pokerJAH;285186 wroteI find it easier to just buy SLV online for short term holds. If silver gets back to $25ish, I will check out this site for sure.
I'm not an expert, but I recall reading that much of the paper silver that is purchased is not actually backed by enough physical silver so that you can be at risk. Something like that anyhow. I knew more back when I was researching about purchasing and it made me decide that physical was a better option.
Of course you have to deal with having a safety deposit box or safe or similar and figuring out where to sell when the time comes to unload it all. It seems like ebay has lots of overpriced silver bars and rounds which I think is due to limited availability in some countries so that may be the way to go if the price rises enough.
I purchased a bunch at $28 which I think ended-up being the recent bottom...I guess how long I hold onto it depends on whether it ends up crashing or steadily climbs in 2012. Free shipping from that site with orders over $2k beats anything you can get from the US.