Buying Gold as an Investment

Gold has been a prized asset for centuries, and for good reason. It is durable, rare, and universally valuable. Gold has historically served as a store of value, a hedge against inflation, and a safe haven asset during times of economic and political uncertainty. This led to gold has becoming increasingly popular as an investment. If you are considering investing in gold, this article will help you.

For decades, gold has remained a subject of ongoing debate and intrigue. On one side of the spectrum, prominent investors such as Stanley Druckenmiller and David Einhorn hold unwavering faith in gold as a sound investment, accumulating substantial reserves of gold bars secured in numerous vaults. Conversely, investors like Warren Buffett approach this precious metal with skepticism. In one of his investment letters, he notably expressed his reservations, stating:

Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.

Gold prices compared to S&P 500

In the last five years, the performance of gold has been a topic of debate, and it appears that the skeptics of gold have had the upper hand. During this period, the value of gold has increased from $1,393.34 in 2019 to $1,934.10 in 2023, marking a notable rise of approximately 38.80%.

However, in stark contrast, the S&P 500, a benchmark index of leading U.S. stocks, has demonstrated remarkable strength, delivering an impressive return exceeding 57% during the same timeframe. This substantial gain in the S&P 500 far surpasses the percentage increase in the price of gold. When factoring in dividends and share buybacks, the total shareholder return from the S&P 500 has considerably outperformed the relatively modest performance of gold.

Why Invest in Gold

Is investing your money in gold good or bad? Well, investors who believe in gold do so for a number of reasons.

Consistent value.
Gold investors argue that the value of gold has been consistent over the years. Indeed, gold has been a valuable resource for centuries. The oldest manuscripts, including religious books like the bible, have talked about the value of gold. Therefore, the assumption is that this value will remain in the future.

Hedge against recession.
Second, they believe that gold is a hedge against a recession. This is a theory that has been promoted for years. However, a closer look at the price of gold shows that it tends to fall when there is a recession. The chart below shows the price of gold in the past 100 years. As you can see, its price has tended to fall whenever there is a recession.

Security in case of major global catastrophe.
Third, proponents of gold argue that gold will be a better thing to hold in case of a major global catastrophe. If such a thing happens, they believe that people who will own gold will be the key beneficiaries because fiat currencies like the US dollar will be worthless.

Central banks.
Fourth, proponents also say that gold is a great investment because it is owned by many central banks. The Federal Reserve owns more than 7000 tons of gold. Other countries like Russia and China also hold vast reserves of gold.

Scarcity of gold.
Finally, the supply of gold is diminishing. In economics 101, when the supply of a commodity diminishes, it leads to higher prices. Therefore, gold investors believe that the price will rise as world reserves get diminished.

How to Invest in Gold

There are a number of ways you can invest in gold. These are:

Buying physical gold

Like with other commodities, it is possible for you to buy gold bars in the open market. These days, you can even buy gold with crypto. One of the most common ways of buying gold investment bars is to find a local gold dealer, who will sell the bars to you. You will then sell them when the price moves up.

However, this is not the recommended way to invest in gold for three reasons. First, storing the physical gold is risky because the bar can get lost or stolen. Second, selling the bars could be difficult because you might not have a buyer. Third, if you are not an expert on gold, you can easily get scammed.

If you’re looking for gold investment for beginners, you’d better take a look at the options below than buying yourself physical bars of gold.

Gold CFDs

You can also use contracts for difference (CFDs) to invest in gold. When you do this, you will not own the physical gold. Instead, you will own the equivalent of the gold through an online broker. You will then sell the gold once the price reaches your target.

Gold Futures

Gold futures are listed on the major futures exchanges like Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The futures allow you to predict the price of gold at a specific time and then buy a call or put options.

Gold Stocks

Since mining gold is an expensive process, it is dominated by large companies. These companies are listed on major exchanges like the New York Stocks Exchange (NYSE). The stock price of these companies tend to go up when the price of gold goes up. Therefore, if you believe that the price of gold will go up, you can buy the gold mining stocks. These stocks include companies like Newmont Mining, Goldcorp, Sibanye Stillwater, Barrick Gold, Anglo-American, and Newcrest.

Gold ETFs

Finally, you can invest in Gold-based Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Examples of gold-related ETFs are: iShares Gold Trust, SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust, GraniteShares Gold Trust, and iShares Gold Strategy ETF. The benefit of investing in ETFs is that they tend to be more diverse than investing in a single stock.

What Moves the Price of Gold

While there is a lot of disagreement on gold, the consensus is that its movement is correlated with the US dollar. As shown in the chart below, gold tends to rise when the US dollar falls and vice versa. This is because gold is always quoted in dollar terms and the fact that the US Fed has the most gold reserves in the world.

Therefore, when analyzing the future price of gold, it is always important to do so using the lens of the US economy. For example, if the US economy is doing very well, it means that the Federal Reserve could be forced to hike interest rates. If this happens, the USD can gain as investors expect more yields from the dollar. When this happens, the price of gold can fall.

Alternatively, when the Fed issues a dovish statement, the dollar could fall, leading to the price of gold to rise. This situation has happened this year since the Fed announced that it won’t hike rates, as investors were expecting.

Bitcoin: digital gold

  • Bitcoin has proven to be a good contender to become the digital gold of the 21st century. The built-in limited issuance of a maximum of 21 million Bitcoins combined with the vastly superior ways of storing, moving and transferring Bitcoin lead some people to believe that Bitcoin is massively undervalued compared to gold and silver.

Should You Invest in Gold?

Gold is a versatile asset that can be a valuable addition to your investment portfolio. Investing can serve as a hedge against inflation, a store of value. Gold has historically held its value well during periods of inflation. This is because gold is a finite resource. Gold is not subject to the same risks as fiat currencies. It is considered a good way to store value over time.

There are, however, some drawbacks to investing in gold. The price of gold can be volatile in the short term, and it is important to be prepared for potential losses. Additionally, if you buy physical gold, you will need to pay storage costs. Finally, gold can be less liquid than other assets, such as stocks and bonds, which means that it may be more difficult to sell gold quickly when you need to.

Crispus (BSc and MBA) is a finance professional with more than a decade experience as a financial analyst, writer, researcher, and trader. Crispus has written in-depth articles on leading platforms like CCN, Marketwatch, Investing Cube and Seeking Alpha. He also runs a forex education firm. Follow him on Twitter: @crispusnyaga and read more about us.