Thinking of buying gold bars !!

Tangible

Gold is an investment that share dealers dive into when prices are diving and they're about to have a nervous breakdown.

It doesn't pay interest and it's currently close to the top of it's range. If everyone invested in gold there wouldn't be an economy and you can't eat it.

It's a speculative investment, and like any such investment, buying small will achieve nothing as you'll get the worst price, and fees and costs that make it a certain loss.

If you have the spare cash and are able to work out the costs of storage, insurance etc then it makes sense when it's on a low. If you're expecting the price of gold to increase indefinitely then you're actually predicting financial chaos in the markets, which won't benefit you sitting on a pile of gold, if it's still where you left it.

Gold, like diamonds, is a market controlled by the producers, so they'll also be cashing in on the price rise by cranking up production.

Investing in tangible assets appears more secure in uncertain times, but it's actually as risky as any other investment.

Geoff23

Tangible wrote: »

Gold is an investment that share dealers dive into when prices are diving and they're about to have a nervous breakdown.

The people who are actually buying up the physical gold aren't share dealers. The traders buy digits of GLD and other fancy things which aren't actually gold.

It doesn't pay interest and it's currently close to the top of it's range.

What range is that then?

So long as there is no upper limit to the amount of money western governments can print, there is no upper limit to where gold can go.

If everyone invested in gold there wouldn't be an economy and you can't eat it.

You mean if everybody invested exclusively in gold. If everybody went and turned 10% of their savings/investments into gold then the price would skyrocket, but there would still be an economy.

As for "you can't eat it"....you can't it pound coins either. So what?

It's a speculative investment, and like any such investment, buying small will achieve nothing as you'll get the worst price, and fees and costs that make it a certain loss.

It's probably not worth buying one gold coin, no...

A certain loss? I don't think so.

If you have the spare cash and are able to work out the costs of storage, insurance etc then it makes sense when it's on a low. If you're expecting the price of gold to increase indefinitely then you're actually predicting financial chaos in the markets, which won't benefit you sitting on a pile of gold, if it's still where you left it.

I didn't quite follow that paragraph...

Gold, like diamonds, is a market controlled by the producers, so they'll also be cashing in on the price rise by cranking up production.

Most gold is resold. It doesn't get used up. The producers do not control the price. Buyers and sellers of existing stockpiles control the price. And yes production will be cranked up a bit but its not actually that easy to just crank up gold production. The reason for this is that most newly-produced gold doesn't come from dedicated gold mines at all - it comes from copper, zinc and lead mines, where the gold exists as a "contaminant" in the primary ore being mined. If the world slips back into recession and demand for these base metals declines, this will naturally decrease the amount of new gold coming to market.

Investing in tangible assets appears more secure in uncertain times, but it's actually as risky as any other investment.

That depends how risky you think the other investments are right now.

padington

Tangible wrote: »

Investing in tangible assets appears more secure in uncertain times, but it's actually as risky as any other investment.

Wrong - tangible assets don't go bust, whatever happens you end up holding tangible assets instead of what could be, a big pile of nothing if you bought a paper promise.

padington

Cycle-Investor wrote: »

I don´t see gold as a long term investment from here. As long as uncertanties remain it could continue up but uncertanties are like high VIX. It does not last for very long compared to low VIX levels.

If the currencies get debased ad infinitum, then gold will continue to go up - it can't not in such an environment. It is going to go sideways for three months because it is ahead of itself but anyone that moves into gold and waits till xmas or next year, they will do better than most, you watch.

bendix

padington wrote: »

Wrong - tangible assets don't go bust, whatever happens you end up holding tangible assets instead of what could be, a big pile of nothing if you bought a paper promise.

Semantics

If those tangible assets have a lower convertible value than you bought them at, the effect is still the same.

jon3001

Tangible wrote: »

If everyone invested in gold there wouldn't be an economy and you can't eat it.

From ancient times until very recently (last century) virtually everyone was a precious metal 'investor'. Currencies were backed by gold. Silver was physically in coins in everyday circulation. Gold in the higher denomination coins. Do you ever wonder why coins such as 5p and 10p are referred to collectively as silver? Why is the pound coin 'golden coloured' - we used to have gold sovereigns whose face value was £1 (market value now over £250).

Now - are you telling me that for a period of thousands of years, human civilization had no economy and no-one ate? Of course, that is nonsense.

jon3001

Ade67 wrote: »

Is gold really money, or is it an investment??

What do you think money is? Why do you think money has value?

newDude

Ade67 wrote: »

I was on the bullionbypost website today and there stock levels seem good now. Perhaps worth a check.

I've just checked, they have nothing below 20 grams (bars).

sabretoothtigger

it's currently close to the top of it's range.

If we took 2008 bottom prices and the rises forward just in a straight line today it'd be 2000. If we take previous highs for inflation the price is about 2200 apparently. Depends how define a range for it, inverse to dollars available its easily a justified price.

Main argument to sell gold is tightening of those dollars available, it would appear the government has no intention to raise dollar worth and would struggle to pay higher rates on its short term debt as they are already arguing over the bills at lowest costs ever

If everyone invested in gold there wouldn't be an economy

If everyone hid their money under the bed not even in a bank then I tend to agree. They would be no cash economy if people did not use it at all and that would not be an investment.
People wouldnt starve, they'd trade other items of worth even food itself so arguing cash describes the economy seems wrong, its just related

If all have 100% of their wealth in gold then its similar, so long as that gold is not used for any other purpose it would be negative to economic progress. That capital would not be invested, gold is at its best use, money its not productive by itself

So the main buyers not traders of gold are central banks, Korea bought recently. These people do in theory use the gold as money, I dont think they pay bills with the gold but they could. So it is being used via their currency notes in an implied way

The only problems with USA is they have too many notes and not enough gold. Europe has more gold and less notes and debt and I think more actual trade, it seems to me the euro is far safer long term.
The constituent debt is equal to municipal debt in the USA maybe

Geoff23

newDude wrote: »

I've just checked, they have nothing below 20 grams (bars).

There is no point in buying small gold bars in the UK. You have to pay capital gains tax on them. Buy sovereigns and there is no CGT.