Investing in Gold

Stock market investments are losing their value during these rouch economic times. Many of the world’s governments are printing money during this financial crisis to help shore up their economies. Investing in gold is a way to potentially profit from this madness.

Gold investing allows you many ways to profit. You can own the physical coins. Stock in gold miners can be owned. If you are a risk taker you can invest capital in the gold mines. But the single easiest way to get into gold investing is to own what is called an exchange traded fund. A gold ETF trades just like a stock. You can buy shares of the ETF which then invests the money in standard gold bullion.

The nice thing about ETFs is that you profit from the potential rise in gold yet you do not have to worry about storage, nor do you have to deal with selling it. Gold investing in an ETF is about the easiest way to invest in this precious metal.

Gold ETFs have no guarantee that their price will increae in value. Supply and demand dictates whether the price will go up or down. Many people believe that just because they own gold that they will instantly be rich. You should understand that gold can decrease in price as well. Of course, gold can go up in price as well.

Gold’s performance in 2008, when the stock markets were in decline, was a sturdy 5% increase. Gold “bulls” were somewhat disappointed in this performance as they figured the value of gold to be much higher given teh state of the world economy. Many analysts believe that the price of gold could very well go over $2,000 an ounce over the next few years.

If you believe that inflation will rise and that the economies around the world will continue to decline then gold may very well be a good safe haven to protect your investments. Investing in gold is wise for portfolio diversification. If the stock market for beginners poses too many challenges then a simple investment in a gold ETF might be a good place to deploy your cash until the market turmoil subsides.