As silver prices surged past S$100 (US$78) an ounce in recent weeks, Singaporean Faris Ghani saw a long-running bet finally begin to pay off. The 35-year-old relocation consultant has been quietly accumulating the metal since he was 21, betting that silver – long overshadowed by gold – would one day have its moment. That moment appears to have arrived. On Monday, spot silver traded near record highs of about US$94 an ounce, more than tripling from around US$30 an ounce a year earlier. The surge...

A typical day for Aizat Halim begins at 5am, as he sets out on a drive to his fruit farm in Janda Baik, about 50km (30 miles) from his home in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur – a distance that reflects the gap between his current and former lives. Farming, the 31-year-old said, was always his first career choice, despite graduating in marketing from colleges in the US and the United Kingdom. In 2020, he started a pineapple farm on family land, leaving a cushy air-conditioned job as a marketing...