Investing in Gold – One of the Oldest Forms of Monetary Investment
For many centuries, people have used gold as a means of investment. From ancient civilizations who would craft art and jewelry out of the precious metal to more recent years when people buy gold bars and gold coins, investing in gold is nothing new. Really, the only thing that has changed is the way in which we put our money into the precious metal as a means of getting a financial return. While people used to get the precious metal in any form that they could as a means of investment, now we tend to just stick with stock, bars or coins – though any gold can be melted down into bars or coins, so that is something to keep in mind.
The way in which gold is weighted is by troy ounces. The price for a troy ounce of this precious metal changes pretty much all of the time. The value of investing in gold rises significantly with every year. For instance, in 2005 the cost for a troy ounce of this precious metal was $513. In 2010, however, the price had risen to around $1,400 per troy ounce. That is almost three times the amount that it was worth in 2005. That is a remarkable return on an investment. And, because of the very nature of this precious metal, the cost of it does not decrease that often. Even if it does, it will always go back up in value again. So, it really is a much safer investment when compared to others.
For the very reason that investing in gold is such a good idea, there are plenty of places that will buy your unwanted jewelry items made of this precious metal so they can melt it down. Of course, you will probably not make as much per troy ounce for your unwanted pieces that is in the form of jewelry and coins if you sell to these types of places, but some money is better than no money at all. You just have to be careful when it comes to sending off your unwanted pieces instead of going to a physical jewelry shop that also buys these pieces to melt down.
If you choose to do your gold investing by getting bars or coins, you need to be careful about fakes. There are some bars and coins that are easily forged so you will need to be sure you are getting the real deal and not giving some criminal free money. This is the biggest risk you take when investing in gold because, as already mentioned, the price of it will always go back up even when it initially goes down.