utting your money in anything without knowing something about it could put you at a disadvantage no matter what the investment is. This is no different with gold. As a part of economic life gold goes back thousands of years, as far back as civilization. As an asset, gold tends to be most attractive during periods of economic uncertainty or political instability. As a traditional hedge against falling currencies, climbing inflation, and the tumbling of a volatile stock market gold is an investment unlike any other.
While gold as an investment has been some of the most stable stuff on Earth, it always pays to do your research and exercise caution.
The most obvious way of gaining exposure to gold is to own the physical stuff. Gold makes a sensible addition to any investment portfolio. Gold offers potential for profit in terms of growth as well as being a relatively safe investment that provides protection against any economic downturn when other assets like stocks, currency, or property are likely to drop in value.
With gold you get a hard, tangible asset with intrinsic value that is in demand for industrial, technological, and medical applications as well as a stable store of value. Add to this increasing global demand for by such emerging economies such as India, Russia, and China as well as many of the world’s central banks. This demand predicts a dynamic upward growth for gold prices over the long term.
Generally when people think of owning gold they imagine huge bricks stored in a vault somewhere. While it’s possible to own physical metals this way (provided that you’re very wealthy), there are other ways. For the average investor, it makes a lot more sense to buy gold as bullion coins. Gold coins come in a wide variety of sizes which means that no matter how much you are looking to spend on gold you should be able to buy coins that suit your requirements.
To take full advantage of the power of gold, it’s always best to own the actual commodity.
While buying stocks in gold mining companies, ETFs may be a way of getting into the gold and precious metals market, they are at best an indirect way. You’re not dealing with the actual physical metal in the way you do when you take physical possession, instead you’re dealing with companies that dig physical metals from the earth. Basically what you’re doing is investing in the overall health of the companies. As with any other stock investment, it can go up and down as result of external factors not the least of which is market manipulations and corporate malfeasance.
The Problems with ETNs
Stocks have an extra risk. They can go bankrupt. They can be nationalized. Their gold can be miscalculated. They can have accidents, etc., etc. There are thousands of variables that could destroy the companies in particular, much less slow down profits. Some mining stocks, or ETFs, simply don’t have enough known gold in their mines to last for the long run. This presents even more risk. Not to mention that it’s getting even harder to mine gold. An increasing price of gold can help but it’s still a downward pressure on miners compared to gold bullion itself.
Before you invest any of your money, make sure to do your homework and get the best information available. You can begin by downloading a FREE mini-course that will help answer many of your questions about gold investing and coins, which coins are the best investment, and investing gold in an IRA. Full of important money saving investment tips, this guide has helped teach many of our clients to invest like experts. If you’d like to save precious time and possibly thousands of dollars, you need to read this today!
An investment portfolio that isn’t diversified could be leaving your retirement in danger. The clock on your money is ticking. Don’t wait to protect your assets.
