Silver For A Lifetime
The following paragraph by asset manager Egon von Greyerz applies not just to gold but also to silver. “The problem with paper money is that governments can create unlimited amounts. This is what they have done throughout history and especially in the last 100 years and which has led to the total destruction of most currencies. Most people don’t even understand their government makes their money worthless. Money printing gives them the illusion of being richer whilst all they have are pieces of paper with more zeros on them. But there is one currency that governments can’t print, which is gold. Gold has been real money for almost 5,000 years and it is the only currency that has survived throughout history. Gold can’t be printed and no government controls it. Therefore gold will, over time, always reveal governments’ fraudulent actions in creating money out of thin air. And this is what we are experiencing currently. Gold is not going up. Instead gold is doing what it has always done, namely maintaining its value and purchasing power.”
For centuries silver also performed as money. Those days are gone forever. Gold and silver have parted company. There’s enough gold in the world to serve as money but not enough silver.
While plenty of gold exists in vaults around the world, most of the silver that was ever mined has been used up by industry and is gone for good. That’s one of the things that makes silver so interesting. Investors are buying it for the same reasons they buy gold but unlike gold, industrial users are buying huge quantities of silver to make their products. It’s indispensable to numerous companies worldwide.
Ted Butler put it this way. “Here we have a vital material known to all men for all time, literally disappearing before our eyes, both above and below ground. It is a material upon which modern life and rising standards of living are dependent. It is beyond indispensable, it is a miracle metal.”
Here’s my personal philosophy. As it stands now, I don’t intend to ever sell my silver. I’m going to keep it for the balance of my life. However, if the price went insane I could change my mind. If the gains are gradual I expect to keep it as if it were a savings account. The things I’ve made money on in my life are the things I bought and held.