Silver's use in industry as well as jewelry and investments in the form of coins and bars is exactly the reason why I buy silver. It has use. It will always have a demand in industrial use due to it's conductivity and reflective properties.
Silver's use is rather limited
And these limits are twofold. First, there is in fact not much use for silver in today's economy on its own, and, what adds more injury to insult, it is not going to expand in the future (if anything, palladium seems to be a better choice now). Further, even whatever industrial use silver has, it is severely limited by its price which is to say the smallest rise in price will make this use shrink since silver can be easily substituted by other metals and materials. Indeed, silver is the best electrical conductor out there, but copper is not bad either, so it is just a matter of price
All valid points. I stack silver because it is a physical object with value that I can hold in my hand and is as easy as taking some to any local coin shop to sell if need be. But aside from savings and 401k, I have the silver as an addition to my "portfolio", be that as it may. Silver is much more affordable than gold, but I could easily trade it in for gold if I so chose. As long as the mints keep pumping out silver coins and bars, and as long as silver is traded on the commodities market then I will take advantage of it as an investment.