Is Gold considered as investment or insurance?

[AlphaQuant]

i wonder if there is any more gold buyback schemes out there...time for all to get flushed out!

[Musicwhiz]

I just go by a simple rule - when there are more and more schemes sprouting up like mushrooms promising high returns for a particular asset class, I get extremely skeptical and wary. This is because when people in general feel that a certain asset class can "do no wrong", it usually signals the beginning of the end of the era of super-sized returns.

[Behappyalways]

last week I was watching a documentary about China's civil war after the Japs surrendered. Because of hyperinflation during the civil war, the Kuomintang govt could not pay the salary of its soldiers or that the soldiers refused to accept the depreciating currency. So what the govt did was to take gold bar and slice it into tiny portions to pay the soldiers.....

no vested interest......

gold down 6%

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-fa...2013-04-15

After the global financial crisis gold had a strong run up as investors seeks safety.
Fear of a double dip recession, fear of the Europe crisis and fear of US's massive printing.

Gold has always been viewed as a defensive or safe asset.

I know of a few people who never believed in stocks and bonds, they bought physical gold as they were so sure of it going only higher and higher.

I explained to them that gold had no fundamentals, none believed me.

This is what warren buffett had to say about gold

“When we took over Berkshire, it was selling at $15 a share and gold was selling at $20 an ounce. Gold is now $1600 and Berkshire is $120,000. Or you can take a broader example. If you buy an ounce of gold today and you hold it at hundred years, you can go to it every day and you could coo to it and fondle it and a hundred years from now, you’ll have one ounce of gold and it won’t have done anything for you in between. You buy 100 acres of farm land and it will produce for you every year. You can buy more farmland, and all kinds of things, and you still have 100 acres of farmland at the end of 100 years. You could you buy the Dow Jones Industrial Average for 66 at the start of 1900. Gold was then $20. At the end of the century, it was 11,400, and you would also have gotten dividends for a hundred years. So a decent productive asset will kill an unproductive asset."

Investing in gold is like playing a game of the greater fool, only by selling out to a greater fool can one make a profit.

Gold never creates jobs, gold never gives dividends and gold never grows in size.

Ignore those modern portfolio theory fools who diversify 5 to 10% of their portfolio into gold.

Staying in stocks will always give a better long term return, never forget this.

[sgd]

here's my 1 bitcoin estimate for GLD10US$ the etf listed on sgx.

rebound from $128 to $144 will hover around here for a short while before tank again and head south.

I will not go in at $128 for a $16 potential gain only 12.5% is not enough to tempt me out of hibernation

[Temperament]

gold down 6%

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-fa...2013-04-15

After the global financial crisis gold had a strong run up as investors seeks safety.
Fear of a double dip recession, fear of the Europe crisis and fear of US's massive printing.

Gold has always been viewed as a defensive or safe asset.

I know of a few people who never believed in stocks and bonds, they bought physical gold as they were so sure of it going only higher and higher.

I explained to them that gold had no fundamentals, none believed me.

This is what warren buffett had to say about gold

“When we took over Berkshire, it was selling at $15 a share and gold was selling at $20 an ounce. Gold is now $1600 and Berkshire is $120,000. Or you can take a broader example. If you buy an ounce of gold today and you hold it at hundred years, you can go to it every day and you could coo to it and fondle it and a hundred years from now, you’ll have one ounce of gold and it won’t have done anything for you in between. You buy 100 acres of farm land and it will produce for you every year. You can buy more farmland, and all kinds of things, and you still have 100 acres of farmland at the end of 100 years. You could you buy the Dow Jones Industrial Average for 66 at the start of 1900. Gold was then $20. At the end of the century, it was 11,400, and you would also have gotten dividends for a hundred years. So a decent productive asset will kill an unproductive asset."

Investing in gold is like playing a game of the greater fool, only by selling out to a greater fool can one make a profit.

Gold never creates jobs, gold never gives dividends and gold never grows in size.

Ignore those modern portfolio theory fools who diversify 5 to 10% of their portfolio into gold.

Staying in stocks will always give a better long term return, never forget this.

Though what WB says is the truth, so is how Gold behaves in time of war, super inflation, financial crisis, etc. is also the truth. So people knows buying life insurance is a "losing investment" in the long run too (for most of them), yet why many people still buy? Assets allocation or what for simple folk? Insurance?

[sgd]

usually if there is a war you will see series of events that lead to a breakdown of peace example the diplomats will talk politics and there is no solution then the unthinkable happens everybody will bring their swords or M16 it is usually not abrubt like today peaceful then suddenly tomorrow war.

[felixleong]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-04...art-of-day

Hedge-fund manager John Paulson’s wager on gold wiped out almost $1 billion of his personal wealth in the past two trading days as the precious metal plummeted 13 percent.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows gold’s tumble since the start of the year has cut his riches by $1.52 billion on paper, including about $973 million in the rout that began on April 12 and continued with yesterday’s 9.3 percent drop. Paulson started the year with about $9.5 billion invested across his hedge funds, of which 85 percent was in gold share classes.

Paulson is sticking with his thesis that gold is the best hedge against inflation and currency debasement as countries pump money into their economies, according to the New York-based firm, which manages about $18 billion. The metal entered a bear market last week after falling more than 20 percent since August 2011, bringing more bad news for 57-year-old Paulson, who has struggled with poor returns for the past two years.

“Federal governments have been printing money at an unprecedented rate creating demand for gold as an alternative currency for individual and institutional savers and central banks alike,” John Reade, a partner and gold strategist at Paulson & Co., said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. “While gold can be volatile in the short term and is going through one of its periodic adjustments, we believe the long-term trend of increasing demand for gold in lieu of paper is intact.”

Gold futures for June delivery closed at $1,361.10 at 1:51 p.m. yesterday on the Comex in New York, the biggest drop for a most-active contract since March 17, 1980. After the settlement, the price touched $1,348.50, the lowest since Feb. 7, 2011.

Paulson & Co. set up the gold share class at an average cost of $950 in April 2009, meaning the hedge-fund manager has made money on his wager, Reade said. Paulson investors can choose between dollar- and gold-denominated versions for most of the firm’s funds. Paulson’s $700 million Gold Fund slumped 28 percent this year through March, a person familiar with the matter said this month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katherine Burton in New York at kburton@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net

[NTL]

As I never look at this asset class, may I ask anyone what is the value of gold? How do one assess that it is the right value?

[yeokiwi]

I just go by a simple rule - when there are more and more schemes sprouting up like mushrooms promising high returns for a particular asset class, I get extremely skeptical and wary. This is because when people in general feel that a certain asset class can "do no wrong", it usually signals the beginning of the end of the era of super-sized returns.

One million into TGG....I wonder how they got one million in the first place. probably inheritance.

[pianist]

are they sore loser or really got cheated without due protection from the govt?