On August 15, 1971 something very interesting happened in the world of currency – the United States, under President Richard Nixon, removed the dollar from the gold peg. Foreign traders were able to redeem their dollars for gold at a rate of $35 per ounce. Nixon dropped the gold peg in the face of rising inflation and in response to other nations also leaving the gold standard set up in 1944 at the Bretton Woods meeting in New Hampshire. The event, known as the Nixon Shock, instantly devalued the debt and left the dollar as a fiat currency – with nothing backing it up. However, the dollar also found itself in a unique position as the reserve currency which other nations used to back up their own currency.
Read the rest of this entry »Glimmering Acceptance
On November - 24 - 2009
Long written off as the stuff of ‘goldbugs’ and conspiracy theorists (mostly unfairly), gold is coming into its own as a favored investment. Monday, gold climbed to an all time high of $1174 an ounce, enough to make many people sit up and take a look. Gold has been in a bull market for a long time… is gold for real, or are we witnessing the third bubble in a ridiculously short time (housing, oil, gold)?
Read the rest of this entry »Funds or Physical Metal?
On November - 2 - 2009
One pays a dividend, has enterprise value, and has the potential for growth. One is a piece of metal long accepted as a store of value. Which one do you invest in: gold (or silver) mining stocks, or gold (or silver!) itself?
Read the rest of this entry »Carnivals, Week of July 13th
On July - 13 - 2009
Our article, “Investing in the 79th Element”, is hosted over at Man vs. Debt for the Carnival of Personal Finance! Go check it out, the theme is New Zealand!
Read the rest of this entry »Investing in the 79th Element
On July - 12 - 2009
Gold, the 79th element in the periodic table, is perhaps the most controversial of any investments. Every investor seems to have an opinion on the metal. Some people, particularly enamored with the constitution, read into it the necessity for the government to only issue gold (and silver) coins.
Regardless of your viewpoint on the legality of fiat currency, perhaps you have decided to invest some of your hard earned funds into the stuff. There are many ways to approach investing in gold; I will lay out a few approaches to gold investing in this article.
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