Over the last few years, people have become skeptical about importing and exporting just about anything.

Due to high tariffs on goods imported into the U.S., doing so has become less attractive and more difficult for American companies. Plus, simply transporting foreign goods into the U.S. has become more difficult. Off the coast of California, ships carrying all kinds of goods from Asia, including semiconductors, electronic devices and even automobiles, are waiting to dock. Although that delivery holdup is lessening, the slowdown that was caused by the coronavirus pandemic is still exerting a negative effect on U.S. manufacturing and commerce.

The coming year could be your opportunity to make money – perhaps a lot of money – by investing in precious metals.

There are many reasons why opportunity in precious metals could be knocking in your door right about now. One reason is that the economy is recovering quickly as the Covid-19 pandemic fades away. Another reason is that as a number of companies have closed, there are ample opportunities to buy up quantities of precious metals at low prices. The manufacturing supplies those companies had in stock, as well as the computers and other equipment they owned, can be bought for advantageous prices.

You can’t hit a homerun or score a touchdown if you are sitting on the sidelines. You have to get in the game.

The same can be said for making money by investing in precious metals. You will never make money as an investor if you never stand up and get started. Also, you will never make a sizable return on your investment if you only make small investments that never take you a little bit outside your comfort level.

So at the risk of asking you a personal question in today’s blog post, may we ask . . .

It won’t be long until we get a new president. Will the change cause the trading prices of gold scrap, silver scrap, platinum scrap and other precious metals to rise or fall? Will those metal refineries, “we buy gold” stores near you and pawnshops be paying more for that old piece of jewelry you want to sell, or paying you less?

There are many ways to enjoy financial advantages from the precious metals you own. You can have Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners process your gold scrap, silver scrap and platinum scrap, and have us send you a check for the value of the metal they contain. But there are other ways. You can fund your IRA or other investment accounts with precious metals, donate them to your preferred charity – and the list goes on and on.

What makes for a good investment? As we have noted on this blog before, a good investment is one that offers a significant return on investment. If you can invest in something – a stock, a piece of gold, a painting, anything – and then sell it for three or four times what you paid for it or more, then you have made a good investment.

Yet other considerations make some investments better than others. And today, we would like to offer one of them for your consideration.

Due to the upcoming increase in the number of cars that use batteries, lithium is poised to increase in value over the next half century.

Just to review . . .

When demand increases for a material that is in limited supply, the value of that material increases. The more the demand increases and the more limited the supply, the more the value increases. It’s the old law of supply and demand.

There’s no doubt that the coronavirus crisis has changed everything. It has changed the way we connect with other people, shop, work, enjoy our free time, and much more.

So it only stands to reason that the crisis has changed the way we invest, and profit from, precious metals. But the funny thing is, not everything has changed. Gold scrap, silver scrap, platinum scrap and certain other investments were smart investments before the pandemic struck – and they are still good investments today. But how can you determine which forms of those scrap investments will yield the biggest return today? How can you make the smartest picks among all the precious metal investments that are available right now?

Have you been completely satisfied with the investments you have made in precious metals? Do you think you have invested your money in the right metals? Do you feel like you could benefit from some new ideas and new strategies to realize more income from the bullion, gold scrap, platinum scrap, silver and other investments you have made?

While we were listening to talk radio last week, we heard someone call in and ask a timely question.

“Businesses all around me are closed and some will never reopen,” the caller said, “and I am wondering whether that will create an opportunity to buy their assets and inventory at low prices?”

Let’s say that you own precious metals and that you would like to borrow against their value. If that is your situation, don’t be apologetic about it. In the current economic climate, many people need to raise cash. Some of those people are business owners who would like to be able to pay their employees until business picks up. Other people are in a crunch and need to liquidate assets so they can pay their mortgages, their children’s college tuition, or meet other financial obligations.

Okay, everybody is worried right now about the state of our economy. And one thing you have to say about the current situation, bad as it is, is that those fears are based in reality. Small businesses are hurting. Some are closing, possibly for good. Individual investors have seen the value of their assets plummet – at least on paper. Kids who are graduating from college right now are having a terribly difficult time finding jobs. Plus, many of our institutions, ranging from universities to museums to theater companies, are wondering if they will ever bounce back.

We are about to enter one of the most uncertain economic periods in modern history – one that many analysts fear could rival the Great Depression.

We don’t like to write about the negatives, we really don’t. But if we want to formulate a strategy for retaining our investments’ value, we need to consider some of the bad things that could just happen in the wake of the current virus crisis:

Are you a little down in the dumps right about now? Well, we don’t blame you, but we would like to offer you a little bit of advice that applies to investing in precious metals . . .

Snap out of it and keep moving forward!

Okay, you’re stuck at home during the current Coronavirus shelter-in-place period. Maybe you can’t take part in all your usual activities as someone who invests in silver scrap, gold scrap, platinum scrap and your other favorite investments. Go to an estate sale to look for jewelry, tableware and other items? Forget it, nobody is holding estate sales right now. Go to an antique mall to poke around? Forget it, the doors are locked.

Are you an expert about metals?

Good, but let’s start today’s post with a simple-sounding question that is harder to answer than it seems . . .

What do all metals have in common?

We don’t write often about base metals on this blog. After all, we are a precious metal refining company.

But have we been failing to tell you how you can make a lot of money by investing in base metals like aluminum, copper, and brass? Today, we’ll find out.

“How do I make a profit by investing in precious metals?” seems like a pretty simple question. But even though it’s a simple question to ask, it is a difficult one to answer.

Why? Because there are a number of ways to make a profit when investing in precious metals. In today’s post, we will look at three of them.

Let’s say you walk into a pawnshop to check out whether there are any gold, silver or platinum items there for sale – items that you can buy for low prices. Or you walk into a coin dealer to see what’s on display.

Let’s also say that you find what seems to be a good deal. It’s a South African Kruggerand that contains 1 Troy Ounce of gold. When you ask the dealer the price, he replies, “$1,505.00, because we sell at current trading prices.” So you go online, check trading prices, and decide that you will be getting a fair deal if you buy that Kruggerand for the asking price. So you go back to the pawnshop or coin dealer, pay asking price, and assume that everything has gone well.

Nobody likes a recession. But the fact remains that if another recession starts soon, precious metals are a good place to have your assets invested.  

During the last big historical recession of 2007-2009, the trading price of gold rose about 24%. In the same period, the Dow fell by about 35%. And something similar, though not as extreme, happened in preceding recessions. In the less-severe recession of 2001, gold prices rose more than 4%, while the Dow fell about 15%.