Buy Precious Metals

Good news for those who decided to buy precious metals this month, with all metals generally exceeding even optimistic expectations. Silver has broken the thirteen dollar mark, platinum is sitting comfortably in the 1100 to 1200 range, palladium remains around the mid two hundreds, and to look at gold, it's over nine hundred yet again.

None of this has come as any shock whatsoever to those who chose to buy precious metals late last year or early this year. The recession we are now smack dab in the middle of was a long time coming, with many ready to declare a recession as soon as the market started taking an ugly turn earlier this decade.

The fact is that many financial analysts and experts were ready to declare an official recession years before the government made it official during late 2007. We can choose to blame the federal government, blame the unscrupulous and irresponsible businessmen who may well have gotten us into the mess, or simply blame fellow Americans for overspending on credit cards and defaulting on home loans that they knew they wouldn't be able to pay off. That would, of course, be understandable, but rather than laying blame and worrying about the recession, some chose to protect themselves. They chose to buy precious metals, and they are now enjoying the growth we've seen in precious metal prices, as opposed to simply saying "Gee, I should've chosen to buy metals a little earlier."

Those holding larger metal investments have seen a real boon over this, although even those who choose to buy precious metals one or two coins at a time are enjoying the reaping of benefits these climbs have bestowed.

And of course, even the most pessimistic forecasts have it that the demand from those looking to buy precious metals certainly hasn't peaked yet. The American dollar may recover over the course of the next couple years, but it will be a long and uncertain climb back up to its pre-recession spending power. In the meantime, we can probably expect the climbs in metal values to keep going, as investor demand for the commodities remains strong.

It would be foolish to say that metals are an invulnerable investment. Certainly, there are those rare, twice-a-century instances where metals do experience a significant decline, but metals are, for the most part, largely recession proof. In that the value of gold, silver and platinum tends only to go up when the value of currency goes down, metals are amongst the very, very few investment options which tend to remain strong during times of economic hardship.

Interestingly, fortune-telling businesses such as palm readers and 1-800 psychic hotlines tend to do very well during a recession, as well. People are hoping to find that secret lucky number for the lottery or get some sort of supernatural advice to make the right decisions. Luckily, it doesn't take a fortune-teller to know that coins and bars are a great way to guard yourself against this and future recessions.

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Janet Villalon

July 1, 2009