A dabbler, friend invested in gold and silver, ultimately (7)
I believe the answer is:
amateur
'a dabbler' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'friend invested in gold and silver ultimately' is the wordplay.
'friend' becomes 'mate' (mate is a kind of friend).
'invested in' indicates putting letters inside.
'gold' becomes 'Au' (Au is the chemical symbol for gold).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'ultimately' suggests the final letters.
The final letter of 'silver' is 'r'.
'mate' going inside 'au' is 'amateu'.
'amateu'+'r'='AMATEUR'
(Other definitions for amateur that I've seen before include "Unpaid (sport)" , "Person who does something as a pastime rather than a profession" , "Unpaid performer" , "I'm no expert!" , "Not pro" .)