Are you looking for a way to invest in silver but don't want the hassle of owning silver bullion, bars, or coins? There's a simple option. The iShares Silver Trust (SLV -3.45%) exchange-traded fund is directly tethered to the price of silver but trades just like an ordinary stock.
To this end, if you're looking to make a bullish bet on silver because you think it could make its way to $100 per ounce, what would a $5,000 investment made in SLV today be worth then?
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It's not tough to figure out. At silver's current price of just over $60 an ounce, a move to $100 would be a 66.6% gain. A 66.6% gain on a $5,000 investment in the iShares Silver Trust, in turn, would grow to a value of $8,330.
NYSEMKT: SLV
Key Data Points
Just be sure you're really ready to take on such a trade. The premise of owning precious metals sounds appealing. As the chart illustrates, though, silver prices can be volatile and make sizable, prolonged moves without any real warning.
In addition to the relative attractiveness of stocks and bonds, the economic backdrop, inflation, the U.S. dollar's value, and interest rates are all contributing factors to silver's price changes. These factors aren't always easy to predict either.
Still, even if you don't have a specific price target in mind and you just want some additional diversification for your portfolio, owning a bit of silver via a modest stake in the iShares Silver Trust wouldn't be a bad holding to consider.
