Gold Investing Poll

But he is right. Bullion officially in this neo-nazi state is defined as any piece of metal with 1% precious metal content or higher. Therefor, all coin store owners are now subject to bullion laws.

Btw Doug44, I thought a cube that size translated into all of the gold ever mined in the world, not one year's production.

 

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tv too

 

I am calling BS on this one young man. A friend is a circuit board designer, and we have discussed it from a pm perspective. He says a lot of gold is used in them, but a LOT of work is done to recover as much as possible. His frustration is they lose more in value of palladium than gold, but the word gold just causes people to do crazy things to make sure they aren't losing it. So yes, gold IS still used today in circuit boards. If you want the specific names of the boards I can get them for you.

Yes, silver has more applications, but gold is "gold". Only gold is regarded as the best by most civilizations around the world. While I argue this is a learned trait, it doesn't matter. As such, each have different demands, and there is no way of knowing which will be a better investment, (at least to me).

As to the poll, I have only bought more than 1 ounce of gold in coins once, most of the time its an ounce or less. For jewelry, I definitely have bought more than an ounce of gold at a time. In fact, we usually buy about 2 ounces at a shot.

 

So, there!

Chris

 

It's partially wrong, My bad I should have known better. Infact, I just built my own computer recently. There still are some places that use gold in the electronics, but the amount is so small, I'm talking the thinnest thin electroplating on a tiny piece. A cpu is an example of what I believe to be the most used hold on an electronic computer, but still the actual gold amount compared to how hard it is to extract the gold is very low these days. I'm not entirely sure on why gold is used over silver, since silver is the better conductor but I think it may have to do with the fact that gold doesn't corrode. Sorry about my wrong post.

 

This is correct. Silver is used in a lot of sealed components and soldered connections and gold is used in exposed components and friction connectors.

 

For posters above, all the gold ever mined in the history of the world, in the opinion of several sources, is a cube 67-68 feet on a side, not an annual production using modern methods of 17-18 feet on a side. Here's the beginning of an article from the BBC:

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"...Imagine if you were a super-villain who had taken control of all the world's gold, and had decided to melt it down to make a cube. How long would the sides be? Hundreds of metres, thousands even?

Actually, it's unlikely to be anything like that size.

Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest investors, says the total amount of gold in the world - the gold above ground, that is - could fit into a cube with sides of just 20m (67ft).

But is that all there is? And if so, how do we know?

A figure that is widely used by investors comes from Thomson Reuters GFMS, which produces an annual gold survey.

Their latest figure for all the gold in the world is 171,300 tonnes - which is almost exactly the same as the amount in our super-villain's imaginary cube.

A cube made of 171,300 tonnes would be about 20.7m (68ft) on each side. Or to put it another way, it would reach to 9.8m above ground level if exactly covering Wimbledon Centre Court.

But not everyone agrees with the GFMS figures.

Estimates range from 155,244 tonnes, marginally less than the GFMS figure, to about 16 times that amount - 2.5 million tonnes.

That bigger figure would make a cube of sides 50m (166ft) long, or a column of gold towering 143m above Wimbledon centre court..."

 

Sorry if I got grumpy. Again, gold industrial use is not very much, but that is more because of the price. The fact it will not corrode is a huge plus, a plus that would be used a LOT more if not for the price.

I just wanted to reiterate, though, that it doesn't matter. I have been a silver lover my whole life. I have never liked gold much. However, the whole argument that "silver has industrial uses and gold doesn't" is overplayed. The simple fact of the matter is silver is not gold. Silver is NOT an acceptable substitute to most of the world. Go to gold crazy countries like Turkey, China, India, etc and if an ounce of gold is too high the ONLY substitute is less gold. They simply do not care what the price of silver is. Its like saying, "the price of gold is too high, why not buy a bologna sandwich instead"? They simply have no interest in silver, (or the bologna sandwich), for jewelry so the comparison is false.

So, what we have it two distinct markets, tha have little to do with each other than some western investment demand. To the extent they move together in price is showing you still the power of western investment demand. I fully expect one day for these two to completely separate pricing patterns once western investment demand is no longer the primary driver of pricing behavior. Now, do I know which will be a better metal to hold? I have no stinking idea. Right now I am adding some to my gold pile for two reasons. One, I have always bought silver so I mainly own silver. Two, I am simply running out of room in the XL sdb I own.

 

Thanks for the correction. I am confused still, though on the sizes. The "worldwide cumulative total" cube would only be about 64 times the size of "one year's production" cube. That doesn't seem right.

 

I am only reporting what I found online, subject to error. I think "modern" mining has a lot to do with the estimates. Something I didn't find was annual production for, say, the last 150 years; that would be enlightening.

The graph of annual production has probably turned exponential since the 1950s, just like our, umm, national debt.

If you want really interesting reading, research some of the entrepreneurs who realized that ordinary sea water contains tiny trace amounts of gold*, and have tried to work out a means of extracting; I mean, it's there, "free" for anybody, LOL.

NONE have succeeded, despite their efforts in this hemisphere just beyond the mouth(s) of the Amazon and certain California rivers.

*auric chloride?

 

badda boom!

 

I suggest you Google "Practical Uses For Gold", "Oxidization Effects Of Silver Electrical Conductivity" and "Oxidization Advantages Of Gold Versus Silver In Low Voltage/Amperage Electrical Circuits".

A treatise could easily be written espousing the advantages of Gold, but isn't suggested reading for the technical lay-person.

JMHO

 

Silver will oxidize (tarnish) and copper even more so. The reason gold is/was used in electronics is that it doesn't oxidize (making electrical contact reliable). It is not used as a (wire-like) conductor. For that, copper is better (having 45% greater electrical conductivity than gold, silver is 54% better)

 

Gold is not worthless whoever says that is an idiot here's why

• Nothing preserves wealth like gold
• Gold can be used as a hedge if you allocate 10% of your portfolio to gold
• Gold never tarnishes therefore it is ideal to use in electronics

 

I got hired last Tuesday so I'm still in training basically.

 

Yeah I'm sure it is. He should have roughly 10% of his portfolio in Gold. Heck he might even have enough to back his own currency.

 

On the flip side, physical gold can be stolen from you. Please read about how many burglaries and home invasions are performed in the US every year. What are they looking for? Gold.

Gold may historically been a good preserver of wealth, but it never creates or builds wealth. Businesses build wealth, gold only preserves it.

Yes, gold can be part of a balanced portfolio, but so can other commodities, land, or even stocks of certain commodity producers. There is nothing magic about gold's ability to serve as a contra asset.

Yes, it does have a limited use in electronics and a few other industrial applications, but none of this is even close to the world's production. The world mines maybe 20 times as much gold as is needed each year for industrial applications. The rest is simply inventory building up.

Nothing is perfect. There is no perfect asset to own, even gold, even land, even stocks, even anything. That is why people preach diversity.

 

I agree with you on the second part. As for the burglary problem that's why you should have a good amount of security and personal protection to make sure your gold is secure. Another option is to put it in a bank or have an investment firm store it for you.

 

I see you are really taking a shine to your bullion sales training.

For what purpose would Warren Buffet want to have 10% of his portfolio tied up in gold?