looks nice and shiny, feels smooth and warm. Golum had it spot on. But should physical metals be a major part of your investment portfolio?
Taking a look at a 10 yr graph vs the the Dow.
As of now the Dow is up 113% and silver up 37%
But silver, for a period, was up over 200% . If you had a trade plan in place, you might have done pretty well
The Dow is a more predictable graph - slow and steady
Shares pay dividends - I nice little earner
You probably are paying insurance on physical silver - if not, it pretty risky.
Both can be liquidated relatively easily. Interesting to see that in 2008 silver also tanked - but recovered quicker and faster than shares.
Personally, find shares can also be very interesting and for me, it's a hobby. Lot's to read, lot's of metric's to compare and hundreds of companies to play with. That said, for those with only a minor interest a share portfolio of a few ETF's would probably be best. In fact, I'll go as far as saying my interest in shares has actually harmed my totally returns and a portfolio of three ETFs for 90% of my investment and then 5 stock picks of 2% each would probably have been a better bet.
Not saying that silver should not be part of a persons portfolio - but balance is important. For me, if I was interested, I would not go more than 5%. I probably would get in through miners though and earn dividends when times were good. Even then, commodities (due to cycles) are more suited for long term trading.