Читать книгу Investing in Gold & Silver For Dummies - Paul Mladjenovic, Paul Mladjenovic, Ted Sudol - Страница 15

In times of stock market mayhem and economic uncertainty, many investors tend to flock to bonds. Whether corporate bonds, municipal bonds, or what’s considered the safest category — U.S. Treasury Bonds — bonds are considered a safer bet than stocks during periods of economic difficulty such as a recession.

All things being equal, that’s generally true, especially in conventional times as has been the case in recent decades. But 2020–2030 isn’t a conventional time. Regardless, a bond is a perfect example of counterparty risk. A bond is essentially an asset for the bond buyer (basically the creditor), but on the other side of this, it’s a debt that must be satisfied by the debtor. Given this, a bond’s value is only as good as the promise or performance of the payer of the bond. The payer of the bond (a company, municipality, state, or sovereign government) is the counterparty.

Many times throughout history, bonds went to zero because the counterparty defaulted on the legal obligation to pay back any interest plus principal. But now we’re in unconventional times with epic amounts of trillion-dollar, unsustainable debt. During 2020–2030, you will see defaults. Corporate and municipal entities will default and/or pay creditors (such as investors) only a tiny fraction of what’s due. Bonds are paper assets entering a uniquely hazardous time in history.

Gold and silver that you own and hold in your possession aren’t someone else’s liability or promise to pay. There’s no counterparty that needs to perform so that gold and silver retain their value. Gold and silver have their own, intrinsic value — no matter what’s going on in the world or across the financial and economic landscape. That has been true for thousands of years. For more details on buying and owning physical gold and silver, check out Chapter 9 (on bullion coins) and Chapter 10 (for numismatic and collectible coins).