Gold
Gold has long been popular with precious metal investors and has been used as a store of value for thousands of years. Gold is known as an asset that holds its value through recessions and weathers large-scale recessions well. Even in times of high inflation, gold is a good hedge compared to investments. Gold is a great investment, but the cost of buying large amounts of gold can be a little prohibitive for some novice investors.
Silver
Silver lags slightly behind gold in terms of popularity as a precious metal investment. Silver has the great advantage of being relatively inexpensive compared to gold, making it easier to start with a small amount of money and build a portfolio from scratch by making regular small investments over a long period. The widespread use of silver for industrial purposes, including the burgeoning solar energy sector, also supports the price of the metal. Despite its advantages, silver can be difficult to store due to its low price compared to other precious metals. An ounce of gold, platinum, and palladium is many times more valuable than an ounce of silver, so the sum of each value of silver requires much more storage space than other precious metals.
Platinum
Commonly used in automotive catalytic converters and jewelry, platinum is a less important investment metal than gold and silver. Still, this metal can be a good investment. Historically, its price has exceeded gold, but in recent years gold has surpassed platinum. Platinum’s main advantage is that it is not a major investment metal, so it does not experience the same volatility as silver and gold in a bear market. Instead, prices tend to be more stable in various market conditions.
Palladium
The properties of palladium and the market for this metal are largely similar to those of platinum. Palladium is also used in automobiles but to a lesser extent than platinum in jewelry. In general, the prices of these two metals are about the same. Although platinum and palladium are very similar, precious metal investors often use the latter to add an extra layer of diversification to their portfolios.
Copper
The copper market is diverse, with many industrial, manufacturing, and decorative uses. Demand for copper is constantly increasing, and like other precious metals, its availability is limited. Copper is often overlooked as an investment in comparison to gold and silver, but more and more investors are starting to buy bullion copper coins and bars to hedge their portfolios against further currency depreciation.