Comments Off on Gold Crash of 2013: Disaster or Opportunity?
Today Bloomberg posted an infographic outlining the recent sharp decline in gold prices and it’s negative effects.
It opens with the following blurb, perfectly crafted to pull at heartstrings:
Gold’s swift fall has ravaged hopes and livelihoods around the world – from the 1 million miners in Ghana who scour in the dirt, to thousands of executives and geologists at mining exploration firms that are running out of cash in Vancouver. Gone too are jobs for auditors, bankers and analysts in the finance capitals of Toronto and London. Investors who bet big and lost are shifting assets elsewhere and scaling back retirement plans.
Investors that focus on the doom and gloom here are the exactly the crowd who were hit hardest by the drop. Not only does this segment buy into the hype with vigor, but also approach investing like gamblers by attempting to beat the market.
When soaring gold prices were a hot topic in the media they bought it up, quite literally, abandoning the most basic principal of “buy low, sell high.” It’s all too often overcome by base inclination to side with perceived success, since “everybody loves a winner.”
A prudent, long-term investor shouldn’t be fazed by this shift. These types invest in precious metals, index funds, etc. at steady intervals, stay objective amidst turmoil, and most importantly don’t try to beat the market.
If anything these new, lower gold prices allow the new, or long-term investor to amass gold without breaking the bank.
Now that we’ve entered the bear market before long we won’t be hearing so much about gold and how affordable it has become. And that’s exactly how the smart money lurking in the shadows behind talking heads wants it.
Comments Off on What is the Gold Standard?
The gold standard is a monetary system in which paper notes are exchanged, which are normally freely convertible into fixed quantities of gold bullion. As an example, the U.S. dollar bill once said “one dollar in silver payable to the bearer on demand”. This was removed from the note when the United States abandoned the gold standard in favor of a fiat currency.
When other nations are also on the same system, their currencies are fixed in terms of one another’s so that gold flows, along with capital flows, may then occur internationally to balance accounts between these nations.
In 1910 the Canadian dollar was officially defined in terms of fine gold instead of the gold sovereign so that it became the exact gold equivalent of the US dollar. When World War I began, Canada, like the United Kingdom, went off the gold standard. In 1929, Canadian banks ceased redeeming notes in gold, ending the adherence to the gold standard.