With stock prices falling and the future of the stock markets more uncertain than ever, why would you invest all your savings in this high risk area? Despite these problems with stock investments, it's surprising how many people continually invest 100% of their retirement savings in stocks. Diversity of investments helps minimize the overall risks. Silver should be considered when determining investment alternatives to stocks.

The world-wide market demand for silver is growing, while supplies of silver are quickly disappearing. New and upcoming high-tech uses for silver will further strain already-tight supplies in the future. World demand for silver now exceeds annual production and has every year since 1990, depleting above-ground stockpiles of silver. The United States government, once the largest stockpiler of silver in the world, dumped billions of ounces of silver onto the world market over the past recent years, resulting in depressed silver prices. Today, that government silver hoard is gone, and now the United States government is a buyer of silver at prevailing world silver prices.

So, unlike gold, silver gets used up. It has been estimated that over 90% of the gold ever mined still exists in above-ground refined form. In contrast, over approximately 90% of the silver ever mined has been consumed by electronics and jewelry. Regarding re-use values, silver jewelry, for example, costs about $50 an ounce at a store. However, spot silver currently costs much less an ounce. Therefore, silver is not recoverable at a cost justifying rate and will not be cost efficient until the cost of silver rises significantly. What does all this mean? Consider investing in silver. After all, it's not a paper investment - it's an investment you can physically hold until you want to sell it on the market. Sign up with SilverExchange.org and start investing in silver today.