Investment return recommendations for 2021 : That said, gold trounced the S&P 500 in the 10-year period from November 2002 to October 2012, with a total price appreciation of 441.5%, or 18.4% annually. The S&P 500, on the other hand, appreciated by 58% over this period. The point here is that gold is not always a good investment. The best time to invest in almost any asset is when there is negative sentiment and the asset is inexpensive, providing substantial upside potential when it returns to favor, as indicated above.
Storing physical gold has the same security threats as any cash in our house. It is equally vulnerable to theft as anything else in our house and thus, the investors have to be more cautious for their assets when investing into gold. although going for some other form of gold investment like gold ETF or fund of fund is a better way to go but this way too, you are not totally secure, you are vulnerable to internet security attacks but the difference here is that this security is threat is equally likely to happen to anyone or even everyone and even other investments too like mutual funds etc.
Harry Schultz’ International Harry Schultz Letter (a paid subscription investment service) has gold going up eventually to $6,000 saying “We (collectively) are poised at a heart-stopping moment in economic times. On the one extreme side, the world is on the edge of massive deflation and depression. At the other extreme is – hyperinflation. My view is that both these extremes are possible. Certainly deflation is, on balance, in play today and gaining ground as money supply is actually declining! Hyperinflation seems impossible when there is not much inflation in most economies. But … hyperinflation is a monetary event, not an economic one, and will happen on an overnight basis, not via a general uptrend in inflation data… As I write, gold is holding very near its high, as most stock markets are bungee jumping. This implies the unexpected hyper is pending, because if it were exclusively deflation ahead, gold action would be less buoyant.”
The reasons for gold’s importance in the modern economy centers on the fact that it has successfully preserved wealth throughout thousands of generations. The same, however, cannot be said about paper-denominated currencies. To put things into perspective, consider the following example: In the early 1970s, one ounce of gold equaled $35.8? Let’s say that at that time, you had a choice of either holding an ounce of gold or simply keeping the $35. They would both buy you the same things, like a brand new business suit or fancy bicycle. However, if you had an ounce of gold today and converted it for today’s prices, it would still be enough to buy a brand new suit, but the same cannot be said for the $35. In short, you would have lost a substantial amount of your wealth if you decided to hold the $35 as opposed to the one ounce of gold because the value of gold has increased, while the value of a dollar has been eroded by inflation. Read additional information at investing in gold.
Much of the supply of gold in the market since the 1990s has come from sales of gold bullion from the vaults of global central banks. This selling by global central banks slowed greatly in 2008. At the same time, production of new gold from mines had been declining since 2000. According to BullionVault.com, annual gold-mining output fell from 2,573 metric tons in 2000 to 2,444 metric tons in 2007 (however, according to Goldsheetlinks.com, gold saw a rebound in production with output hitting nearly 2,700 metric tons in 2011.) It can take from five to 10 years to bring a new mine into production. As a general rule, reduction in the supply of gold increases gold prices.
Why Is Gold Valuable? Gold is valuable largely because of its historic attachment to the value of our currency. In ancient times, gold was used for coins and jewelry because of its malleability. As paper currencies were developed, the notes were designed to correspond with a specific amount of gold. While this is no longer the case, gold’s historic importance in our financial system keeps this commodity valuable. According to The Motley Fool, about half of the world’s current demand for gold comes from jewelry. With another 40 percent being the demand for physical gold investments, such as coins and gold bars. Both investors and financial institutions purchase physical gold for these purposes, and most recently exchange-traded funds that buy gold on behalf of investors. The leftover demand for gold typically comes from the technology and medical industries.