Gold
Gold, very much in the news right now, has been on an even and safe upward trend for the past three years. However, the past few months has seen an acceleration in value (today's date 16th April, 2024). It is nice to be proven right, and to personally gain financially. We've helped a lot of people invest in gold over the years too, which is very satisfying. It makes me feel good that they made the right choice in the metal, and in me. And, I have a queue of people to buy it from them at full 'spot' price should any of them ever wish to sell their gold. That's good business. But really, anyone could have seen that the price was lower than it should've been. Everyone involved in the gold business was of the same thinking for the past few years, and stocked up/traded accordingly. It made no sense that gold traded in the $1,600 to $1,900 bracket per ounce over the past three years or so. Far too low. It deserved to at least trade in the $2,000 plus region, up over and around. This has been corrected.
With the recent investor enthusiasm it should touch the $2,400 level, easy. As of today's date, gold trades just above $2,300. It's the usual, crowd sees a train, Hey, let's all jump on the train. But at $2,300 its still not a record price at all. There's value left, perhaps another 15% to 25% upside. And still safe to purchase as an investment in volume at the $2,300 to $2,450 level. Anything over this you'll just be treading water. Solid, but no big upside over time - other than as a mild but attractive tax free hedge against inflation. If it's an instant profit you're after, a 'gamble', gold buying at over $2,500 isn't the answer. While, with inflation considered, gold has traded at $3,000 plus many times in the past, I can't see it quickly reaching this figure, or going beyond it. Yes, hitting $2,500, confident of this, maybe even hitting $2,750, but nothing too much more than that. Unless of course Russia, China, North Korea, Iran or Israel let off a nuclear bomb. Then, then, gold will go to the sky. Being the major crisis hedge it is.
Nobody has a magic pair of Tell me the Future Googles but gold should trade naturally in the e2,300 to e2,500 range, if no major disaster visits the world. Or, if too many newbies don't crowd in. This would be bad news for the dependability of gold as a steady store of wealth. There's enthusiastic talk in the press (written by Journalists who wouldn't know a bar of gold from their bottom) of it hitting $3,000 plus per Ounce. And soon. Sincerely, I hope this doesn't happen. For me gold is kind of what one seeks in a life-partner. Trust. Dependability. Solid. No up down drama. No wild swings. You don't want a investment supermodel whimsical in the head going crazy swings, seeking constant attention. Gold we want Solid. Buy it and Park it. That's what we want. No drama. No head miles. No bitcoin situation. God no. Gold has Always been the Volvo of investments. Let's hope it stays that way, not taken over by the dumb money mob.
As with a lot of 'in vogue' investments there's plenty of newly minted experts on the block, throwing out the advice, and with nothing invested themselves. No skin in the game. What's that all about?
Anyhow, on a practical buying physical gold level, be wary the plenitude of outlets offering to buy and sell gold. Where potential investors can err badly is in the price they either pay for it, or sell. Seems obvious, but most retail outlets offering to buy, or sell, gold offer disastrous rates. And the recent proliferation of online websites offering the same service pose the same potential disaster of significant price-risk and purity factors.
As a solid proven hedge against inflation gold is a tremendous investment vehicle. A safe pair of hands. A simple example to illustrate this point. About twelve years ago a lady came into the auction room with an Edwardian oak rolltop desk that she wished to sell in one of our antique auctions. We took it in. While setting it up for the public view a few days later we had to remove the top from the base. There, hidden behind a drawer, a thick rolled up bunch of old Irish £50 punt notes, to the sum of £7,300. I rang the lady to tell her what we had found. Delighted, the following day she called by to collect the most fortunate find.
As we were chatting she told me that shortly before her father, a local shopkeeper and publican, had died, he had hidden this money behind the drawer for ‘safekeeping’. While she was over the moon for us to discover it, she had unfortunately lost out badly. Inflation had done its dirty work. When her father died in 1976 the then present-day spending power of that money was e52,000. Had her father instead possessed the foresight to buy the equivalent in gold, £7,300 punts of gold in 1976 purchased from my predecessor, this sum would have gotten him 59oz of gold, equal to 3.6lb weight (approximately 5.2 square inches in volume). Had this been instead placed behind that drawer today it would been worth e117,150 for his daughter, or himself had he lived. To spend any way they pleased.
Not to sound too much like a financial advisor, but over any length of time cash dies. And gold prospers. This has been the trend since time immemorial. Gold makes sense - it's a straight-forward, internationally traded, liquid commodity with it's own daily, internationally publicly listed, and followed, selling price. With plenty of people to buy it, and no third party risk.
If you have gold to sell please contact us. Should you wish to buy gold, please contact us too. Either-way, as buyer or seller, we absolutely guarantee you the very best price achievable,
Damien Matthews.
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: 046 9240568
