That just may signal a time to getting into buying silver. One of the tougher things to do is to figure out how to buy real silver bars and not just show pieces that might be only part silver. The best thing to do is to buy them through an ETF like the one mentioned above, SLV. However, if you want to own the real thing, there are many many places you can look for silver.

One of those places is your local jewelry and metals exchange shop. These places will usually buy and sell precious metals in addition to making that pendant you’ve always wanted. Since they’re local, you at least have a place to go back to, so long as they stay in business, that you can take your silver back to if it turns out not to be as pure as you once thought.

The next place is of course online. This is where you need to go to someone reputable if you’re going to buy physical silver. You’ll need to make sure the place has some number or person you can chat with, get a feel for the company. Next you’ll want to make sure they have some type of return policy. You may have to pay shipping, but it’s a nice piece of mind.

Of course, make sure everything paid for is secure, that goes without saying.

Finally, see if the minted bars or rounds they sell come from reputable companies such as Northwest, Johnson Matthey, Silvertowne, etc. There are plenty out there, and make sure they’re .999 pure silver. Other than that, price them out over spot price (which you can get here with us) and good luck.

Remember buying any investment is a risk, so make sure you can take it.

1. How much of your portfolio will you invest?

As a general rule, you should try to spread your money out among a variety of investments. While the exact allocation or distribution of your assets will be dependent on factors such as your age, age at which you want to retire, net income, total amount of money you currently have invested, and your risk tolerance, it is important to make sure that you do not have all or most of your assets heavily concentrated in one area.

Because of all of the advantages and risks to investing in these commodities, financial advisors usually recommend that potential investors keep a maximum of twenty percent of their total portfolio invested in gold, silver, and other similar metals. Investing more than this portion of a portfolio is usually thought of as being too risky for most individual investors.

Unfortunately, many people tend to ignore this rule and invest everything they have into commodities. This can lead to you losing your life savings if there is a sudden downturn or dip in the precious metals market. If you’re considering this investment, be sure to keep the majority of your money in other investments.

2. How will you come up with the money for the investment?

Deciding what money to invest is as important as deciding where to invest it. Some people choose to invest in precious metals within their retirement plans at work. This means that they are using the money they would have otherwise put into other investments in the precious metals market. Because it is inside of their retirement account, however, they will need to plan on keeping the investment for a long time.

Other people decide to invest the cash they have or take on unsecured debt, such as a credit card, to get the money to invest. If you choose to do this, make sure that you are investing money that you can afford to lose. Remember that the market can vary a lot, making it a less than ideal place to put money that you may need access to right away.

Taking out a loan in order to invest in precious metals is very risky. In addition to having to pay back the principal, you also have to make sure that the investments nets enough to pay back the loan and make a profit. Take out a loan only if you are very experienced with the commodities market.

3. How long do you plan on holding on to your investment?

While holding onto precious metals for the long term (that is, more than five years) has historically turned a profit for most investors, it is entirely possible to lose a significant portion of your principal by investing in precious metals. While the fact that gold and silver have never traded at zero on the market is touted as proof that this is a safe investment, the truth is that it only means that an investor will probably be able to hold out during a price drop and wait for the price of their investment to come back up.

Nonetheless, investing in the precious market over the short term can be very risky. It is next to impossible to predict what will happen to the price of gold or silver from day to day. Be sure to carefully consider your overall financial situation before making the decision to invest in precious metals. Also, be sure to research the investment thoroughly before buying.

Gold as well has been moving up with the price getting above $1750 for the first time in almost as long. Again as we’ve mentioned previously inflation and poor economic conditions that drive people out of equities usually drive them into precious metals.

The other thing looks like its been strong economic pressure from emerging markets like China. New buyers could spark a drive up in prices. The drive up could happen Because there are more buyers with more money.

What could be causing the rise?

Looking to Barron’s online they say…

Prices moved higher during Asian trade as Chinese buying picked up following the Lunar New Year holiday, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report. But analysts remained cautious, pointing to an 11.2% rise so far in 2012 in gold futures prices. The PowerShares U.S. Dollar Index ETF (UUP) was falling some 0.27% in pre-markets as the CurrencyShares Euro ETF (FXE) was rising by 0.39%.

That could mean good news as the market looks to pull investors back in.

Two factors usually affect the price of silver in a positive way. A bad economy where equities and bonds both look gloomy, or inflation. Since it appears, even with Europe dangling by a thread, that the US and chinese economies are bouncing back, one would think the price of silver might stay at these lows or even fall lower still. Possibly by to the teens.

But, what about inflation? The fed just announced that it intends to keep rates low until 2014 in order to continue to try and help a housing market that just won’t recover. With rates that low and money already having been pumped into the economy, that could spark higher inflation than normal.

Those factors could lead the price of silver to jump unexpectedly and catch a lot of investors on the sidelines who recently dumped their holdings in silver and silver ETFs like SLV.

While we don’t know just what the future holds for the price of silver we can say that it isn’t as certain as some my think.

The price of both precious metals fell drastically late last year with both seeing lows they hadn’t seen in months. The new year, however, is looking optimistically better as speculation that inflation, a key driver in the price of metals such as gold and silver, will be coming back as Europe and the US figure out what to do with all that extra money they’re printing.

The price of silver is up to just under $30.

Well, we’re at it again, is it the bottom or is it just the beginning of a sell-off.

Some of the top commodities investors have sold off big stakes in their precious metals holdings this year which include silver, gold and platinum. These holdings have been in ETFs, mining companies as well as the precious metals themselves, which have started to look like the unsafe haven they’re not meant to be.

Instead, it appears money is flowing into bonds as yields begin to rise again, inflationary scare is lowered, and the price of precious metals begins to lower. We’re a little cautious that this is the bottom of the barrel for the price of silver, it’s been much lower in the recent past, and we’re worried that if the economy continues to just lurch along, with no sign that printing money by governments around the world is going to cause inflation… well then, silver might be headed lower.

Take it with a grain of salt though, we thought things were headed lower in the past and they bounced back quickly, what do we know.

The question every precious metals investor is asking themselves right now is whether or not this sell-off in the market signals a time to load up on precious metals. ETFs, which follow the price of silver, like SLV, have dropped, obviously, along with the price of silver and have made for a difficult time for investors wanting to time the market. Previously there would be a sell-off followed by a tremendous uptick, but we’re not seeing that right now.

Instead, the price of silver is falling quickly as it looks like the economy is headed south for a while. Europe is seeing its banking system hurt and getting worse with no immediate fix in sight. This could mean trouble for a market, the precious metals gold and silver market, that has been propped up due to inflationary pressures and a rebounding market.

But now that the Euro is on it’s way down just the same, we may see trouble ahead.