Gold: The Unsurance Policy - Love It Or Loathe It

[Copper Catcher]

Grant Williams, Of Things That May You Go Hhhmm, gave the following presentation at Mines & Money in London in early December laying out why he believes the gold price is languishing despite a wealth of what would ordinarily be positive catalysts. Currently, outside those who focus on precious metals, there is an enormous amount of apathy but, we suspect, that apathy will shortly turn to enthusiasm - an enthusiasm which will expose the rift between paper prices set in NY and the structural changes undergone in the physical markets over the last several years. Still, outside of today's small move, for now... Nobody Cares.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnZHMmCjpQ8#t=147
This video is 28 minutes long but well worth viewing!

[johnbrickner]

More than well worth viewing. Grant puts forward some very interesting information I was currently unaware of in addition to a great perspective to owning gold. And of course, the fact that "No One Cares". Almost no one.

[68Camaro]

Well done video. He touches on nearly all the major points. The one that he doesn't spend a lot of time on is why nobody cares. But that's a whole nuther video.

[beauanderos]

Very good watch. Thanks for the link. I hope nobody cares for a few more years.

[shinnosuke]

Now that was an interesting video. I learned several things even though the video is several years old. I checked on YouTube and it appears his last video there was uploaded 5 years ago. However, he has an active account on X.com

The point of his video is that the price of gold changes when the fact that Nobody Cares is replaced by everyone caring. Hmmm... I wonder if there's a more recent application of that concept swimming along just below the surface of most people's awareness.

[68Camaro]

I look at it slightly differently. I see gold as the definition of classical money. It will always trend to the norm including inflation. For most of history keeping most of your wealth as gold made no sense as it rarely varied from the norm - the thing to do was to keep a small percentage (10-15%) as backup, and keep most of your wealth in wealth creation businesses.

But we live during a cultural anomaly (possibly the only period in history) in which gold is broadly underestimated, so it is possible to actually "invest" in gold in the sense that you can buy it undervalued, with an expectation of being able to sell it later at a profit.

[shinnosuke]

Let me touch on "history" first. What a terribly (wickedly?) undereducated nation we, and many in the so-called West, have become. We're going to learn our lesson on that subject the hard way. For example, as you know, of course, our forefathers knew history and human nature very well, bequeathing us with almost perfect founding documents. Frittered away.

I get the 10-15% recommendation, but there comes an inflection point at which one would prefer to have 85-90% in the yellow metal. Problem is, can the switch from fiat to Au happen then? Is it everlastingly too late?

And crossing international borders with much weight becomes problematic. Can nothing solve this dilemma?

[MaxGravy]

...And crossing international borders with much weight becomes problematic. Can nothing solve this dilemma?

There are several safe and legal ways to accomplish this.

[68Camaro]

Let me touch on "history" first. What a terribly (wickedly?) undereducated nation we, and many in the so-called West, have become. We're going to learn our lesson on that subject the hard way. For example, as you know, of course, our forefathers knew history and human nature very well, bequeathing us with almost perfect founding documents. Frittered away.

I get the 10-15% recommendation, but there comes an inflection point at which one would prefer to have 85-90% in the yellow metal. Problem is, can the switch from fiat to Au happen then? Is it everlastingly too late?

And crossing international borders with much weight becomes problematic. Can nothing solve this dilemma?

I've largely given up on trying to macro-optimize. I just buy when a reasonable deal shows itself and I have the FRNs. I tend not to pay significant premiums, and I buy less when the price is rising, and more when it has fallen. A form of DCA I guess. I'm retired now so I don't convert from FRNs to PMs so much any more, saving my FRNs more for travel and nicer small splurges. But I haven't completely stopped trading. Perhaps my children will benefit after I'm gone. They appear to appreciate PMs at least a bit.

[Morsecode]

...And crossing international borders with much weight becomes problematic. Can nothing solve this dilemma?

There are several safe and legal ways to accomplish this.

$1,000,000 in gold is roughly 12 or 13 kilo bars, weighs 25lbs and fits in a shoe box. How hard can it be?