Gold is a precious metal considered a store of value, and it’s been this way for thousands of years. It allows investors to invest in an asset that has always been perceived as stable. It was used extensively in ancient times and continues to be popular today. Gold is also recognized by many nations, including the United States, as legal tender. Gold coins are available from the U.S mint and U.
Is Gold Worth Investing?
A recent challenge to the “use as currency” status of gold began in October 2012 with a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC took this step after receiving an April 2011 complaint from the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) alleging that gold and other precious metals were being manipulated through outright gold theft; that is, physical delivery of gold was required for the seller to receive payment for any amount of gold. But there are other ways you can buy and sell gold. Learn more about them here.
Searches on Google show that many consumers are concerned about investing in gold and organizing themselves into support groups where they discuss price trends. There is also an active market for investing in gold futures contracts.
History of Gold
Gold was used to create coins in many nations before the 20th century, but it was not until 1933 that the United States stopped using gold coins as money. The United States had a complete set of gold currency (coins) on hand when its 40-year run ended. During that time, roughly 2 billion were struck. But in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a bill ending the production of U.S. gold coins, and all investment in gold by Americans was prohibited. For a time, many U.S. banks were permitted to keep their coins, but another law in June 1975 required all gold coins to be sold to the U.S. Treasury at the prevailing market price.
Interestingly, American citizens were not prohibited from owning gold bullion; they could not buy it directly from the government after 1933. In that year, the gold price was raised to $35 per ounce and fixed there until January 1934, when it was raised to $38 per ounce – where it stayed until August 1971, when President Nixon “closed the gold window,” meaning that no foreign country could exchange its foreign currency for U.S dollars anymore as payment for any commodity or contract denominated in U.S. dollars.
The Gold Standard
Before the United States abandoned the gold standard, it was typical for nations to have fixed exchange rates between their currencies and the price of gold. Investors saw the price of gold and other commodities as a standard to determine their worth. People often say that many of today’s economic problems result from financial institutions’ inability to keep up with speculation using an unsound currency not anchored by any commodity or hard asset. You want to read more about this topic in “It Isn’t The Economy, Stupid – It’s The Dollar.
What About the Price of Silver?
While gold is the most popular precious metal, silver is also an excellent investment. You can invest in gold and silver coins, bullion, or futures. You can purchase them online or at any precious metals dealer in the United States, Canada, or Mexico. You can even buy them from foreign dealers who will ship them to you after you make payment through a wire transfer service such as Western Union.
From 1975 to 2012, silver was typically less than half the price of gold per ounce – until 2012, when they both soared to new highs. It coincided with a data release showing that the world’s top central banks are purchasing large amounts of precious metals and increasing their reserves. The price of silver has risen as much as 5 percent since then.
The reason behind the silver rise is that central banks in the world (even those of nations that aren’t part of the International Monetary Fund) have been purchasing large amounts of silver to diversify their reserves. In addition, China, India, and other emerging nations are buying more silver to hedge against inflation. Silver is used in electronics and cell phones but in products such as solar panels by solar power companies, which you can learn more about here. There’s no limit on silver or gold, so you can buy as much or little as you’d like.
Final Verdict
During the financial crisis in 2008, many banks began to purchase silver and gold bullion to attract cash deposits. Banks began to offer up to 1% interest rates on their gold accounts, which is significantly more than they were giving on savings accounts. It is still true today; almost all banks in the U.S. are paying 0% for savings accounts and somewhere between 0-1% for their money market or checking accounts, so moving away from bank CDs into precious metal investments was a natural one. Today, consumers can buy precious metals and receive an annual interest rate of 2% or more depending upon how long they choose to lock it up in an allocated account with a custodian like APMEX.
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