✓ There are plenty of good reasons to add precious metals to your investment

portfolio. Here are just a few of the more common reasons precious metal investing is on the rise in the 21st century.

o Protection against Economic Collapse

o High-Value, Small Size

o Diversification of Investment Portfolio

o Gold and Silver Have Industrial Uses

o You Can Get Started with Very Little Money

The Top Precious Metals for Investing

✓ Gold - Roughly half of all gold mined these days shows up in jewelry. This is one of the principal drivers of the value of gold. About 10% is used for industrial

reasons, and a full 40% of the gold in the world today is used for investing.

✓ Silver - While the most common use of gold is in jewelry, and silver does find its way to the jeweler's bench, the vast majority of silver is used for industrial

purposes. Silver also conducts heat very well. Because of those two properties,

silver is used extensively in electronics and in solar energy applications.

✓ Platinum - Platinum is extremely resistant to corrosion, and this quality makes it viable for multiple industrial uses. You will find platinum in a wide variety of

electrical devices, and as an investment vehicle, platinum bullion is available in

ingots, bars and coins, just like gold and silver.

✓ Palladium - If you haven't heard of palladium, that is probably because this is one of the rarest of all precious metals. Its uses are largely industrial, focusing mostly on the electronics industry as a whole, specifically for the manufacture of capacitors that store hydrogen and electrical energy.