In times of crisis most investors turn to precious metals like gold and silver that have been used as money and have stood the test of time. Most of the time investors split their portfolio and buy both silver and gold. This spliting of investments is often advised by a lot of financial advisers however, the question of the ration of gold/silver is one that often comes up. Some say, it should be 50/50 and others say it should be 25/75. To answer the question on what the split should be there are three points that bullion buyers should consider: growth potential, the silver to gold ratio and utility.
Let’s look at Return on investment.
In August 2011, the price of gold topped $1,900. The price of gold today is about $1,600 an ounce. If hypothetically, gold returns to the 2011 high (which is likely to happen considering the current state of the global economy), the dollar return would be just over 25%.
In 2011, the price of silver also went up to $50 an ounce. If we return to previous price levels, the return from the current price would pull the return on the dollar by 200%.
So the question is: which of the two previous metals should you buy more than the other? Which gold/silver ratio should you strive for when you buy silver bullion and gold bullion? The metal that has a gold ratio is the one that yields the most return. In terms of the hypothetical scenario painted above it seems obvious that the ratio that yields a 200% yield is what any wavy investor would aim for.
The Gold/Silver Price ratio
Precious metal investors also have to look at the price ratio for gold/silver. For some time, it was at 85:1 which means that an ounce of gold could buy 85 silver ounces. Over the last 30 years the gold/silver ratio has been 60/1.
The ratio of gold to silver in the ground is 1/11, which means that for ever ounce of gold there are 11 ounces of silver. The fact that these ratios aren’t reflected in the price of silver indicates that silver is undervalued when compared to gold. Given this undervaluing of silver in relation to gold, an investor should split his investment and have a higher ratio of the metal with a higher return. This means the best split should be 75% silver and then 25% gold.
Utility
Utility is an important factor especially when you consider a global financial crisis that Australia may not be immune to. When faced with such a situation when precious metal holders may have to use the silver of gold they have to trade or survive, it would be more convenient to have a better ratio of change or smaller denominations of cash. It might be problematic to buy a tank of petrol with a 1-ounce gold coin. It could be easier go trade with silver bullion coins. So when you bug gold as a safe-haven remember to buy silver bullion coins too. It will serve you much better to have a 75% silver to 25% gold investment ratio to prepare for socio-economic crises where the government might regulate the sale of gold leading to the precious metal either being costlier or harder to find.
