How to Invest in Precious Metals: Gold and Silver Explained
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Mark Verwoert
- Last updated: July 4, 2026
Precious metals are having a moment. Gold set more than fifty record highs in 2025 and silver posted one of its strongest years in decades, driven by central-bank buying, falling interest rates and a wave of investors looking for safety outside stocks and bonds. If you’re wondering how to get a piece of that without getting burned, you’re in the right place.
This is your starting point. Below you’ll find what precious metals actually do in a portfolio, how gold and silver differ, and the main ways to invest. From here you can head into our dedicated guides for each metal, where we cover price forecasts, how to buy, the best funds, and retirement options in depth. Everything here is educational and not financial advice.
Start here: new to metals? Read the sections below, then dive into the gold guide or the silver guide depending on what you want to own.
Table of Contents
What are precious metals?
Why invest in precious metals?
Metals behave differently from the rest of your portfolio, and that’s exactly the point. They don’t pay a dividend or grow earnings, but they tend to hold or even gain value when currencies weaken, inflation rises or markets fall. That makes them a hedge and a diversifier that smooths out the ride when stocks have a rough year.
Demand has surged for structural reasons. Governments are running large deficits, central banks keep adding metals to their reserves, and investors increasingly treat gold and silver as insurance against a changing monetary system rather than a short-term trade. Silver adds a second engine. Heavy industrial demand from solar panels, electronics and electrification can push its price well beyond gold’s in a strong market.
Gold or silver: where should you start?
Most people begin with one metal and add the other later. The choice comes down to temperament. Gold is the ballast: steadier, mainly driven by monetary demand, and the classic choice for protecting capital. Silver is the accelerator: more volatile, tied to the industrial cycle, and capable of larger gains and larger drops. Here’s the quick version:
| Gold | Silver | |
|---|---|---|
| Main demand driver | Monetary / store of value | Industrial + monetary |
| Volatility | Lower | Higher |
| Typical role | Stability and hedging | Growth and upside |
| Best suited to | Cautious, long-term holders | Investors comfortable with swings |
Want the full breakdown? See gold vs silver for a deeper comparison.
Investing in gold
Gold is the natural first stop for most precious-metals investors. Our gold guide is a hub in its own right: it walks through every way to own gold and links out to the detail you need, whether you’re buying your first coin or comparing funds.
Investing in silver
Silver has been outperforming gold on a percentage basis, so it deserves its own attention. Our silver guide covers the same ground for the white metal, from the routes in to the funds to where prices could head, with silver’s industrial demand story front and centre.
The main ways to own precious metals
Whichever metal you choose, the routes in are the same, and each has its own trade-offs. Here’s the high-level view. The gold and silver guides cover each in full.
- Physical bullion. Bars and coins you own directly, with no counterparty. You handle storage and insurance.
- ETFs. Funds that track the metal price and trade like a share. Cheap, liquid and effortless, but a paper claim.
- Mining stocks. Shares in producers, offering leveraged exposure plus company risk.
- Gold IRA (US). Physical gold held inside a tax-advantaged retirement account.
How much should you hold?
There’s no universal answer, but a common rule of thumb is to keep 5% to 10% of a portfolio in precious metals as a diversifier, enough to cushion market shocks without dragging on long-term returns. The right figure depends on your age, goals and how much volatility you can stomach. We cover the models in how much of your portfolio to hold in metals.
How to get started with precious metals
Once you know what you want to own, starting is straightforward:
- Pick your metal and route. Gold or silver; physical, ETF or IRA.
- Choose where to buy. For ETFs and mining shares you’ll need a broker, so see our best brokers roundup. For bullion, use a reputable dealer.
- Fund your account and start with an amount you’re comfortable with.
- Buy consistently rather than trying to time the market, and rebalance as prices move.
Frequently asked questions
Precious metals are rare metals such as gold and silver that investors hold as a store of value and a hedge against inflation, currency weakness and market stress. Unlike stocks they pay no income, but they tend to hold their value when other assets fall.
After a record-setting run in 2025, gold and silver remain popular as diversifiers amid central-bank buying and falling interest rates. They can reduce overall portfolio risk, but prices are volatile and past performance doesn't predict future results.
Gold is steadier and driven mainly by monetary demand, making it the more defensive choice. Silver is more volatile because much of its demand is industrial, offering more upside but sharper falls. Many investors hold both. See gold-silver ratio.
For most beginners a low-cost, physically backed ETF bought through a standard brokerage account is the simplest route. Buying physical bullion from a reputable dealer is the main alternative.
A widely cited rule of thumb is 5% to 10% of a portfolio as a diversifier. The right figure depends on your goals, time horizon and risk tolerance.
Educational content only. The information on this page is for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute financial, investment or tax advice. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of capital. Always do your own research and consider consulting a licensed professional before investing.
