Financial catastrophe? On which scale are we talking about here? If it is only one country's economy collapsing, it is a good idea to hoard gold before the crisis occurs as gold is a globally recognized asset. You can easily bring your gold over to another country, exchange your gold for currency there and start over which you cannot do with currency in the event of a financial catastrophe as the currency would quickly lose its value. (Think Zimbabwe) If financial catastrophe on a global scale, we will then have to resort to the barter system. And gold has been used in barter systems for thousands of years before paper money was invented. So in that event, it would be a pretty good backup currency too, assuming there is no shortage of food and necessities, in which event those needs would obviously be more valuable than gold and be used as barter instead.
The banks might crash. If they do it's 100% controlled. In 2014 the only bad situations we have are man made for the most part.
If that happened, then you would need either gold as a universally accepted medium of exchange or a cow, a chicken and some potatoes which would enable you to open up a fast food restaurant for others to spend their gold bars in. In all seriousness with the world population increasing as it is, then I think food and seed may become more valuable than anything else...
That is true. Food could easily become a temporary currency if there was a financial collapse. What hungry person doesn't want food? Exactly. So if you stocked up on food, that alone would be a form of currency. You could trade food for other items. It's never a bad idea to be prepared and stocking up on food is a good way to prepare yourself for the worst. Buy long lasting items.
That makes sense. If the banks crashed, that would mean the dollar would be in a very bad place - why would you want to turn your gold into dollars in that scenario? Your gold would become something you could barter with, however it's value isn't immediate to most people you would be bartering with. As BudFox suggested, you would probably want to try to convert it into things like food, potable water or water filtration systems, shelter/housing, sources of heat, etc. Anything that speaks directly to items which appear near the bottom of Laslow's hierarchy of needs will be of highest value.
If there was a full collapse, who the hell is going to trade gold for survival stuff anyway? You can't eat it, you can't easily make anything out of it that'll help you live and the only people who will probably collect it are the type of people who will probably take it by force from you anyway. A bartering economy would be more practical there for useful life stuff like medicine and supplies but I don't see anyone going 'damn I sure wish I had some gold right about now for my shack'. Investing in gold because the economy is kind of bad? Sure okay. But for some theoretical US/world economy collapse I can think of multiple things I'd prefer to stockpile over a shiny metal. The most metal I'd want is stainless steel and lead.
Actually it's a smart question, OP. You will read on disaster forums and the like to keep your physical gold in smaller denomination coins so you can trade easily if the unthinkable happens. Larger gold bars would not be as easy to "spend". Lets hope that we never have to find out , however.
That's the conclusion I've come to also, obrero... thank you. Problem is that we didn't think of it when we started buying and now it costs a whole lot more than it did then. Coins should definitely be bought in smaller amounts. My interest in this isn't because I think some catastrophe is imminent or as JR said, something hits the fan (well, okay, so he didn't actually say "something" hehe) but rather because I have a daughter and who *knows* what her generation will be facing when it comes to stability in currency, etc.? We don't buy it with the thought of reselling, but rather for the future and for my daughter should things *be* drastic at that point. The exception is when I freaked out and sold a lot of it during a scare 8 years ago or so... most stupid thing I have EVER done in my life considering how much it was worth then vs. now. Too bad we don't have a "crying" icon smiley to use here!
Gold, Silver, Gems and commodities have had value for thousands of years. Fiat money, 'Make it so', (like something out of Startrek ), has only been around since 1971. Fiat money is an experiment.
If the banks collapsed, then you could probably find other people that would want gold in exchange for goods. Still, that's a risky investment for that purpose (it's a good investment otherwise) because you can't eat, drink, or use gold for anything related to survival. I mean, you could load gold coins into a punt gun and defend yourself, but you won't find any use for it stranded in the desert.
