Читать книгу Investing in Gold & Silver For Dummies - Paul Mladjenovic, Paul Mladjenovic, Ted Sudol - Страница 57

IN THIS CHAPTER

Checking out gold’s performance versus the financial world since 2000

Investigating investment and industrial factors for gold’s success

Reviewing gold bull and bear markets of the recent past

Discovering why gold looks profitable for the 2020s

“Going for the gold,” “good as gold,” and many other familiar phrases mentioning gold have been around for what seems like forever, but for good reason. Few things conjure up thoughts of wealth and affluence the way gold does. I don’t recall any pirate in a B movie shouting, “Aargh! There’s zinc buried on that island, mateys!” On the other hand, gold … now we’re talking.

Gold is an element found on the standard periodic table of the chemical elements. Gold is listed there with the symbol AU and the atomic number 79 (don’t worry, the quiz has been canceled). The most malleable and ductile of the metals, you could actually take a single ounce of gold and essentially stretch it out into 300 square feet (no, I don’t know why you would do it, but it sounds impressive). Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity (and probably thieves as well). Because it’s generally resistant to rust and corrosion, gold quickly became an ideal material to fashion into jewelry, coins, and, therefore, money. The desirability of gold now became ensured.

However, as you read this book, every major society is inflating its currency at record rates, which is good news for gold and silver aficionados. In this chapter, I highlight the important reasons gold is (or should be) an essential part of the modern portfolio and how it has stacked up against other investments and common economic conditions.