Economy
Related: About this forumGold, Long a Secure Investment, Loses Its Luster
By NATHANIEL POPPER
Below the streets of Lower Manhattan, in the vault of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the worlds largest trove of gold half a million bars has lost about $75 billion of its value. In Fort Knox, Ky., at the United States Bullion Depository, the damage totals $50 billion.
And in Pocatello, Idaho, the tiny golden treasure of Jon Norstog has dwindled, too. A $29,000 investment that Mr. Norstog made in 2011 is now worth about $17,000, a loss of 42 percent.
I thought if worst came to worst and the government brought down the world economy, I would still have something that was worth something, Mr. Norstog, 67, says of his foray into gold.
Gold, pride of Croesus and store of wealth since time immemorial, has turned out to be a very bad investment of late. A mere two years after its price raced to a nominal high, gold is sinking fast. Its price has fallen 17 percent since late 2011. Wednesday was another bad day for gold: the price of bullion dropped $28 to $1,558 an ounce.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/business/gold-long-a-secure-investment-loses-its-luster.html?hp&_r=0
Duer 157099
(17,742 posts)people having to sell their investments just to survive nowadays? What was maybe meant for retirement is turning out to be needed to put gas in the car?
Warpy
(110,913 posts)about how the government printing all that money was going to lead to rampant inflation, Weimar Republic inflation. Remember that?
Well, they dumped their stocks at the bottom of the market and bought gold. The gold did inflate in price for a while because the PR campaign was very good. However, even the silliest right winger has noticed it just sits there without producing interest or dividends. And now it's losing value.
That's why they're getting out.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)Neither do most savings/checking accounts.
Even money market and CD accounts are generally paying less than 1% interest.
And not all stocks are money makers-- in fact, a whole lot of them are money LOSERS.
Warpy
(110,913 posts)that said the rapidly increasing stock prices would be payment enough. Then they stopped increasing.
Fortunately for me, my dad passed up that flavor of Koolaid.
However, gold has been a bubble market for the last few years, increasing its value far beyond ordinary inflation. That made it a sucker's "investment."
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)I will agree that it went up too far too fast. I wasn't a buyer at any level above $1500, except for certain numismatic coins that were being sold for the gold value but have not crashed like regular bullion has. However, most of the gold that I have bought has been paid for with Japanese yen, and the yen price for my yen-based gold, even after the crash, is still higher than what I paid for it.
In other words, gold is a worldwide market. Even if it goes down in US dollars, it might not go down in another currency, or maybe not as much.
no_hypocrisy
(45,774 posts)Use it as an investment and sell when the value increases.
stevebreeze
(1,877 posts)Gold bugs are crazy to think we should peg the dollar to gold. It is not just more random in value in price then a currency ably controlled by a central bank it's fluctuations are caused by the mood of the market.
AnneD
(15,774 posts)have far out preformed my stocks for some time now.
I sleep well at night knowing that what little wealth I have is preserved and cannot be stolen from me via high frequency trades and jacked up fees, or outright stolen like the depositors in Cyprus or MF Global.
I was in stock in the emerging markets before they took off. I got out of stocks and into PM before the crash. I see no reason to change horses in the middle of this stream. Eventually, I will move out, but my wealth is protected from Wall Street swindlers as best I can.
BeHereNow
(17,162 posts)Had I not transferred a percentage of cash/stocks to hard PMs, back in the early
days, I would be MUCH worse off.
Even with the current POG and POS, I am still four times ahead of where I would be had I left
my money in stocks and cash.
BHN
AnneD
(15,774 posts)I am still happy. In fact, I am wishing I had some spare change to pick up some more. I have not been disappointed in my choices. I got in to the emerging markets before they took off and I got into the PM's just before it took off. After learning the hard way and losing 15-18% in the dot com bust, I stayed in and rebuilt but got out of most of the market in 2006 and really haven't gone back in in any serious way since then. I am looking but haven't seem much out there I like or trust.