An investor at times must decide which precious metal to invest in: gold and silver. There are times when gold is a better investment, and there are times when silver is a better investment. Why do they invest in precious metals? First, they hope that prices will continue to increase in order to gain money and second, they believe that other investments will decrease in value in the hope that they will not lose money. Which then is a better investment today, gold or silver?

The price of gold and silver significantly changes from time to time. Looking back on the past years, it cannot be denied that the price of gold is considerably more expensive than silver despite the fact that there is more above-ground gold than above-ground silver circulating in the market. Gold is seen as a more alternative currency especially when inflation begins to rise. Currently, the situation of the U.S. economy is gradually affecting the price of gold due to the declining value of the dollar ? the price is going higher and higher. This makes the global hoard of gold higher than silver which reduces its volatility and further stabilizes the value of the asset.

On the other hand, silver serves the same function as gold but in lower price and higher volatility which makes silver a ?safe haven' for risk takers thus, silver is considered as the poor man's gold. Furthermore, silver has higher industrial use than gold making silver more susceptible to economic booms and busts. The demand for industrial uses of silver is high in a strong economy, and weaker in a when the economy deflates, but unlike gold, most industrial silver is consumed and then thrown away which limits the amount of silver that can return to the market through recycling.

All in all, silver is considered a short-term investment while gold is considered as a long-term investment. Both gold and silver are extremely volatile commodities at times, and investing in them is not for investors with a weak heart. They are not products that you can trade any moment you want yet their prices can swing tremendously from one moment to another. Owning gold and silver can be a valuable asset in times of economic instability and can be a go-to commodity to balance your portfolio, especially in terms of dollar risk.

With the facts presented above, it can be concluded that it is better to own gold if the economy is jittery and own silver if the economy is stable. This is because silver serves as a better speculative asset, while gold is a better means of saving and protecting wealth.

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