Investing is just one way you can increase your wealth and save for your future. Investment opportunities are constantly changing and growing. There are stocks, bonds, IRA accounts, 401k accounts, mutual funds, EFTs, futures, and commodity investments. 

Silver is just one of the many different types of precious metals available in commodity investment. It is growing in popularity every year for the benefits it brings to your investing portfolio. Silver is much cheaper than gold, more versatile since it is used in both jewelry and the technology industry, and still a great hedge against inflation. 

If you’re interested in investing in physical silver, one option is to buy silver bars, which you can easily purchase from reputable dealers like Silver Bullion.

Silver Bars 

Silver bars are valued based on their weight. They are usually minted, cast, or hand-poured. They are less common than coins due to their size and can be more difficult to store. The good thing about silver bars is that they tend to be less than coins since there is less manufacturing markup. 

If you are interested in investing in silver bars, here is a link that can help you do that. https://investingingold.com/silver/investing-in-silver-bars/ 

Silver Coins

Silver coins have the value of silver and whatever value the country issuing the silver coins gives it. They have a high collectability rate. Many investors enjoy collecting old or rare silver coins, coins from multiple countries, and the same coin from different years. Because of their popularity, their monetary value is much more than the value of the precious metal it is made from.

 Buying Silver

Silver, depending on its form, can be bought in many ways. It can be bought online, through auctions, or from local bullion dealers. There are lots of different options for you to use to purchase silver, but one thing is for certain, you need to make sure you are finding a reputable dealer. 

Commodity investing, particularly precious metals, tends to attract scammers. There are a lot of people out there claiming they have silver or gold to sell you when they do not. If you are not careful, you can have your money stolen by scammers and people looking to commit fraud. 

There are lots of great steps you can take to avoid scammers and find reputable dealers, traders, and sellers. Here are a few tips below. 

Look at their reviews

Reviews are a great way to tell if a company is legitimate. Believe it or not, there are tons of customers out there who are willing to share their personal experiences with the world. If you find that a company has a lot of negative reviews, then chances are they are not a very good place to do business. Look for third-party reviews that are mostly positive, so you know you’re doing business with someone who cares about you. 

Google search is your Friend

If a company approaches you looking to sell you gold, search their name and the word fraud. Results should pop up with information on the company, with third-party organizations that can let you know whether they are legitimate or not. For example, if there are news articles out there with compelling research claiming that the company has committed fraud in the past, then move your search onward. 

Ask about their clients

Clients are another indication that a company is legit. Ask how many clients they have in the books. Have they been clients for long? If they do not have many clients but have been in business for a while, you should find out why that is. Likewise, if they have a lot of customers but have not worked with many of them for several years, then chances are their clients aren’t coming back for more gold. You should then be asking yourself why. 

How long have they been in business?

While new businesses can be great opportunities, you should do your best to collaborate with companies that have a few years of experience under their belt. Why I say this is that the longer a company has been in business, the less likely they are not legitimate. If they were scammers pretending to be a legitimate company, it is more than likely they would have been shut down fairly quickly. With a new gold investing company, you do not always have the assurance 

Are they trying to sell you the most expensive products?

A salesmen’s job is not just to make a good sale. It is to make sure that their clients are happy and satisfied with their service. If you have someone trying to sell you the most expensive product of silver they have, then that is an indication that they do not care about you. They care about making the sale. While it does not mean they are not a reputable company, it does indicate that they cannot listen to their customer’s wants and needs which may become frustrating to deal with. 

For advice on how to deal with pushy salesmen, click here. 

Does their story change?

Let us say you know a guy who knows a guy who is looking to get rid of their silver. That is formidable. You are looking for silver and let us say you are talking to him over the phone to get some more information about the silver he wants to part ways with. Maybe the story makes sense of who he is, where he is from, and what he is selling. Then, let us say the next time you speak with him, the company he works for has changed. That is a red flag. 

Other red flags include calling you from multiple phone numbers, email addresses that do not appear to be professional, and no company website. It is 2022 and if they do not have a website, work email, and company phone number, which is sketchy. 

Do they work for the place they claim to work for? 

If you are working with John Smith who claims to work for a company called Silver Investing Corp, or something, try to make sure he is who he says he is. Look up John Smith on LinkedIn or the company on LinkedIn to see if they are a part of the same circles. Make sure the phone number he gave you was a company one. If the phone numbers do not match but it is an actual company, call the number on their website and see if someone named John Smith works there just to be sure.