Comments on: Does Gold Preserve Purchasing Power?

By: Permanent Portfolio 25% Gold Allocation FAQ | Crawling Road

Permanent Portfolio 25% Gold Allocation FAQ | Crawling Road — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:44:14 +0000

[...] Does Gold Preserve Purchasing Power? [...]

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:59:16 +0000

There is a LOT of slippage in owning physical gold and buying and selling it. The transaction costs are MUCH less buying and selling GLD or IAU.

Just like you want a local bank account or checking account so you have instant access to funds, if it is an issue for you a few gold coins can be held in a wall in your house. If I had that mentality though, I would stock up on soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, and cigarettes. They will have more value when the world is going to pot. People will not want gold at such times but be looking to buy something with the gold.

By: craigr

craigr — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:59:59 +0000

Jan,

No good choices here. The main argument for holding stocks vs. gold in the shelter is the gold doesn’t have interest or dividends that need to be sheltered constantly. You only pay gains when you sell. The other problem with gold in the IRA is you lose access to it as it must be held by a custodian. This is an issue for those that want closer control of physical bullion such as in a bank.

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:46:30 +0000

A way to hold gold is in Exchange Traded Funds GLD or IAU

In a taxable account the gains are taxed at your ordinary rate. In an IRA they are sheltered.

If the choice was a stock fund in a taxable account or a gold fund with the other in an IRA I would put the gold fund in the IRA

By: Patrick Hall

Patrick Hall — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:33:56 +0000

Hey, a new gold purchasing alternative is available in Deutschland:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5554972/Gold-sold-like-chocolate-from-German-vending-machines.html

By: Patrick Hall

Patrick Hall — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:34:23 +0000

Thanks again Craig. I hope you’re working on a Gold post in your FAQ. I spent some time Monday reading through old comments and you braindump a lot of useful nuggets through out other posts here.

Your knowledge is an incredible resource.

By: craigr

craigr — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:25:30 +0000

Patrick,

I’ve installed a plug-in that will allow you to subscribe to comments. Also you can subscribe to the RSS feed of a comment by clicking the link at the top of the comment thread.