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Message:: [QUOTE="medoraman, post: 1223543, member: 26302"]Why do investors buy anything? Lets limit the discussion to just "things" and not securities. Why do they buy things? They do it to sell to someone at a later date for higher, right? At some point someone has to be the consumer. Gold is consumed just as much as bread is. People buy it for jewelry, electronics, for weddings, for pleasure. Gold is bought for "life" just as much as bread, oil, copper, and corn it. Difference is that gold retains most of its value after "consumption" So, as an investor of any of these, you are investing today hoping to sell for more tomorrow to someone who wished to "consume" this item. I do not see much of a difference between gold and bread like jeffb states. His thought is all commodities move similarly usually since it is not an increased demand for them, its simply a decrease in the nominal value of cash. This is 100% proven historically true. I perform the same act of "investing" buy buying up 10 cans of coffee before an expected price hike as you buying gold. There is a difference in expected holding time and sale price, but the act is the same. In fact, any purchase of a commodity is really speculation more than investment, since an ounce of gold cannot magically turn into 2 ounces next year. Chris[/QUOTE]