Thursday, September 24, 2009

What Price Suits Gold?

Gold bullion just crossed $1,000 an ounce. But what's it really worth?

Bud Conrad, chief economist at Casey Research and a leading gold bug, says it's worth far more. Based on long-term analyzes of macroeconomic trends such as the money supply, he says, "a lot of ratios… get you into the $4,000 to $5,000 level without any problem.

Congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul also a major gold bug likewise sees the price of bullion rising from today's levels. "It's trebled in the last ten years," he says. "There's no reason it can't triple in another ten years, that wouldn't surprise me." Congressman Paul says the government will erode the dollar's purchasing power, so gold will gain value however, he says this is a political opinion, and not investing advice.

Is it realistic to think gold could really go to $3,000?

A long-standing rule of thumb among gold enthusiasts is that an ounce of gold should equal the cost of one high-quality man's suit. (A fund manager I know in London argues that this goes back to ancient Rome, when an ounce of gold allegedly was enough to purchase a top-of-the-line toga.)

That wisdom isn't particularly helpful today. At Saks Fifth Avenue you could pay $795 for a Hugo Boss suit, or $2,050 for Dior. When I last bought a suit on Savile Row in London some years back, it cost me about $1,200, but one could have spent a lot more.

Michael Narwani, a tailor and the owner of Custom Clothiers in Wellesley, Mass., says his bespoke suits vary from around $700 up to many thousands, but "$1,000 would buy you an excellent suit." By that measure, gold would be about the right price now.

A silly debate? Maybe. But this is the central issue any investor faces when dealing with gold.

With stocks, you can look at the price-to-earnings ratio and the dividend yield and reach some conclusions about likely returns. With bonds, you can look at the yield to maturity, which includes both the coupons and any capital gains.

But gold generates no income. It is, in a sense, a perpetual zero coupon bond. So valuing it isn't easy.

You can, at least, establish a threshold price. A rational person wouldn't buy an ounce of gold for $1,008 today unless he or she was very confident it would be worth at least $1,500 or so in ten years' time, and at least $2,400 in twenty years. (Otherwise, that person could earn the same amount simply by investing in Treasury bonds.)

Some months ago I suggested here that gold could easily become the next bubble. Some people thought I was suggesting gold already was a bubble. Hardly: I would have to know what something was worth before I could conclude it was overvalued.

But there is potential albeit uncertain for gold to go much higher. Led by the Fed, central banks world-wide have flooded financial systems with vast amounts of money in the year since Lehman Brothers failed. Those moves risk devaluations in the dollar, along with other paper currencies. Gold and other items in limited supply may well benefit.

source : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203917304574415193376917198.html

The Current Gold Market Price

Gold Market Price

"What is the gold market price right now?" is not a simple query to answer, because the information is always changing from day to day and hour to hour. As I write this article, the price of gold is 929.40 dollars per ounce. But the previous 30 days has gone through a wide range of gold prices, from a high of $993.20 per oz. to a low of $897.30 per ounce. That's a 10% fluctuation within the span of a single month.

Why does the gold market price change so much? Well the price of gold depends on supply and demand. When the average joe like you or me buy gold items such as jewelry, or buy gold investments like bullion bars and coins, demand increases and the price goes up. Then when prices rise quite high and everybody decides to cash in on the high prices by selling, demand goes down and price goes down too. This supply-demand dynamic is of course affected not only by individual purchases and investments, but also by industrial demand for gold.

One thing that is heavily affecting demand for gold these days is the economic uncertainty facing the U.S. and the world as a whole. Oftentimes you will notice that when there is good economic news then the gold prices will drop, but when there is bad economic news the price will rise. Why is that, you ask? Because gold is seen as a safe-haven for your wealth. Regular paper currencies can lose their value and your buying power can decrease. In an extreme situation, the paper currency might lose almost all of its value.

Perhaps the most famous example of this was Weimar Germany in the 1920s, when the currency inflated so drastically that there was a daily doubling of consumer prices. One famous image of that period is the sight of people using wheel barrels full of paper money instead of firewood to heat their homes, because the money was worth less than wood. There are no indications yet that our economic forecast is as bad as that, but in times of trouble knowledgeable investors normally move a portion of their money into gold to protect themselves in case of the worst case scenario -- a drastic drop in the value of the currency.

If the current problems end soon, then we will most likely see gold prices drop. If the problems persist for years to come as I think they will, then the gold price will continue to go up (with dips in price as well).The main reason I think the gold price will keep rising in the future is that governments around the world are spending more money than they have, devaluing their currencies over time. If you hold fiat currencies, your wealth will diminish. If you have gold on the other hand, your wealth will be maintained. The gold market price reflects the trends in fiat currency value.

source : http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/the-current-gold-market-price-1177052.html

Friday, September 18, 2009

Get Current Gold Price

Gold Prices are ever changing. If you are looking to purchase gold the first step should be to know what kind of gold you want. There are more than one type of gold so be sure you get what you want.
Once you decide if you want gold coins, gold jewelry, or any other form of gold, the next step is to know the currently offered price of gold. You can either spend time to search for yourself or go to a site that does this work for you.

The current gold price may not be what it was yesterday so doing not assume it is. The gold price changes regularly. It is a highly bought commodity. In fact, the amount of gold one owns is one way that Indians tell worth and value of an individual.

There are some guidelines that one should attempt to follow in order to invest in gold.

They are not necessary in order to purchase the gold but they are helpful in securing the possibility of making money off you investment.

Guidelines for purchasing Gold:

* Decide what you can afford
* Decide what you want to buy
* Find a dealer you can trust that has a solid reputation
* Check the authenticity of the gold you want to buy
* Buy bars or traditional coins

These are just a basic guideline of what you need to know prior to purchasing gold.

There is no way to guarantee that you are going to be satisfied with your investment in gold.

However, if you do follow the above, have a lot better chances of being satisfied and finding the type of Gold transaction that you are looking for.

The next thing to consider in buying the gold is if you are buying it to make a profit or if you are buying it for community status. In a general sense, buying gold for a profit is a lot trickier than buying it for status. Status is a thing that may come and may not. However, buying gold for a pure profit is one of the trickiest ways or reasons to buy gold.

There are no guarantees what the prices of gold will be from one minute to another. There is not any way to know whether you are going to be able to bank from your purchase or if you will lose your shirt.

The best of advice that can be given on the topic of gold prices is to investigate the recent trends in price and buy when they are low. Find a price you can afford. Do not purchase unless you are able to take a loss without it severely affecting your ability to live comfortably. Do not rush the decision to purchase. Make sure you know the broker is one that makes sense. If a broker has a solid positive reputation, chances are they are a good choice.

If something about the transaction makes you uncomfortable, do not make it. There is money to be made in Gold if you know what you are doing. Happy and profitable investing to all.