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In the world of paper assets, ETFs and mutual funds are great, and a neat feature is that diversification is present to some extent in most of these vehicles. I love ETFs and mutual funds, I own them, and they’re indeed appropriate for many folks.

However, ETFs and mutual funds are only as good as the assets they own. If they own successful investments, the fund will do well; if they own failing investments, then the fund will definitely not do well. If a mutual fund, for example, has stocks and bonds, then these investments have counterparty risk. So do ETFs and mutual funds have counterparty risk? Yes!

I think that investing in gold and silver ETFs that guarantee ownership of physical bullion is as safe as you can get within the boundaries of a portfolio held at a brokerage account (whether a regular or retirement account). You still need to be aware of the counterparty risk of the issuer, but it does have greater safety when compared to alternative ETFs. For more details, check out Chapter 8.

Keep in mind that inverse and leveraged ETFs have financial and market risks, but they can be a good way to speculate in gold and silver in the event of a precious metals bull market. Read up on the details of these aggressive vehicles in Chapter 11.