Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of July 30, 2013?

Article Excerpt

Gold has dropped by a third or more from the $1,800 U.S. peak it reached last October. Many investors now wonder if this is a heaven-sent second opportunity to buy. Others wonder if they should wait for the price to drop to, say, $1,000. I don’t have any such strong feeling about owning gold. Then again, I also don’t share the widespread feeling that gold is a great crisis barometer, safe haven, or hedge against disaster/chaos/social breakdown or whatever. My feeling is that gold first gained its safe-haven reputation centuries ago, when wars were more common and cities still maintained walls around them to keep out marauders. You could bury a few gold coins under a dirt floor and the soldiers or robbers might miss them. Prior to the 1930s Depression, gold played a big role in the national monetary systems of many countries. In 1933, the U.S. nationalized nearly all privately held gold within its borders. It later criminalized most private…