The Really Useful Gold Thread

cashflo
I wondered the same thing and concluded that people wanting to major on buying and holding the actual metal might have little interest in the ups and downs? perhaps just putting it away and thinking about other things... a drawback of holding gold itself is that there's no possibility of income (at least one can hope for a dividend on shares) and, of course, it cannot be leveraged in the way Futures can. If I were totally confident that it was the best investment strategy I would raise a mortgage on my property to buy it, but I cannot imagine doing that; in other words, however bullish people sound, there is no real certainty. I wonder what people were predicting gold would go to when it was $800? a buy and hold strategy in the 1980s might have been a tad unwise!

Maybe those of us drawn to these BBs have a bit of a gambling streak and so like to maintain flexibility? Yes, I realise one can sell gold as well as buy it but it sounds a bit more hassle than paper or electronic transactions. If I had all my money in, say, Kruger Rands I think I would not be considering chopping and changing very much but would find my investment a bit boring. I have a fiend who collects all sorts of things who recently paid £70 for a half sovereign on ebay. However, he is not really interested in gold per se, or its price - he just wanted the beautiful little coin. I'll stop rambling now.
Happy New Year to all