You are at the point of your life when you badly want to put your money on proper venues. This is why you have been asking around for opinions and financial advices. You are doing the right thing because you will never go wrong as long as you feel safe and protected that you have made the right choice. This is why many people like you are choosing to invest on the stock market. They feel secured and protected with this kind of venture. This is because there are regulators that are responsible in protecting those who have invested in such.
Before you fully commit in investing with stocks, you have to be sure that you are ready for such venture. This means that you have planned things out and you are very much capable of handling the tasks as well as keeping up to date with how the markets are faring so that you will understand where your money is going. It will help if you will first research about the venture and all its aspect so that you will understand most things before you plunge into it. As you do your research, you must also start scouting for a good broker. They can guide you with how far should you go regarding your investments. They can teach you the basics, especially in the beginning when you are still trying to comprehend all things little by little.
Safe and Protected
You have been hearing a lot of good things about this kind of investment, but how can you be so sure that these are real? For one, there are regulators on this venture that aim to help you against con games as well as swindling brokers. The securities industry is actually one of the most highly regulated industries in the US. The US Congress made sure that major laws are passed to help the industry’s operation. This agency is also responsible in authorizing the budgets for the Securities and Exchange Commission and other bureaus that have regulatory responsibilities.
To oversee the securities industry, the SEC makes sure that transactions are in order. They register new securities and manage the filings that are required for public companies like annual reports and quarterly reports. The SEC also looks at the stock exchanges as well as other firms and organizations that sell securities. They have effective means to find out fraud and scams on the marketing and advertising of various organizations who are luring people to try such venture. The SEC imposes on all companies to abide by their strict rules when it comes to the sale of securities.
Aside from SEC, the FINRA or Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, an industry self-regulatory body, oversees other matters of the securities industry. They set the standards for stockbrokers and other related professionals in the venture. They give out licenses after giving those who are interested broad and inclusive examinations.
Times are hard and it is not that easy to earn money. This is why you really have to make sure that you are going to invest what you have earned on safe ventures where you will profit in the long run. You can get all these as you look deeper and understand the complexities of the stock market.
Silver As An Investment: Ways Of Investing In Silver
Silver is like three other precious metals (gold, palladium, and platinum) in terms of being regarded as an investment commodity. In fact, this precious metal has been regarded as a form of currency and a store of value for over four centuries.
There are different ways by which one may invest in silver. Six are presented here:
Buying silver coins:
This is a popular way of taking hold of silver – physically. Perhaps the best example of a silver coin is the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf, which consists of 99.99% pure silver. Silver coins may either be “fine silver” or “junk silver”. Junk silver coins are older coins with a lower percentage of silver. Examples of these are the dime, quarter, and fifty-cent U.S. coins minted in 1964 or earlier. These coins contain 90% silver and are 8/10 troy ounce per 1 USD of face value.
Buying silver bullion bars:
This is the most traditional way of investing in silver. Silver bullion bars can be bought or sold over the counter in most banks in Switzerland. They may be stored in safe deposit boxes in banks or placed in non-fungible (allocated) or pooled (unallocated) storage with a silver dealer.
Opening a silver account:
An investor may open a silver account with one of the major banks in Switzerland. Here, silver can be bought or sold over the counter just like any foreign currency. However, the bank client does not own the actual silver metal. Instead, he/she has a claim against the bank for a specified quantity of the metal. A silver account is backed through either allocated or unallocated storage.
Owning a silver certificate:
In lieu of storing actual silver bullion, an investor may opt for ownership of a silver certificate. A silver certificate allows an investor to buy and sell the security sans the inconveniences associated with the physical silver’s transfer. The Perth Mint Certificate Programme, which is fully guaranteed by the Government of Western Australia, is the only silver certificate program in the world that is guaranteed by a national government.
Trading in Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs):
An investor can have an easy way of gaining exposure to the price of silver through an ETF. Some of the well-known ETFs include iShares Silver Trust (with ticker symbol NYSE: SLV), Central Fund of Canada (with ticker symbols TSX: CEF.NV.A, NYSE: CEF), and ETFS Silver Trust (with ticker symbol NYSE: SIVR). Trading in ETFs means doing away with the inconveniences associated with the handling of physical silver bars.
Entering in a Contract For Difference (CFD):
Some of the noted financial services firms, especially those in the United Kingdom, provide Contract for Difference (CFD). In this silver investment vehicle, two parties (a “buyer” and a “seller”) enter into a contract, in which the seller agrees to pay the buyer the difference between the current value of silver and its value at contract time. In case the difference is negative, the seller receives payment instead from the buyer. A CFD, therefore, allows an investor to take advantage of long or short positions, enabling him/her to speculate on these markets.
It must be mentioned here though that silver has lost its forced tender status in the United States since the abandonment of the silver standard, when, on August 15, 1967, then U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that the U.S. would discontinue redeeming currency for silver (or any other precious metal).