Never, but it has outperformed the entire market

YNH - You are dangerous.

haha how am I dangerous? I just feel monetizing of debt across the globe, precious metals have to go up. The debt problems only seem to be getting worse. 

How about with a gold or silver ETF? I am very new so I am sorry for stupid questions. I am just trying to expand my knowledge so I can be a good advisor when I start. 

The best bet for a dividend, if I like metals, would be in a mining company? Perhaps Cour de Alene?

I actually own silver, I think it is a better investment than gold. I am just trying to figure out the safest things to be in, if we have another financial meltdown and inflation becomes an issue. What do you think?

Thanks for the input.

I am going to working for MSSB...Do they teach you everything you need to know about financial products and what the best course of action is for your clients or do they give you a phone and say go? I start in two weeks and have been reading Bill Good's book on prospecting so I think I will have that down pretty well by then, but I do not know much about different financial products and how they work, taxes, dividends, etc

YNH - I work for a major wire (may or may not rhyme with Errol Flynch). Trust me, they don't teach squat about actual products other than the L&L or B&L. They harp on 'building your practice' which is broker speak for asset gathering. I love it where I am, but I wouldn't ever say they taught me about financial products.

You can take advantage of moutnains of research they have available on markets, products, etc. But that will be on you.

As for Gold, unlike the poster above said, it's the most liquid asset you can buy. More liquid than USD globally. (You can't buy anything with USD in Ghana, but they take gold).  Most of the time Gold and Oil are used for liquidity when large funds or investors get margin or capital calls. So,illliquidity is off the table.

To those that said you can't afford to be aggressive with so little money. It's just the opposite. Diversification (theoretically) keeps you from losing money (i.e. spreads risk) whereas concentration in one position is the opposite. The reason that most billionaires in the world are the way the are is because of concentration of their holdings (Bill gates, Steve Jobs, Carlos Slim, T Boone Pickens, Michael Dell, Branson, The Hunt Family, the Waltons, Donald Trump, etc). They all made riches by concentrating their wealth not diversifying accross asset classes. (Even the great Warren Buffet made his money buying shares in INDIVIDUAL companies not in the markets. His own quote about concentration shows that).

That being said, concentration is a high risk / high reward game. I would say if you are young and you want to do it, now is the time. I would also say that GOLD or Silver is a terrible way to go about it. Those are historically hedges rather than the investment itself. The fact that people are looking to GOLD as an investment  and not a hedge is what indicates it's well into the bubble stage.

If you're going to concentrate on something why not go with the beaten up Bank Stocks or Exxon or Apple. Companies that have true growth or virtual monopolies on markets that are in high demand.