Does it make sense to buy gold as a COVID hedge?

IdleComper

My son is trying to convince me that the market is going to crash and I should buy gold. Does anyone have a good source for reading up on this or some useful info? Thank you

DiggerUK

Hedging against Covid is pretty pointless, it needs a vaccine to be developed, not a financial strategy.
Covid is neither the cause nor the source of any coming economic meltdown. OK, the governments panic reaction isn't helping, but the crash was inevitable as far as I am concerned.

Planning on buying gold is a good idea going forward, but I am suspicious of your claim to have such a son. Do you have a view on fiat by any chance..._

coachman12

IdleComper said:

My son is trying to convince me that the market is going to crash and I should buy gold. Does anyone have a good source for reading up on this or some useful info? Thank you

If your son is right, gold would go up in value as other investments fell in value----so he would be right. And if he was wrong, you could just keep or sell your gold anytime you wanted. So there is never any harm in buying gold. It is essential in my financial armoury and is always secure in Switzerland, amidst all the turmoils in money, stocks, savings,shares and bonds. I always recommend gold as an investment and none of the moaners on this Forum will ever make me change my view.

AnotherJoe

what does your son know about stock market crashes that no one else does, and is he fabulously rich already due to his knowledge of the future ?

blue_max_3

How and where would you sell your gold? And in exchange for what?

steampowered

coachman12 said:

And if he was wrong, you could just keep or sell your gold anytime you wanted. 

But of course the gold could be worth a lot less than what you bought it for. 

For example, if you bought gold in October 2012, it would have lost more than a third of its value by July of 2013.

If it was a sure bet that stock markets would drop and gold would rise - that would already be factored into the price. Stock markets have already dropped due to Covid. The Op's son doesn't know anything which the market doesn't already know. You are far too late to try and make money from trading off the impact of Covid.

coachman12

For those who have never seen a bar of gold : 
https://www.bullionbypost.co.uk/gold-price/gold-price-history/

dales1

Gold is at an all-time high !

Sell out quickly and rebalance your investment portfolio.

coachman12

dales1 said:

Gold is at an all-time high !

Sell out quickly and rebalance your investment portfolio.

Thank you so much. I will be sure to pass that on to my Swiss Bank personal manager. I'm sure he will take immediate action 
How much gold do YOU have in YOUR "portfolio" and are you selling right now?  What proportion of your "portfolio" is made up by gold ? What sort of portfolio do you have ? How many companies do you have shares in ? 
Thank you again for your advice.

EdGasketTheSecond

Your son is correct that you should buy gold though not for anything to do with Covid but as protection against the current economic environment and gov't policies. Have a look at 'The Hidden Secrets of Money' series on YouTube by Mike Maloney; especially episode 7 which is highly relevant right now and considering it was made 6 years ago, extremely prophetic as to what is happening now.

The stock market is in a bubble and could well crash after a final blow-off top.

REF "

Gold is at an all-time high !

Sell out quickly and rebalance your investment portfolio."

Absolute rubbish. Gold is near an all-time high but only when measured in debased fiat currency; by any other measure it is cheap and the best asset class to own now.

bowlhead99

EdGasketTheSecond said:

 Gold is near an all-time high but only when measured in debased fiat currency; by any other measure it is cheap and the best asset class to own now.

Yes, gold only looks expensive when you measure it in the things you use to buy goods, services and investments (i.e. money) or other investments, and not by 'any other measures' (i.e. youtube conspiracy videos produced by bullion merchants). 

Having said that, as gold has doubled in pounds terms in the last five years while the cost of production and web hosting for a 'Don't remember Weimar Republic hyperinflation ? Wake up Sheeple!' social media video has fallen in the same timescale, an ounce of gold is now equivalent to a lot more online content from people with vested interests, to which both OP's son and EdGasketTheSecond have been exposed.