There's no reason for the average retail investor to own physical gold unless they think the global economy is going to completely collapse overnight. GLD provides instant liquidity, adequately tracks the spot price, and will save an investor the hassle and expense of safely storing physical gold.
Agreed. And I think food, water, guns, and ammo will become more in demand if such a collapse ever occurs.
Amen to that, but I still am drawn to gold because of its perpetual value. There is something about the idea of buying gold that draws me, and many others in even when we might agree with you in theory that gold isn't always a perfect first investment. My guess is that gold feels more legitimate, even if it isn't any more so than a stock certificate.
I think that gold will continue to drift lower as it is directly correlated to the price of oil. Oil seems like it wants to drop to the price of corn oil at this time. Following this logic don't expect much from gold. This is perhaps a great opportunity to buy gold for cheap.
I've been around long enough to know that oil won't stay cheap long. As for gold, you just never know. I have little doubt that it will be much higher in a few decades when I'm an old man, but I can't say much more than that between now and then.
I've mentioned it in my previous post. But it bears repeating. This is probably a good time to buy gold, silver and even copper. The price of all three is falling now, but that's only due to strength in the dollar. Read "Good as Gold: How to Profit from the Coming Boom in Copper" (Amazon), and you'll get the picture.
1. Contrarian investing is fine and I do think some of these guys give ´predictions´ based on what has already happened. Gold fell 30%, so I am bearish on it... well duh... 2. Has always been true. Gold has not changed in.. well.... ever... and so none of its properties in regards to electricity or magnetism is going to affect it´s price change over the next few years 3. I agree with this one though. I do think gold is near or at its´bottom, the question is how long is it going to linger here. Opportunity cost is the name of the game.. why buy gold if it is going to sit in this range for a long time. IMHO, playing oil is better right now
To all the gold bugs out there. The price of gold will finally take off once the powers that be in London determine that it should. So, keep on thinking big thoughts. They can't suppress the value of gold forever.
Funny thing is that the price just keeps falling. Now it's as cheap as it was back in 1979. Pretty soon they'll be paying us to take it off their hands if this trend continues.