Gold and the Zombie Apocolypse...
(I know, two posts in one day, but it's almost tomorrow.)
So I watched Suze's Orman's Money Class on OWN tonight. Mostly a good show, but either she missed a few key points about gold or I missed a few moments of the show (quite possible).
1. Why do people (who know what they're doing) invest in physical gold? (Suze advised gold/silver ETFs instead)
People who invest in physical gold aside from the shiny factor, are generally doing it as a back up plan in case the country's currency goes bad. If the American dollar loses it's value, the ETFs may not be worth the digital paper trail they're coded on. (I tried looking these up...only slightly made sense.) Now, for the average person in America, this sort of Zombie Apocolypse planning (see, I pulled it in...anyone else catch the History Channel special?) may be a bit over the top....but not completely.
There's a lot of wisdom to diversifying your assets, even when they're modest. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend buying gold while prices are high (I don't see collapse in our near future), I wouldn't be in a huge rush to sell either. There is some wisdom to having more than just liquid assets. Personally, my gold amounts to one 14K necklace....scary thing is I'm not sure how I got it.
The downside of physical gold is that it's more easily stolen, and honestly if the Zombies attack and currency collapses we may have bigger problems than a few gold ounces can get us out of...(cigarettes may be the easiest currency for barter at that point...seriously, I hate the vile things, but probably true.)
While most assets depreciate (food will rot, your Blu Rays will someday go the way of the Beta), gold tends to hold some value across centuries.
2. Gold jewelry/coins may be worth more for their historic and artistic value than their melted value.
I think she touched on this. Advising one couple to save the gold coins for their kids, while selling the rest of their stash. I don't remember her spending much time on the reasons. But they're pretty straight forward. Coins in particular tend to gain value with age and rarity. Jewelry is a little more tricky, since it tends to depend on whether the designer or style is considered particularly artistic or valuable. So while the fact the gold is shaped into a ring may not make it more valuable, it might be worth a little extra research.
3. To sell or not to sell?
Really depends on whether you're in greater need of liquid assets or like having a physical asset. If it's a largish physical asset, you may need to consider having it insured. However to sell or not to sell is more a question of personal readiness than trying to time the market. It's not always just a numbers question. If it makes you nervous to have the gold around or if it's just in the way (excess jewelry you'll never wear), then go ahead and sell. But if you'd kind of like to hold onto it for a while, that's okay too. Sentiment isn't the only reason.
I really have no idea if ETFs are a good investment or if gold should be 10-15% of your portfolio. Suze knows more about that sort of thing than I do.
Some other interesting things that popped up on the show: www.missingmoney.com is a database intended to help reunite people with unclaimed property (which could include cash, stocks, inheritance...etc.) There was a second website, but I forgot to write it down. Suze recommended this book: The Little Book of Missing Money I'd be pretty shocked if I had missing money, but my life has always been pretty simple...if you're older, have moved around a bit, lost track of relatives....or if you're just curious, it may be worth a look. I wouldn't get too excited, finding $60,000 is unusual, but there are worse ways to kill some time.
They've tried to set up Suze Orman's Money Class class style on the Oprah website . They said something about a free newsletter and a contest for $50,000....but I'm having trouble finding it. And now I'm tired of looking, so happy hunting.
So I watched Suze's Orman's Money Class on OWN tonight. Mostly a good show, but either she missed a few key points about gold or I missed a few moments of the show (quite possible).
1. Why do people (who know what they're doing) invest in physical gold? (Suze advised gold/silver ETFs instead)
People who invest in physical gold aside from the shiny factor, are generally doing it as a back up plan in case the country's currency goes bad. If the American dollar loses it's value, the ETFs may not be worth the digital paper trail they're coded on. (I tried looking these up...only slightly made sense.) Now, for the average person in America, this sort of Zombie Apocolypse planning (see, I pulled it in...anyone else catch the History Channel special?) may be a bit over the top....but not completely.
There's a lot of wisdom to diversifying your assets, even when they're modest. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend buying gold while prices are high (I don't see collapse in our near future), I wouldn't be in a huge rush to sell either. There is some wisdom to having more than just liquid assets. Personally, my gold amounts to one 14K necklace....scary thing is I'm not sure how I got it.
The downside of physical gold is that it's more easily stolen, and honestly if the Zombies attack and currency collapses we may have bigger problems than a few gold ounces can get us out of...(cigarettes may be the easiest currency for barter at that point...seriously, I hate the vile things, but probably true.)
While most assets depreciate (food will rot, your Blu Rays will someday go the way of the Beta), gold tends to hold some value across centuries.
2. Gold jewelry/coins may be worth more for their historic and artistic value than their melted value.
I think she touched on this. Advising one couple to save the gold coins for their kids, while selling the rest of their stash. I don't remember her spending much time on the reasons. But they're pretty straight forward. Coins in particular tend to gain value with age and rarity. Jewelry is a little more tricky, since it tends to depend on whether the designer or style is considered particularly artistic or valuable. So while the fact the gold is shaped into a ring may not make it more valuable, it might be worth a little extra research.
3. To sell or not to sell?
Really depends on whether you're in greater need of liquid assets or like having a physical asset. If it's a largish physical asset, you may need to consider having it insured. However to sell or not to sell is more a question of personal readiness than trying to time the market. It's not always just a numbers question. If it makes you nervous to have the gold around or if it's just in the way (excess jewelry you'll never wear), then go ahead and sell. But if you'd kind of like to hold onto it for a while, that's okay too. Sentiment isn't the only reason.
I really have no idea if ETFs are a good investment or if gold should be 10-15% of your portfolio. Suze knows more about that sort of thing than I do.
Some other interesting things that popped up on the show: www.missingmoney.com is a database intended to help reunite people with unclaimed property (which could include cash, stocks, inheritance...etc.) There was a second website, but I forgot to write it down. Suze recommended this book: The Little Book of Missing Money I'd be pretty shocked if I had missing money, but my life has always been pretty simple...if you're older, have moved around a bit, lost track of relatives....or if you're just curious, it may be worth a look. I wouldn't get too excited, finding $60,000 is unusual, but there are worse ways to kill some time.
They've tried to set up Suze Orman's Money Class class style on the Oprah website . They said something about a free newsletter and a contest for $50,000....but I'm having trouble finding it. And now I'm tired of looking, so happy hunting.
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