gold has 4x'd in price, in 7 years (cow, good, negative)

[wittic]

So the $ is worth 1/4 what it was, in the eyes of the world. All imports will follow that increase

[joe from dayton]

And how did you arrive at that conclusion?

[wittic]

I've watched things, since 1970, when we again allowed private ownership of gold. It had been artificially held down to $35 an oz, for decades, it shot instantly to $135 an oz, and prices soon followed that increase, and have done so ever since.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

In 1912 you could buy a cow with a $20 gold piece.
Today you can buy a cow with that same gold piece.
A $20 bill won't get you very far down the meat counter.

[monkeywrenching]

have been buying gold since it was at 229 an ounce. I stopped buying it when it went over 1200 an ounce. I have quite a few on hand.

[GregW]

price up by 4X in 7 years? Good time to sell. Take the money and run.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

In 1912 you could buy a cow with a $20 gold piece.
Today you can buy a cow with that same gold piece.
A $20 bill won't get you very far down the meat counter.

No offense but that's a lopsided financial comparison as the inherent assumption is that you took the $20 bill and put it in a mattress for the past 100 years.

Gold is an inflationary hedge and can be a good investment, however, for long term holdings it's real rate of return net of inflation and speculation (unless you buy in on a down bubble and can time such things) is 0%. (Well negative if you consider transaction costs).

A lot of people are going to lose plenty on gold having come to the party late in the game.

For the early adopters like some in this thread that bought gold when it was grossly undervalued, they've done quite nicely.

[Happy in Wyoming]

If you're worried about a drop but wish to keep your gold, buy puts. That's called having your cake and eating it too for a relatively small price.

[ChrisC]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

No offense but that's a lopsided financial comparison as the inherent assumption is that you took the $20 bill and put it in a mattress for the past 100 years.

Gold is an inflationary hedge and can be a good investment, however, for long term holdings it's real rate of return net of inflation and speculation (unless you buy in on a down bubble and can time such things) is 0%. (Well negative if you consider transaction costs).

A lot of people are going to lose plenty on gold having come to the party late in the game.

For the early adopters like some in this thread that bought gold when it was grossly undervalued, they've done quite nicely.

That's the same thing investment "gurus" have been saying for the past ten years. Yet it keeps climbing as the bottom slowly falls out of the dollar.

BTW, I believe what the earlier post was referring to was a $20 gold piece. A twenty dollar bill from 1911 has lost most all of it's value since it was printed (and it has very little value as a collectible, either). But a $20 gold piece from 1911 is worth way more in dollars than it was worth when it was minted... although its barter value is still about the same. I think that was the point of the other post.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Thank you ChrisC.