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Investing in precious metals can be a good way to shield your investment portfolio from the effects of inflation. Monetary policy employed to combat recent recessions has often involved the inflation of currencies. Lack of faith in the dollar has resulted in the devaluation of cash assets and the rise of commodity prices. Price volatility is always a concern for precious metals investors. The discovery and sale of large precious metal reserves can increase the supply overnight, leading to sharp drops in price. Additionally, if you invest in physical metal such as gold coins or bullion, you need to protect them in a bank vault or safe. Although gold is the best-known precious metal, there are a few other metals that are often used for investment. Gold is a globally recognized symbol of wealth. Gold was commonly used as currency prior to the development of paper money and state currencies. Currently gold is crucial to the electronics industry. It is used in many components due to its properties of electrical conduction, corrosion resistance, and chemical stability. Silver is commonly thought of as gold's more affordable cousin. Silver is valuable to the electronics industry because it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal. Platinum is often part of medical equipment, automotive parts, and computers. Palladium is key to the production of catalytic converters because of its ability to withstand extreme temperatures and oxidation. It is also used in a variety of other industrial applications such as water purification and the refining of oil and natural gas.