Recap of day 22

Good evening, readers.

In case you hadn't already noticed, silver has quite the day today, gaining more than 2% over Friday's close and pushing it yet-again to a new post-1980s high -- the 5th consecutive one. Gold was somewhat more subdued, gaining 0.39%, but nevertheless precious metals (and crude) were the darlings of buyers today.

Since the beginning of this year, silver has returned 25.1%, and is on pace to have a near 100% return for 2011. I know it's early to be speculating about such things, but I'm certain that silver will successfully defend last year's title of Highest Performing Asset.

What else can I say? People said it was stupid to buy silver at $12/oz, and then $15/oz, and then $20/oz, and then $25/oz, and then $30/oz, because surely the silver bubble is going to burst soon. People, there is no silver bubble, silver has been in a long-term bear market for the past 30 years, and it's only been the last few years that it's began to appreciate to its appropriate value based on supply/demand. Adjusted for inflation, its current levels are not even close to record-breaking -- we'd need it to top $100 for that to happen. 

I can't help but think that, in 5-10 years, everyone who saw the awesome performance of silver, but sat idly by because they believed slick Wall Street fraudsters, who told them that investing in precious metals was strictly for fools, will be kicking themselves. Those who ignore an obvious opportunity, even when it's right in front of them, perhaps don't deserve its rewards. Maybe that's just a law of the universe...

The numbers:

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Day 19
Results upon NY close of trading -- April 1, 2011:

• Gold closed at $1,434.50 per oz, up $5.60 and 0.39% from last week. Silver closed at $38.59 per oz, up $0.76 and 2.01% from last week.
• VFINX closed at $122.78 per share, up $0.05 and 0.04% from last week.

Investment #1, Precious Metals:

• Percent return for the day: 1.22%
• Profit for the day: $1,192.72
• Total percent return: -1.1%
• Total profit: $-1,059.77

Total investment value: $98,862.01

Investment #2, Vanguard 500 Index:

• Percent return for the day: 0.04%
• Profit for the day: $41.70
• Total percent return: 2.4%
• Total profit: $2,443.62

Total investment value: $102,398.32

Advantage: Vanguard 500 Index, by $2,536.51