One of the reasons for the widespread interest in gold and silver as investments is that these precious metals can be acquired in a wide wide range of investment forms, including the following:
Metals That Can Be Held Physically Unlike equities and bonds, precious metals like silver and gold can be held in one’s possession. You could do this by purchasing bars and coins through a Morgan Stanley trading account, or you could purchase American Eagle coins through a retirement account. Both of these options are available. Despite the fact that Morgan Stanley would not be responsible for the storage of the metals but rather a third-party depository, shareholders are free to take delivery of the underlying of the metals if they would rather keep them in their very own possession than have Morgan Stanley store them.
Owning gold and silver in material reality could provide shareholders with the fulfilment of owning things tangible how they can take custody of.
There is indeed a potential disadvantage to holding on to bars & coins for long periods of time. To begin, when purchasing gold and silver coins, investors typically pay a markup that is higher than the price of the metal spot market due to mark – ups associated with the manufacturing and distribution processes. It is also necessary to consider the costs of containers and, in some cases, even insurance coverage.