Your Thoughts on Gold?

[DarkRange55]

Just curious to see what this community of users thinks of gold in the modern world, please share your thoughts below.
I ask partly because I've seen a couple comments that seem to express a strong belief in gold over other asset classes and currencies.

 

[Dejected 55]

Gold is an element. It is a good conductor of electricity. It is generally soft and most people have no allergy to it.

As for investing... everything is a crap shoot. I have seen gold drop way low in my lifetime. I have seen it go back up again too. It has some definitive uses in electronics and some people like it for jewelry due to it being non-allergenic.

But, as for its value as an investment... who knows. Stock market is usually touted as a good long-term investment because the ups/downs average upwards over time for the most part... except for if your retirement times up with one of the market crashes. This can be true of anything you invest in really.

Gold seems like a good investment for long term reliable growth... except if it happens to be in a down period when you need to cash-in. This is going to be true of pretty much anything involving humanity, because people are fickle. What happens if at some point jewelry goes out of fashion and the only use of gold is for electronics? At that point it's a commodity like steel or other things used in manufacturing. Some invest in other commodities like steel... but you rarely hear it talked about in the major media outlets like they do gold or silver.

 

[Moroze]

Me and my friend always play a game together where she hoards gold it reminded me of her <3

 

[whywere]

I have seen so many folks through the decades who buy gold because the world is "going to hell".

I always scratch my head because let's say everything goes to pieces, is gold going to do what? Maybe, just maybe buy a piece of bread OR get a person killed for having it.

To me people who buy gold bars and the like are being taken for a ride because the markup is so huge and if push comes to shove, it really does not matter either way.

Walter

 

[Dejected 55]

I have seen so many folks through the decades who buy gold because the world is "going to hell".

I always scratch my head because let's say everything goes to pieces, is gold going to do what? Maybe, just maybe buy a piece of bread OR get a person killed for having it.

To me people who buy gold bars and the like are being taken for a ride because the markup is so huge and if push comes to shove, it really does not matter either way.

Walter

Yeah, that's the thing... IF the zombie apocalypse or the ape apocalypse or megavirus or whatever happens and everything goes to shit... gold isn't going to be valuable at all.

Think about it. When all the governments collapse and you're in chaos... money and gold will have less than zero value. What will have value in that world are water, food, shelter. Nobody would give up their food and water stores for gold... you'd hoard all the building materials and clothing and water and food.

 

[Nadienobody]

I don't like gold as an investment. The utility and rarity it has doesn't justify its market price and most of it value comes from historic reasons and sentiment. It probably will stay valuable during our lifetime but I still don't like it.

 

[fedup1982]

Imo gold will be a GREAT investment until we start mining asteroids for it. Its uses seem to mostly increase, and its value mostly just increases. Countries with unstable economies often use a gold backed currency to keep its value stable and prevent hyper inflation. Even developed world countries use it for similar reasons.

 

[Pluto]

 

[Dejected 55]

Imo gold will be a GREAT investment until we start mining asteroids for it. Its uses seem to mostly increase, and its value mostly just increases. Countries with unstable economies often use a gold backed currency to keep its value stable and prevent hyper inflation. Even developed world countries use it for similar reasons.

It's a good point to note that... There could very well be an implosion in the value of gold if we start finding it on asteroids or other nearby planets.

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

Probably about the best investment you could make in my opinion, but I think it's better to view it as insurance/peace of mind than an investment in the strictest sense of the word. Prices on everything have exploded since the 70's when we were taken off the gold standard because there's nothing to anchor the currency. It's actually one of the core reasons for the ongoing inflation/cost of living crisis. And because our whole financial system is built around the virtual creation of money (which will continue to increase) prices can only really go up over the long term. To say nothing of the national debt, which eventually we can only either default on or inflate away at some stage.

 

[neurotoxic]

I like to wear it.

 

[Kiako]

Just curious to see what this community of users thinks of gold in the modern world, please share your thoughts below.
I ask partly because I've seen a couple comments that seem to express a strong belief in gold over other asset classes and currencies.

Beyond the luxury part of it (which i dont really like), I think its a staple in society being how most currencies maintain their value (ignoring all the creation of virtual (non-existent) money without gold to back it up), there is also the part it plays as a material being one of the most used conductors for electronics having a good electrical conductivity, being very malleable and generally resistant to corrosion.

All and all gold is useful.

 

[ForestGhost]

I know a lot of investors scoff at gold -- it neither the whizz-bang flare of crypto nor the reality-backed value of stocks/bonds/etc. -- but it continues to be a time-tested store of value IMO. I'm personally keen on the investment philosophy of Harry Browne's permanent portfolio, which aims to have equal proportions of asset classes designed to perform well or at least tread water during any market condition. Gold is used in that measure as a protection against inflation, and at least in my investment timeframe, it has held up very well.

Hehe, I would never have expected to see this topic on this forum, but I do enjoy talking shop about investing. At one point it was a big interest of mine.