I have all my money in Royal wedding and birth memorial plate sets.  Sure to increase in value.

Currently, and over the past several years, the historic ratio between gold and silver prices has been way off. Silver should be much higher according to some experts who study these things. Somewhere north of $50/oz. So you also have this factor at work IF.....if those ratio's ever correct themselves back to the historic norms.
 
Since 1687, the gold-to-silver ratio has ranged from 14.14 to 99.76 (see chart below). Over this period, the average gold-to-silver ratio was 27.28 and today (March 8, 2012) the gold-to-silver ratio is 50.09.
If silver were to rise to bring the gold-to-silver ratio back to its long-term average, the silver price must rise to $61/oz. (Of course, gold  prices could also fall to lower the ratio. But let's assume gold is priced at fair value.)
If the ratio were to return to the pre-1900 average of 16.13, the silver price would have to rise to about $105/oz.
 ^^^^^^
from this site: http://seekingalpha.com/article/422081-324-years-of-the-gold-to-silver-ratio-and-195-silver
 
of course if you google or bing the  phrase "historic ratio gold to silver" you will find lots of opinions. Most agree that silver is currently,  vastly under-priced in the markets.

I won't care about gold or silver when it all falls apart; I'll want to know who's got the coffee.

KenB123
How about purchasing 'bitcoins', the new up-and-coming virtual currency?

I'm very leery of bit coins... many people are saying it's just a big Ponzi scheme. lose your password and you lose your stash....I feel better having physical silver right in front of me.

Guitarhacker
Currently, and over the past several years, the historic ratio between gold and silver prices has been way off. Silver should be much higher according to some experts who study these things. Somewhere north of $50/oz. So you also have this factor at work IF.....if those ratio's ever correct themselves back to the historic norms.
 
Since 1687, the gold-to-silver ratio has ranged from 14.14 to 99.76 (see chart below). Over this period, the average gold-to-silver ratio was 27.28 and today (March 8, 2012) the gold-to-silver ratio is 50.09.
If silver were to rise to bring the gold-to-silver ratio back to its long-term average, the silver price must rise to $61/oz. (Of course, gold  prices could also fall to lower the ratio. But let's assume gold is priced at fair value.)
If the ratio were to return to the pre-1900 average of 16.13, the silver price would have to rise to about $105/oz.
 ^^^^^^
from this site: http://seekingalpha.com/article/422081-324-years-of-the-gold-to-silver-ratio-and-195-silver
 
of course if you google or bing the  phrase "historic ratio gold to silver" you will find lots of opinions. Most agree that silver is currently,  vastly under-priced in the markets.

I don't pay attention to gold/silver ratio's . They are two different commodities, and don't mean much.

slartabartfast
About the only thing you can say about commodities is that on a small scale at least, you will still have something to show for your investment when the price goes down. With paper assets you can't even melt them down to fill teeth. That is if you actually take possession of the stuff itself as opposed to buying futures etc. The problem then is that like diamonds, the guy who just sold you an ounce will offer you substantially less if you offer to sell it back to him before you take it off the counter, and less still plus an assay fee to confirm it is the real stuff if you take it home and bring it back the next day.
 
Clearly the central banks of the world are trying to force savings into the "economy" by loaning other banks money for free, and devaluing currency via "quantitative easing." Given the fact that insured savings are not keeping pace with inflation, everyone is tempted to put their money into stocks, commodities or (if they have short enough memories) real estate.
 
There are no fundamental reasons why the stock market value should be greater now than in 2007. The increase in value of stocks is entirely due to the implicit subsidy by the Federal Reserve et al. The smart money knows that, and there is a very high probability that if the subsidy is withdrawn, there will be a sudden massive flight from equities that will leave those who cannot execute orders in milliseconds holding the bag again. The situation is similar in other alternative savings options like gold or silver.
 
Whatever else you may think, you are buying into a bubble, and if you are not planning to get out quickly you stand a good chance of being burned. Alan Greenspan (the arch enabler of the real estate bubble, and father of the great recession) supposedly asked some of his banker friends why they took the risks that ruined their businesses in 2008 and was told that they all knew it was a bubble built on bull excrement, but they figured they would be smart enough to get out in time to leave the rest of the investment community stuck with the losses. Most of them were not that smart.

Looking at past performances of silver...I know it can go either up or down from where it's at now. I was spending my money on electronic goods which have all gone waaay down in value and is practically worthless and outdated now. Hopefully silver will at least retain it's value over the years and give me a nest egg for my retirement. Anything is better than electronic goods.

The thing about metals is that they have intrinsic value, separate from market-based fantasy pricing. That means they'll always be worth something, no matter what. As long as silver and gold and platinum continue to have industrial uses, and as long as their scarcity remains constant (i.e. alchemy doesn't suddenly become a real thing)  then you're at least assured their value will never fall to nothing. Unlike bitcoins, virtual real estate, or Chinese guitars.

What Bit said is exactly why I used to trade commodities.  Back in '76 I saw my grandfather's stock go from $140/share to zero in two weeks (much longer story).  Commodities are always worth something and there are usually safeguards in place to prevent huge swings such as what took place when the Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market (my Uncle lost $330k thanks to them - real money, not "on paper").  If you look at all the most traded commodities, you'll see that all of them go up and down all over the place over time with two exceptions.  The first is Silver thanks to the Hunt brothers, but if you take out that one huge spike then it looks like the rest.  The second is the S&P 500 which, of course, is tied to stocks and that is an artificial market based on human fear and greed.  I've got a 200 year chart that covers two pages of one of my trading books and it literally starts at the bottom left corner of one page and goes in a fairly straight line to the top right corner of the next page.  The "crashes" look like tiny little corrections at this level.
 
In 1999, I had 89 contracts of Gold worth several million dollars expecting a big jump up (which happened).  Unfortunately, I set my goal about six points too high and lost about $300k in profits (including losing over $170k in one day!), but still came out very nicely overall.  Trading is certainly NOT something for just anyone to try.  It can eat up the emotional types.  That said, I don't see any good reason to own the actual commodity when I can control it for far less.

Owning the actual commodity to me means real wealth in my hands.  I don't want paper. Having silver right here in my hands is a no bull s___t way of having wealth. I can sell it anytime I want. I can store it for as long as I want...I don't want some shady finance manager getting his hands on my wealth. This is the real deal. I don't want some banker handling my finances right into the ground...I don't want some fast talking stock broker, selling me stocks that become worthless in time. I don't want some music store salesman selling me junk that loses it's value in no time.  If times get tough, I can always pawn it off as it's regarded as very valuable goods at the pawn shops. Guitars ?? Not so much.
 
If I would have bought silver years ago, I'd be very rich right now...so now it's a good time to get started as far as I'm concerned. I wish I had lot's more.

Fiat money.
 
I have 6 bottles of wine though. Oh, that is to drink though!