Gold anyone?

ZZR600

Has anyone looked at investing in Gold?

It't up to $630/oz from $475/oz last October. That's up 32%. There's an account here that allows you to store bullion: http://goldmoney.com. Alternatively, you can buy coins from here:http://www.goldline.co.uk/goldlinedev/GC/Global/GLHomeFrame.ghtml

Any ideas?

ReportInvestor

Up 32% since last October? I'm pleased for those who invested last October .

mrmajika

What's that smell !?

Could it be chopped pork? . . or corned beef ?

Nope - I know !

It's :spam: :spam: :spam: :spam: :spam:

ZZR600

No, it's not spam!

Inflation is running at close to 10% so the savings and current accounts discussed on this site aren't keeping up, even if they pay 6% (4.8% after tax). Gold seems to be keeping up with the inflation rate, even if it is quite volatile at times. In the long run, it seems a more secure way of holding onto you money than cash.

mrmajika

ZZR600 wrote:

No, it's not spam!

Inflation is running at close to 10%

:eek:

My apologies. I didn't realise inflation had jumped up by more than 7% overnight !:rotfl:

dunstonh

ZZR600 wrote:

No, it's not spam!

Inflation is running at close to 10% so the savings and current accounts discussed on this site aren't keeping up, even if they pay 6% (4.8% after tax). Gold seems to be keeping up with the inflation rate, even if it is quite volatile at times. In the long run, it seems a more secure way of holding onto you money than cash.

Inflation may not be quite what the Govt says but 3.5% is closer to the mark if you want to estimate alterantive rates.

Gold "has" done well and what you tend to find is that what goes up comes down and what goes down comes up. If you want a dabble, then put a small amount in Merrill Lynch Gold & General fund (available on most tax wrappers, including ISAs, Pensions, unit trusts etc) as part of your portfolio. At least its more liquid than buying coins and you can switch out within 24 hours of your request.

Apart from that, your post looks like SPAM.

ZZR600

Well, let’s see:

Council tax- 4-5% pa
Gas/Elec- 20-30% pa
Petrol- ~10% pa
Food- ~20% pa (a typical basket of goods at Tesco according to Farmers Weekly)
Car insurance- 10% + pa with NU announcement (BBC today says that overall costs of running a car is up 7.2%).
House prices- ~15% pa year on year since 2000.
Gold- ~15% pa year on year since 2001.
Cinema ticket- up 10% from 6 months ago at UGC
Orange juice: up 10% from 6 months ago at a few supermarkets I buy from.
I could go on......

So, you say inflation is 3.5%???

My boss thinks so, as I got 4% pay rise this year!

ReportInvestor

You missed out milk.

David Smith - Sunday Times economist - did think that "essentials" inflation might be running at 4.8%.

I don't think he included "gold purchases" in his "essentials" :rotfl:

mrmajika

In all sincerity, I have to apologise to the OP as I don't think the post, as I first thought, was intended as a SPAM post, even though it looked like one.

Sorry! It's just that it was your first ever post on the board and so I was suspicous. I see that you have been contributing elsewhere.

I still think your 10% estimation is quite a bit out though!

:beer:

cheerfulcat

Just one thing about the Gold & General fund; as it holds shares in gold and silver miners it doesn't always follow the price of gold - sometimes it dips with the wider stock market - though IMHO it's an excellent way to get longer term exposure to gold and other precious metals. There is a gold ETF which tracks the price, though. There's one which tracks the price of silver, too, which is quite interesting. But IMHO this kind of thing shouldn't make up more than 5% of a wider portfolio.

There's a good dedicated board for gold here.

nrsql

Inflation should probably be considered a personal thing.
Problem is that you decide what to buy depending on how much money you have (unless you are a proper money saver I guess) so the package of goods you were spending on last year is different from that you are spending on today.

Also if you were buying goods that are now cheaper due to being made in a different country then how should change in quality be factored in? Maybe you refuse to buy those now due to moral/quality reasons so for you maybe this price reduction would cause infglation rather than deflation.

Must admit I struggle to see how the inflation figures are calculated even after going through the statistics office baskets (....damned lies, and....). Think it would take more time than I have available.

The fund mentioned earlier is fun to drip feed. Gives a daily enjoyment that isn't available from most funds.