IF you believe in silver/gold, take the time to learn option strategies.
There is always a buy/sell spread above spot when buying/selling. If you buy today and there is no move, you would lose money if you sold it today because of that spread.
You can make money without ever touching bullion(or worrying about storing it or having it stolen)
You just need to be right about the direction that it is going to move. You can profit from up or down moves.
For example: If you are willing to buy silver in the $15 dollar range, you could sell JAN 2015 $17 puts and collect over $2.00 per ounce today. (17-2 =$15)
You get to keep the $2 no matter what happens. If silver stays above $17, you make $2 maximum.
If it falls below $15, you will own it at $15.
* you could also sell JAN 2015 $15 puts and collect $1.34 right now. Silver would have to drop below $13.66 for you to lose, and your max gain is $1.34. Limited risk, limited reward.
(You could sell $10puts for 30c.
Silver would have to drop below $9.70 for you to lose money)
there are other strategies that will give you unlimited upside with more risk.
It can be done with gold as well, you do not need
to have the cash to buy it and you can still profit from large moves, up or down.
Same principles apply to stocks as well, you can control (& profit from) larger amount of shares with limited risk by using different strategies.