A Nugget Of Gold If You'd Never Seen It Before?

By Guy Buffin

There is something very noble about a block of solid gold, something that just makes you want to touch it. This is part of its great value. Stagnation has been the order of the day during the last few years as bad debt and low interest rates have held back many investments, but people with gold holdings have seen significant rises in price. Despite the Global Financial Crisis it has continued a slow and steady increase in value. That makes it an investment you can count on, even when, financially speaking, the world looks close to breaking point.

Being such a soft and pliant metal, it is not surprising that gold was prized among all precious metals by our ancestors. Gold has a universal and indeed timeless appeal. Once gold was minted into coin form, certain countries benefited greatly from amassing and trading with gold.. In today's world, gold is just as valuable, although most people would come in contact with it through jewellery. But it is used in many commercial operations and high tech areas such as computer circuitry.

One of the things that people tend to forget about gold is that is quite rare - it can be found in only five tenths of the earth's outer layer! As soon as it was discovered, probably in streams or creeks as nuggets, gold quickly became a main part of cultures right across the globe. Although ancient civilizations such as the Greeks and Romans used gold and silver coins as money, it was not until the middle ages when countries began to "mint" gold in large quantities. Our attitudes towards gold have not changed much over the centuries, and we still see the metal as "precious". There are many ways that gold in the modern world can be used (it is, for example, a very good conductor of heat and electricity).

Financial security when viewed over the long term is best achieved when an investor takes the view that diversification of investment classes is a requirement. The internet and improvements to share trading software have made it possible for small investors the world over to manage their own investment portfolios on a daily basis. Items like gold have seemingly been less interesting to small investors and trading systems have made it difficult to transact in them. While stocks have taken a beaten during the GFC, gold has been a great investment having seen its value go up by more than double. Buy gold at spot price online is much easier now because the systems and programs have improved dramatically. Micro investors are now able to put gold into the portfolio for a much better balanced investment strategy.

Gold is no longer used by most countries to secure the currency, instead they issue fiat money which is nothing more than a promise to pay the holder a value equivalent to what's printed on the paper or coin. During the last century over a dozen fiat currencies have failed due to hyper-inflation and the respective government printing too much money that became worthless when trading partners refused to accept the promise and wanted more solid forms of payment. The US and Roman Empire have both seen fiat currencies fail. In every case, gold was used to restore value to the financial system that had failed.

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