SLV and GLD are useful for speculating on the two metals – nothing else

the key benefit to the precious metals is that they are tangible goods that you can hold in your hands, free from the encumbrances of any govt or financial entity

‘investing’ in SLV and GLD does not accomplish the primary objective which is financial security / safety

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there have been several articles recently asking where the gold ETFs are getting their supplies – GLD claims to have over 1000 tons of gold with a significant portion of this metal having been obtained in just the last few months – the articles point out that GLD has recently acquired more gold than is readily available anywhere in the world – if the physical gold doesn’t exist in the quantities required, then GLD DIDN’T purchase physical gold they purchased gold derivatives or futures contracts

I don’t know the truth about SLV and GLD but IMO they are only good for speculating on the metals over the short term – if you are investing for the long haul don’t trade one piece of worthless paper (fiat currency) for another (paper claim on gold)

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some people have suggested that the proliferation of gold ETFs in recent years is a way to ease some of the pressure on the physical gold market – ie, instead of taking 1000 tons of physical gold supply off the market in the last few years, ‘investors’ have traded their fiat paper currency for paper gold which may or may not be backed by real physical gold sitting in a vault

the paperwork describing GLD has enough weasel wording to allow them to purchase paper gold instead of physical if desired – basically, the alleged physical gold is held by other financial entities that GLD has contracted with and GLD is not required to audit these other entities – so when it turns out that these entities didn’t actually buy physical gold, GLD will have a scapegoat at the ready and, once again, nobody on Wall Street will be held accountable for screwing the little guy