All that glitters is not gold in the investment market today. Prices rise and fall like the tides, but much less predictably, and this can make anyone nervous. If you’re looking to escape debt, your first priority should be paying down the debt that you have, but for those who want to avoid getting into debt in the future, gold might be a viable investment.
Physical gold, such as coins and bars are excellent long-term investment and emergency source of cash. This is why grandparents often pass down gold to their children – it tends to retain a certain value over time, even if the value above and beyond this will fluctuate dramatically with the times. It will, at least, never be worth simply the value of paper like regular money today, or even less in the case of some stocks.
If you happen to sell during a “gold rush”, which seems to happen every few decades, selling your gold can net you a great amount of cash, without any additional strategy. It’s simple buy now (low) and sell later (high). Although it is still an investment in that you tie your money to a commodity (in this case gold), it is a great savings strategy as well. Unlike having cash in the savings account which is ready to be spent if needed. And we all know how hard it can be to resist spending cash that just sits in the bank.
Yet at the same time, gold is liquid enough for an emergency cash, so should you indeed find yourself in a situation when you need cash fast, you will have something to fall back on.
Obviously, all this works only if you already paid off your debt. Typically, the interest rates from loans and credit cards are higher than yields from investments, therefore it makes sense to pay off your debt first. Once you have done this, however, it is smart to begin putting that money towards investments to build a nest egg.
Of course, physical gold is not the only option when it comes to gold investments. Gold ETF (Gold Exchange Fund) is another popular way of investing into gold. However, this is basically the same as playing the stock market, because you will only hold shares and notes, not physical gold. For many people that is quite frighting idea in this economy. For those people, investing into ZKB Gold ETF is a great option, because it lets you take advantage of stock market, while you actually can redeem your profit in physical gold. This ETF is only one of two Gold ETFs in the world that lets you do that, no other ETF’s provide you with an option to hold physical gold. But due to rising popularity of ZKB Gold ETF, it is expected that more of similar ETFs to emerge.
But even if you don’t have money to invest into ETFs or gold coins, you may still be able to benefit from the current gold prices. With banks relying on gold to hold their currency, the value of gold in jewelry and other everyday objects, and the fact that gold has always been seen as having an intrinsic value much greater than that of other types of investments, it’s good to look at this kind of gold as a way to build up an insurance policy against being forced to go into debt or take drastic actions in the future. It is not an instant gain in wealth for most people (though there are always exceptions), but instead, a safety net of sorts that is one part of a well-balanced portfolio.
For most people with no debt and without an impending large purchase or retirement, common gold coins, jewelry, or some Gold ETFs are a simple, smart strategy to help avoid debt and build up a nest egg against future mistakes, stock market fluctuations, or financial trouble.