Which precious metals make the best short-term investments? And which are best if you are investing in metals and metal scrap you plan to hold for years before liquidating them?

Those are two interesting questions. And here’s an interesting fact to consider. Some metals are excellent investments whether sold quickly or held long-term.

Precious Metals that Make Profitable Short-Term Investments

“Global Precious Metal Market to Grow at a CAGR of 8.1%, during Forecast Period,” a report that BlueWeave Consulting published on September 6, 2022, makes some very encouraging observations about the strength of the market for precious metals.

Here's what the report has to say about coming growth in the Compound Aggregate Growth Rate (CAGR) for precious metals:

When you are making any investment – in gold, silver, platinum, or anything else – will you be able to sell it? And will you be able to sell it for the most money possible?

Your ability to sell an investment and to sell it for a good price are defined as liquidity.

Here are two stories that show that liquidity is a more critical consideration than you might realize.

We have already written on this post about taking steps to protect your precious metals from theft. We’ve recommended keeping your gold scrap, silver scrap and platinum scrap in bank safety deposit boxes. We have also recommended keeping an inventory of your holdings and taking out insurance to protect their value in case they are stolen.

One good thing about gold, silver, and platinum is that those metals are malleable and easy to reshape.

However, malleability can cause problems, because stolen items made of gold can be easily altered and sold. That neat little gold bar or pair of earrings you just bought could have been a stolen ring only a few weeks ago. Who knows? It is impossible to trace. And the same problem exists when you are buying items made of silver or platinum.

Do you have $25.00 to spend on a gift for that precious metal prospector on your holiday shopping list? Or do you want to spend $50.00, $500.00 or more?

No problem. We have some great gift selections to choose from.

Over the last few years, people have become skeptical about importing and exporting just about anything.

Due to high tariffs on goods imported into the U.S., doing so has become less attractive and more difficult for American companies. Plus, simply transporting foreign goods into the U.S. has become more difficult. Off the coast of California, ships carrying all kinds of goods from Asia, including semiconductors, electronic devices and even automobiles, are waiting to dock. Although that delivery holdup is lessening, the slowdown that was caused by the coronavirus pandemic is still exerting a negative effect on U.S. manufacturing and commerce.

Are you making money from your precious metal investments? Should you invest the money you are making in “alternative” investments like bitcoin?

We don’t think so. We believe you should stick with “traditional” investments. In this post, we will explain why.

You can’t hit a homerun or score a touchdown if you are sitting on the sidelines. You have to get in the game.

The same can be said for making money by investing in precious metals. You will never make money as an investor if you never stand up and get started. Also, you will never make a sizable return on your investment if you only make small investments that never take you a little bit outside your comfort level.

So at the risk of asking you a personal question in today’s blog post, may we ask . . .

The year 2020 was not a very good year in a lot of ways. But it was quite a good year for people who invest in precious metals and precious metal scrap, because trading prices for precious metals have remained strong or have risen. Also, a growing number of investors have discovered that precious metals offer a type of investment that is sound, even in difficult economic times.

Goldfinger and Beyond: These Movies Will Get You Excited about Investing in Gold

Sean Connery, who most people agree was the greatest of all the actors who played James Bond on screen, died this week. His way of introducing himself with only three words – “Bond. James Bond” – has become one of the most often-quoted lines in movie history.

“I was happy when my son decided to invest in precious metals with me,” says a man who lives in Maine. “But then I noticed that as soon as both of us were investing in gold scrap, silver scrap and platinum scrap especially, we started making a lot more money, well more than twice the amount of money I was making when I invested in precious metals all by myself.”

We recently had the opportunity to visit a metal scrapyard – one of those big outdoor places, five acres or more, that are littered with stuff like piles of aluminum windows, with machinery and even with big car and truck engines. It was quite an impressive site. And it made us realize that people can get scared when they start thinking about investing in metals of any kind.

At Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners, we know that precious metals are the smartest investments you can make. Over the years, we have seen so many people profit handsomely from investing in platinum scrap, gold scrap, silver scrap, and even cadmium scrap.

What makes for a good investment? As we have noted on this blog before, a good investment is one that offers a significant return on investment. If you can invest in something – a stock, a piece of gold, a painting, anything – and then sell it for three or four times what you paid for it or more, then you have made a good investment.

Yet other considerations make some investments better than others. And today, we would like to offer one of them for your consideration.

Over the last few months, gold has been occupying center stage for people who invest in precious metals. And with good reason! As we have noted on this blog over the last few weeks, the trading price of gold has broken all previous records.

But before you turn your back on other precious metals, we would like to point out something that is obvious, but easy to overlook . . .

Due to the upcoming increase in the number of cars that use batteries, lithium is poised to increase in value over the next half century.

Just to review . . .

When demand increases for a material that is in limited supply, the value of that material increases. The more the demand increases and the more limited the supply, the more the value increases. It’s the old law of supply and demand.

“When people have been out of work and are hurting financially, they are more likely to sell valuables at low prices, right?”

We have heard people ask that question lately. It is not a nice question to ask. It implies that when people have lost their jobs and need money – or have encountered other kinds of bad fortune – they will be eager to sell off their assets on the cheap. It also implies that a time of economic hardship for many, like the one we find ourselves in now, is a good time for unscrupulous people to take advantage of others.

Let’s say that you own precious metals and that you would like to borrow against their value. If that is your situation, don’t be apologetic about it. In the current economic climate, many people need to raise cash. Some of those people are business owners who would like to be able to pay their employees until business picks up. Other people are in a crunch and need to liquidate assets so they can pay their mortgages, their children’s college tuition, or meet other financial obligations.

We are about to enter one of the most uncertain economic periods in modern history – one that many analysts fear could rival the Great Depression.

We don’t like to write about the negatives, we really don’t. But if we want to formulate a strategy for retaining our investments’ value, we need to consider some of the bad things that could just happen in the wake of the current virus crisis: