Silver

Invest in Pure-Play Silver with This Fund

The Aberdeen Standard Physical Silver Shares ETF (NYSEARCA:SIVR) uses silver billion to track the silver spot price minus trust expenses.

SIVR gives investors pure exposure to silver by holding the physical metal in trust. Each share represents a fractional interest in the trust. The metal is held with JPMorgan Chase Bank in London in a secured vault to provide a convenient way to invest in silver without needing to safeguard it personally.

The fund is designed to track the spot price of silver perfectly. The net asset value (NAV) of the trust is based on the value of silver on an ounce price basis as set by the London Bullion Market Association at noon London time, divided by the number of shares outstanding for the fund at 4 p.m. in New York, every trading day.

In addition, investors should be aware of the tax treatment, as SIVR is deemed a collectible by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

As one might expect, SIVR holds one asset class with a 100% weighting in silver. A main rival exchange-traded fund (ETF) is iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV). SIVR so far has amassed $863 million in assets under management. Its expense ratio of 0.30% is inexpensive to hold relative to other exchange-traded funds.

SIVR seeks to offer investors a simple, cost-efficient and secure way to access the precious metals market. The fund is intended to provide investors with a return equivalent to movement in the silver spot price. The fund currently trades around $26 and is up almost 50% year over year. Its three-year return is an impressive 16.7%, and its five-year return is 14.23%.

However, I urge interested investors to conduct their own due diligence to decide whether this fund fits a particular individual’s personal portfolio goals.

As always, I am happy to answer any of your questions about ETFs, so do not hesitate to send me an email. You just may see your question answered in a future ETF Talk.

Jim Woods

Jim Woods is a 20-plus-year veteran of the markets with varied experience as a broker, hedge fund trader, financial writer, author and newsletter editor. Jim is the editor of Intelligence Report, Investing Edge, the Bullseye Stock Trader, and The Deep Woods (formerly the Weekly ETF Report). His books include co-authoring, “Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution,” and “The Wealth Shield: How to Invest and Protect Your Money from Another Stock Market Crash, Financial Crisis or Global Economic Collapse.” He’s also ghostwritten many books and articles, as well as edited content for some of the investment industry’s biggest luminaries. His articles have appeared on many leading financial websites, including StockInvestor.com, InvestorPlace.com, Main Street Investor, MarketWatch, Street Authority, Human Events and many others. Jim formerly worked with Investor’s Business Daily founder William J. O’Neil, helping to author training courses in the CANSLIM stock-picking methodology. The independent firm TipRanks rates Jim the No. 3 financial blogger in the world (out of more than 6,000). TipRanks calculates that, since 2012, he's made 361 successful recommendations out of 499 total, earning a success rate of 72% and a +15.3% average return per recommendation. He is known in professional and personal circles as “The Renaissance Man,” because his expertise includes such varied fields as composing and performing music; Western horsemanship, combat marksmanship, martial arts, auto racing and bodybuilding. Jim holds a BA in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a former U.S. Army paratrooper. A self-described “radical for capitalism,” he celebrates the virtue of making money from his Southern California horse ranch.