Gold, What is it Good For?

Discussion of the Gold portion of the Permanent Portfolio

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stuper1
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Re: Gold, What is it Good For?

Post by stuper1 » Mon Nov 19, 2018 2:58 pm

barrett wrote:
Mon Nov 19, 2018 2:09 pm
Jeffreyalan wrote:
Sun Nov 18, 2018 6:42 pm
The question asked a few posts back is a good one. If Central Banks hold almost 20% of the world’s gold and if some of them (like Russia) are stocking up on it, does that tell me as an individual investor that it needs to be a part of my portfolio? Or are their curcumstances different?
Not sure if the two things are really connected. I like gold for the reasons Anthony Deden likes it. It's independent of the financial system, and it's a physical asset that has had a long history as money. It's also a piece of cake to pass along to my wife or daughter should I not use it up. That characteristic tends to be underestimated, I think. If I kick, my wife has some physical gold in a safe deposit box that can tide her over until my affairs (Fido & TDA accounts) are sorted out.

I also like that gold is money anywhere in the world. I may never take advantage of that feature but it's not unthinkable.

Russia might be motivated to hold gold because they don't want to have to settle their bills in US Dollars. I don't have that concern.

Just a few thoughts...
To me, it seems like the two things are connected. If a central bank has faith that gold will hold its value and be usable to settle bills with banks in other countries, then shouldn't that give me more faith that gold will hold its value?
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