Gold, Silver and Paper Money: Big Difference.

Gold as well as silver, have incredible characteristics no other matter on earth can match and neither can paper money. There are many distinct characteristics but here are three important ones to start with:-

Gold is a very durable metal, it wont rust, neither can it be destroyed by fire, You need over 1900 F to melt it! And guess what, most of the gold ever mined still exist today! Bank-notes on the other hand are easily destroyed, in actual fact paper money has a shelf life in most countries, especially in the developed world. The old are discarded and newly minted notes are issued and circulated. What gold there is is all there is, no newly made gold is being made today by mother nature.

You cannot reproduce Silver or Gold, people have tried to produce items in other metal forms and pass it off as gold down through the ages, but they have not succeeded. Unlike paper money gold and silver is not printed. It comes in the natural form given it from the beginning of time, that is before man started innovating stuff, and the scales will always catch the fraudulent impostors

Gold is beautiful and also very portable compared to paper money. You can carry a couple of gold bullion bars in one hand. Try doing that with paper money of the equivalent amount!

One other thing, don't forget that Gold and Silver are Internationally accepted, even the US Dollar as popular as it is does not enjoy the same status. Gold is what it is. Lets not put all our eggs in just one basket. Diversify your cash now for the rainy day.

Gold and Silver: Important Investments

OK, I've been going on about buying gold and silver bullions. This time I just wanted to remind us that even the gold and silver jewellery we buy are important investments.

I was reminded of this by a dear friend of mine who is going through some very trying emotional and finacial troubles right now. I've known her for years and I'm aware of her deep love for collecting any good quality gold jewellery. Well guess what, now that times are hard, she sells her gold off, bit by bit; and is therefore able to pay her important and essential bills, without having to go borrowing. Now that is a good investment.

So if you haven't started thinking about it, please do. If you have, get to the next stage, ask questions find out how you too can start buying and investing in gold and silver so that your savings will be valuable when the rainy days from this financial recession starts to unfold.

Buy Genuine Gold Coins and Bars Please!

Last week I suggested that investing in Gold might be a very wise decision in our present economic climate, as the recession continues to hit hard at our hard earned cash stacked away in bank vaults for that rainy day.

As we all know the value of Paper Money has been weakened tremendously in the west, because of the greed that has fed the financial economic models in the last twenty odd years. We are about to start really paying for this, and the wise ones will make sure that their eggs are not all placed in one basket, namely in Paper Money saved in the bank vaults of our banking institutions.

So lets say you've decided to be wise and start investing in Gold bullions and the like, well one word of advice though, ensure that you buy your bullions from reputable firms and individuals preferably those that belong to the relevant trade associations in your countries. Bullions do not always come with certificates, but if you buy from a reputable dealer or firm you wont go wrong. There are a lot of fakes out there and you do not want to find yourself lumbered with worthless bits of metal someone sold to you as pure gold or silver.

Some reputable associations that dealers belong to include:

BNTA (British Numismatic Trade Association)
CAND (Canadian Association of Numismatic Dealers)
IAPN (International Association of Professional Numismatists)
SAAND (South African Association of Numismatic Dealers)
ANDA (Australasian Numismatic Dealer's Association)

Paper Money Collectors should note that this is not a call to abandon your hobby and paper money investment portfolios, but this is a call to broaden your investments and not keep every saved penny as raw cash in the banks.