Now that we’re halfway through 2023, and some of us as investors are even looking forward to 2024, it’s no surprise that we’re starting to get some questions (and answers) about the best assets to invest in this year. What’s the scoop, then? It’s not too different from 2022, thankfully, so you hopefully won’t need to completely change your strategy.
For the most part, we already know much of the information that has come out. For instance, the high rates of inflation have had a negative impact on the economy and have really impacted a lot of investors. Specifically, any cash assets that we’ve had have lost a sizable chunk of their value. It’s quite frustrating.
This isn’t the first time that this has happened, of course. Some analysis of this happening back in 2004 (in the leadup to the 2008 housing crisis) can be found on this page. Why bother looking at that sort of stuff? Well, we can learn from the past and utilize similar strategies now to help ourselves avert disaster.
While it can be a somewhat complicated process, thankfully we have a lot of options at our disposal. Today, we’re here to analyze whether or not precious metals (particularly gold) are worth adding to our portfolios or not.
Investing: A Brief Rundown
Before we get into the topic of precious metals specifically, let’s take a broader look at what investing is. Essentially, it’s when a person allocates money for a specific purpose, typically with the goal of generating returns or profits over time. Of course, there are all sorts of avenues that we can pursue here, which is part of why investing feels overwhelming for some folks.
To expand on this, when you invest, you put your funds into various assets like stocks, bonds, real estate, mutual funds, or commodities, as just a few of the examples out there. Usually, the hope is that they will increase in value or generate income for us in a relatively passive manner. Depending on what you add to your portfolio, this hopefully shouldn’t be too much of a stretch in terms of attainable goals.
Now, as far as the risks involved, admittedly there is always going to be a risk when it comes to investing. That’s because it requires careful consideration of risks, rewards, and diversification. As much as it sucks, things just aren’t always going to go our way. There will be times where an asset just doesn’t pay off like we hope it will.
One way to think of it is like we are planting seeds and nurturing them with the hopes of a bountiful harvest. Inevitably, there are going to be circumstances in which the harvest is quite barren in comparison to what we wanted. That said, we can always keep moving forward and just roll with the punches when these sorts of things happen!
Precious Metals
Now that we’ve covered what investing is, let’s turn our attention to precious metals. What are they, and what makes them “precious”? There’s some explanation of this here, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03222275, but otherwise, there is a lot to cover.
To start, they are rare and naturally occurring metallic elements that have high economic value – and they’ve been that way for centuries. When we think about it, it’s clear that a lot of folks have utilized precious metals as a way to store their wealth. Traditionally speaking, it was mostly done by the nobility or royalty, but now it’s become much more accessible to do this.
As far as the most well-known precious metals go, the list includes gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. For the most part, these metals are sought-after for their beauty, durability, and use in various industries. While it’s easy to assume that they’re only beneficial for us in the form of bullion (bars), this really isn’t the case!
There are many examples of their other uses. One instance is that can be used for making jewelry, but that’s pretty obvious. Obviously, they can be a store of value, like we mentioned above. Most notably, though, they have uses in industrial applications such as electronics or medical equipment. Their scarcity and desirability make them valuable assets for investors and collectors alike.
Should We Invest in Them?
All of this said, the big question still on most of our minds tends to be this: is it worth investing in something like gold? Admittedly, it’s a bit of an expensive asset to get started with. Sure, there are a few ways that we can get involved, but they are all relatively costly (at least, to many of us out there).
Honestly, given the historical prices of gold, silver, palladium, and platinum, it’s hard to say that they’re not worth it from an investor’s point of view. Given the ways that we can get involved in the market, a lot of investment companies also speak to this fact and are willing to help new investors begin their journey. As far as picking one, it can get complicated, but you could start by checking out an Oxford Gold Group review or something quite similar.
How it Works
Let’s take a moment now to examine how the process of gold (or precious metal) investing works in the first place. Thinking about it in easy terms, gold investing refers to the act of buying and holding gold as a means of hopefully generating returns or preserving wealth. We covered this above, though, so let’s shift gears just a bit.
One of the main ways that we can dip our toes into this market is to purchase bullion or physical bars. That’s what we’ve shown in the photos here today, but this isn’t limited just to gold. Silver bullion also exists, and technically so do platinum and palladium ones. The thing about those, though, is that there are very few companies who make them because of the other ways that we use metals in the platinum family.
There’s an explanation of that on this page, though the main thing is that they are quite rare compared to gold and silver. Additionally, there have been a lot of innovations in the automobile industry that uses these metals to help reduce carbon emissions. So, if you’re looking to get involved with platinum or palladium, you may need to take a different approach.
Another option is to cultivate a coin collection, although do bear in mind that other types of collectibles like jewelry usually cannot be deposited into investment accounts. Meanwhile, most gold coins can, so long as they fulfill the requirement of a certain percentage of raw gold content. What else is there?
To summarize this before we conclude today, investors often see gold as a safe haven during times of economic uncertainty. This is largely because of its historical value and stability – the prices of these precious metals have mostly stayed the same over time. What this means for us as investors is that it’s a fairly secure form of asset.
Gold can be acquired in various forms, such as physical gold bars or coins, gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or gold mining stocks. Each of these can be a valid option, of course, so talk to a financial advisor if you’re not sure what route that you would like to take.
Is it Worth it?
The final question we would like to examine is simple – is investing in gold worth it? You can probably guess some of our conclusions, but let’s go through it anyhow.
Generally speaking, the worthiness of gold investing depends on various factors. Some examples include your own financial goals, your risk tolerance, and market conditions. Since these assets aren’t high risk compared to other options, this hopefully won’t be something that you need to worry about too much.
As far as the overall worth goes, though, there is something else that we want to touch on. Gold is often seen as a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty. Let’s face it – right now, the world does appear to be careening towards a recession of some sort. Finding ways to protect our finances is quite important.
Thus, it’s no surprise that more and more folks are looking to precious metals as a type of hedge against the inflation that we’ve seen. Simply put, they’re a type of asset that just isn’t as impacted by the state of the economy as paper currency, so they’re worth looking into.