Anglo Irish Gold

Understand the market to avoid getting burned

At the time of writing the price of gold is near an all-time high and governments have bailed out their banking systems with enormous loans and special finance arrangements. To achieve this, governments have borrowed eye-watering quantities of money, or have resorted to the simple expedient of printing money, which they refer to by other names such as 'quantitative easing'.

As governments create more money the true value of that money falls, hence the interest in inflation figures. However, certain commodities tend to keep their real value despite the fall in the value of money, land, gold, silver and other precious metals are valuable for what they are rather than simply being a promise to pay at some time in the future.

The news media has an obsession with the price of gold and appears to take delight in reporting the ever-increasing price, but they don't report other precious metal prices such as silver. Silver is no longer the metal that's used for making fancy teapots or candlesticks. Silver is an industrial metal, used throughout industry. Large quantities of silver were used in the photographic industry for the production of film. In the world of digital cameras and mobile phone cameras silver may not be needed for film, but its industrial uses are increasing which means that demand has not fallen. The Silver Institute website has extensive information about silver production and demand.

Investment markets

Many people know to their cost the meaning of 'negative equity', a term coined to describe the fact that the value of a house is below the price that the buyer paid. In this post-financial-era investors cannot help but realise that the value of their investments can go down as well as up. In the same way that house buyers have been caught holding properties that have fallen in value, so some buyers of other investment commodities have bought at the top of the market. There can be no substitute for careful study of the market, watching prices, reading different views and thoroughly researching your chosen investment medium whether it's gold, silver, property or artworks. Knowledge is the key to successful investment. Some would say that buying at the bottom of the market and selling at a higher price is simply a matter of luck, but some investors seem to have the knack of repeating their success, which means it's not entirely luck.

What successful investors have is dedication. They know their market and keep abreast of developments which means they are ready to buy or sell at the appropriate times. Anyone who expects to simply buy precious metals today and sell at some unspecified future date is likely to be disappointed and be left with no profit or even a loss. Our advice to investors who intend to invest a substantial amount in precious metal, such as silver is to understand the market well or stay away.

Personal purchases

Silver coins and small silver ingots are a relatively inexpensive way of purchasing silver. Everyone should consider owning a small quantity of gold or silver in the same way that everyone might own a watch. It's useful, a pleasure to own and in hard times it can be sold to realise cash quickly and easily. If the amount of money tied up in this way is not large then a detailed knowledge of the market is not really needed because the manufacturing costs of these small amounts of silver  and the pleasure of ownership will outweigh the financial outlay.

Uses of silver

Traditional

• Coins and medals
• Photography
• Jewellery
• Silverware (teapots etc) and Tableware (knives, forks etc)

Industrial

• Batteries (silver oxide cells)
• Bearings
• Brazing and Soldering
• Catalysts
• Electronics
• Chemical industry (silver is a superb hear conductor)

Emerging

• Medical Applications
• Mirrors & Coatings
• Solar Energy
• Water Purification (silver is used to kill bacteria)
• Investment

Silver 24 hour price history