Anyone Else Missing the GOLD RUSH?
 

Talked to my baby Brother the other night - the Brother that is presently cash-flowing $71K annually out-of-pocket in private colleges for his three oldest kids away from home.

He related to me that his gold fund in an IRA leapt by nearly $90K+ for just September. He's been in this gold fund for many years - he's not a newby to it. He asked me my opinion; I told him that his longtime financial advisor he hired 15+ years ago that turned him onto gold, has done so well for him - that he would be a fool to back off from or fire the guy after such a good run with him.

Gold continues it's upward charge. Now I'm fairly sure that gold has another 33%+ in upward gain to go - just a wild guess on my part.

What is certain, is that I decided long ago never to again fool with gold, gold futures or gold funds. 30 years ago I played around long enough to actually break even on my speculations.

Anyone else missing out on this sure thing GOLD RUSH?!

Long live the bubble.

Yep.

Only a fool bets on gold..........totally unable to predict long term.

I had this conversation with a coworker today, I think all the cash is running to gold because it has no place else to go. Fixed return funds are flat and the stock market is too unstable. Eventually, someone big will decide it's time to get out and the whole house of cards will collapse.

Isn't Gold simply a measure of the devaluation of fiat currency? Gold has intrinsic value.

No, I'm not invested in Gold.

I'm sure it does have some intrinsic value, but I doubt that value is close to it's current price. The price of gold seems to being driven up by speculation at the moment. The only meaningful way to measure the value of a currency is against other currencies.

Its in a bubble, when the economy starts to present other areas to earn money it will deflate. Now would be a good time to sell gold and lock in your profits.

I'd invest in some silver as well. It goes up, not as much as gold, but it trends like gold.

Follow the $$$$$
 

If professional investors thought that the current gold prices were sustainable. Old mines would be opening up by the dozens in Cali foothills

Its nothing but speculation, when an investment hits CNN its already tapped and all the smart money is already looking for the exit.

Now if you bought gold at $900, than you would be in the black, time to cash out and move on.

Just think how nice it would have been to have bought some gold in 1980 and held it to today.

Accounting for inflation, you would have lost more than half of your money. This bubble will end the same way. They all do.

if you bought when gold was $900 you still would have had to pay $100 over spot--and when you were selling at that exact time you would most likely lave had to take Less than $900 pr ounce. The double whammy that kept me out when it was at $685 in march of 09 .

But For Sure I wish I had at $685 oz!

Tell me about it, gold is a horrible investment. My grandfather always played in it because he found it fun, and never made much. I think he bought a new truck with his earnings once in awhile, but it was a hobby to much work for the return.

The best ROI is still real estate, stocks, and investing in your own business. The fundamentals have not changed.

OTOH if you like owning shiny metal go nuts, I can certainly think of dumber things to buy than gold bars.

Jumped in Nov. '99 @ $313/oz. I suspected, at that time, that the
Y2K 'frenzy' might have made a quick profit then; turns out I was wrong. Price at present is irrelevant to me. I will, most likely, die with it - my kids will then split it.
With that being said; Best investment ever!
Considering silver - even at todays price. Not for long term, but more of a jump-in, jump-out fast profit.

Buying while the price is charging upwards is always scary. Ten years from now we'll be able to point to the day and the price where it peaked. Buying the day before that day would haunt one for life.

I'm not big on this business of using gold to hoard wealth. Leads to greater and greater pressure to use resources of ACTUAL value, such as water, in pursuit of extracting gold. Yes, I know that gold has value in electronics, etc. but we're way past that.

Glen Beck thinks gold is a good idea. That's why I don't own any.

I have some gold teeth!

If I were liquid enough to play around I would think about an old Ferrari. They are doing pretty well at the moment.

At the moment I would have to say my old Ferrari was a better investment than all my real estate. But if real estate comes back I will be fine. Real estate is not liquid enough, but Ferraris aren't either, but you just need one buyer in either case.

And you cannot live in a car...at least not really comfortably.;)

And the BIL with the good gold investment might want to sell the gold and invest that in his kid's education. ($70K a year? where they going?)

Are you sure?

Yes, I was able to keep my streak of missing every upward trend alive.

I put all my money into tulip bulbs!

You might need to look this up. It was the first great bubble.

Gold is now running on the 'Greater Fool' theory. No matter what you paid for something, there is always a greater fool than you willing to pay more.

I do remember when the 'Classic Car' bubble popped about 30 years ago. People who loved to drive such cars could finally afford them after the speculators were wiped out when the supply of fools ran low.

Hart's Tulip Bulbs???;)

Thats certainly a GOOD clue!

Actually, he's my Brother.

Here's the list.
Rockhurst College, KC MO.
Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO.
Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL.
All private Catholic Jesuit colleges. The list may grow to Carroll College in Cleveland, OH.

The gold fund instrument, (an Oppenheimer Fund) is all in one of his IRAs. The financial advisor has directed an IRA worth $40K into $400K-$500K. - According to my Brother. If I were him, I'd transfer much of it into other financial instruments - I did tell him that, in addition to telling him that his advisor guy wouldn't appreciate being "advised," if you will.

I'm agnostic on anyone else's investments - we're all on our own.

Nah, the market for quality bulbs went right into the crapper with the onslaught of cheap, Chinese-grown, packaged in Holland, "10 for $1" ones at all the big box stores. :(

Well not actually the FIRST bubble. The first one on record was a real estate venture.

Luxury condos with a scenic view. Did quite well for a few hundred years but the profits of the Pompeiian Timeshare L.L.C. went up in smoke. Quite a few people lost their ash on that one! (oh dear lord, is it time for a beer yet?)

Gold in 1980 was $800/oz. Silver was $20. They wouldn't have been very good investments then, as you were buying them with 1980 dollars.

Well, can't fault a guy for trying to plug a quality top-shelf organization like Hart's;)

Need more seed? :D

I would not invest in gold right now. 3 years ago I would have got it & held it for 18 months tops, if I wasn't saving for a house at the time. Right now, the stock market is recovering. The gold bubble will burst just like it has every time in the past when a recession has ended. It's not a question of if but when.

OTOH its probably a good time to start to think about shorting gold.

I don't know, the stock market is still acting flakey. People may still jump into gold for a while because they don't have anyplace else to go. The problem with bubbles is trying to predict the end.

Edit: I have a friend who is convinced that the prices will really start to take off just before the bubble bursts, that's when he intends to sell his gold.

It's like any piece of art, or even in another thread, what a "classic" car is worth. Who decides what it's worth ? The guy with the biggest piggy bank willing to pay the most for it. As someone posted several posts back, once someone pulls out major league, it will be back to $200 an ounce..

On Friday Bernanke in a speech in Boston made clear that at the Nov.3rd Federal Reserve Bank board of governors meeting will announce a second QE (qualitative easing) program to buy US Treasury notes, the suggestion is that it will be in the One Trillion Dollar range. The Fed simply prints the paper and then uses that ‘Magic” money to purchase the US debt essentially diluting the value of every dollar already in existence.

The spot price of gold or for that matter any tangible commodity is nothing more that a reflection of the value of a currency in both real terms (compared to other currencies) and the confidence in that currency.

Dollars are worth less because there are more of them. The effect on the economy will be significant because we import so much energy, the amount of dollars needed to purchase a barrel of oil will rise as the dollar further weakens!

Conversely the stock market will “appear” to do better as more, less valuable dollars are available for speculation, but of course we all know by now the value of the trading on the market floor is no indication of the actual intrinsic hard asset value of the stock traded.

This next move will only devalue the Dollar further and further erode confidence in the Dollar.

That’s why the position of the Dollar as the world reserve currency is in question and threatened and it’s weak against other currencies.

Gold can never be created/ mined fast enough to outpace currency manipulation and instability of currencies only increase the demand for gold. Glenn Beck might not be a smart as Barrack Obama but he’s a lot wealthier in either dollars, gold, or real estate!!!

When the gold bubble bursts, it won't be because dollars suddenly became more valuable. Unless of course, your definition of the value of a dollar is how much gold it can buy, because in that case you are essentially begging the question.

I am not fascinated by precious metals. I can't eat them, they don't power my car, and I can't live in them. How much it costs to keep going is a better gauge of currency buying power.

Sure, the dollar is depressed right now. But this depression is not proportional to the increase in the price of gold.

Gee, I dunno. I know people say it is and have all these numbers to back it up, but a dozen eggs is still the same as it was 3 years ago before the bottom fell out completely, so is bread. Gas is cheaper. Used cars cost less, new ones roughly the same for more stuff than before (standard power everything). Houses cost less. What's gone up in cost?

I paid what I feel is a VERY reasonable price on a new laptop, washing machine, over-stove microwave, dishwasher, and fridge in the last year alone; and I am looking for an LCD TV for my bedroom since they cost about half what they did 3 years ago.

The dollar is weak compared to other currencies, which is the only measurement that matters. Of course, that has very little to do with the current price of gold (which is being driven by speculation, i.e., it's a bubble).

It's a buyer's bonanza for those with money, a steady job, good credit, - or all three.

Those with jobs should be replacing big ticket items that they can see need to be replaced. Homes, cars, and durable goods. Rental real estate too. Sales abound.

It's also a time to load-up on stocks. Stocks are very attractive, all things considered. They won't be this attractive forever.

That's all I think I know for sure.