Posts Tagged ‘gold’
The Most Popular Gold Coins for Investors
In these unstable economic times more and more people are investing and buying Gold coins as they provide a reliable investment that stocks and bonds can never provide. Gold coins provide an excellent way of diversifying your portfolio, and are cheaper alternatives to investment property. This is largely due to its negative price correlation with other asset types. For example they will often move in an opposite direction from US stocks and bonds.
Gold is a highly liquid asset as it is easily converted back into cash. It can be bought and sold easily. It is also a private investment as they are not subject to government reporting like stocks and real estate.
The following are some gold coins popular amongst investors and collectors. The most popular American gold coin is the American Eagle. By law it is mined in America and its gold content, weight and purity is guaranteed by the US government. It is widely recognized throughout the world making it a great liquid asset for investors. It features on the obverse of the coin the lady liberty with her flowing hair holding an olive branch in her left hand and a torch in her right. The reverse features a male eagle carrying an olive branch above a nest.
The highly durable South African Krugerrand is possibly the second most well-known bullion coin in the world manufactured by the South African mint company. It was intended to circulate as currency. Proof Krugerrands are produced and are popular additions to any collection.
The Canadian Gold Maple Leaf is a popular coin amongst collectors. Produced by the Royal Canadian mint from Gold deposits in Canada it is the purest gold coin in the world with a gold content of approximately 99.99%. The coin comes in 5 face values ($1, $5, $10, $20 and $50). Although these coins are subject to the Canadian currency act these coins have legal tender status in Canada.
Whatever gold coins you choose to collect remember that many gold coins have both intrinsic value as well as numismatic value so it helps to understand how to determine the value of a coin and factors such as grade, rarity and bullion content.
What Makes Gold A Good Investment?
Some people out there are asking what makes gold a good investment. There are a number of reasons why people keep turning to this metal throughout history. The first reason that people sought out gold before there was an understanding with regards to its rarity, was because of its beauty.
Gold in itself does not easily corrode and will last a very long time before it shows any signs of aging. As a result, the ancients used it for the building of roofs; especially those in temples that were expected to stay dry for a long time.
As society expanded and grew, it became apparent that trading gold along with many of the other precious metals such as platinum, silver and palladium all featured very interesting and unique features that one would never find in other metals. Couple this with the rarity of this metal and you have an item that is highly valuable.
For centuries, wars were and still are fought over claim to lands which inherently contain gold. As the world grows though, the more people out there, the greater the demand for this metal is. If you know anything about the laws of economics, then you will know that when there is a limited supply, but a large demand for something, its value only continues to increase.
In recent years, many people were under the impression that real estate was the only safe investment. However, prices all too often are inflated on purpose and as a result; millions of people lost a large portion of their investment to overly inflated real estate. Gold as an investment on the other hand stayed as stable as it always has and even increased in value as a result of the recent economic crisis.
So what makes gold a good investment? It is a rare item that is in huge demand around the world. Unlike real estate, you cannot simply build up to cove that demand, once it has all been mined out of the ground, there will be no more left.