Jonathan Campbell
Research for Empowerment and Survival

Helping people take charge of their lives

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For long-term investing – time to invest in gold

In my last alert, I discussed our esteemed Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Ben Bernanke, and his useless bluster against inflation and devaluation. Some people actually expected him to raise interest rates, but he knew that doing this would quickly wreck the economy, since it runs on credit, and since credit is hard to come by already because the sub-prime mortgage fiasco.

He’s between a rock and a hard place, and the rock has a gold vein. Because he’s a free-market guy, he can’t control the astounding rise in oil prices, which drives the prices of everything else. His useless talk gave the word that inflation and devaluation are upon us and there is nothing he can or will do about it. In five days, the price of gold has gone from $890 to $935, and it is still climbing as I am writing this Alert.

Gold analysts are now estimating that the price of gold is likely to rise to $1000 or more. However, it will still be volatile – it is not a good short-term investment. And never – and I do mean never – buy into gold “financing” such as Monex’s Atlas Account. This is gold speculating, and if the price drops – and it occasionally will as someone tries to dump some into the market – you’ll lose everything.

To purchase gold safely: If you have savings and you want to place it in something likely to be more stable than dollars, gold may be the asset of choice. You have many choices of how to buy your gold, but I recommend these two, both available from Kitco. Based in Canada, it is one of the largest and most reliable, convenient, and dependable precious metals dealers in North America, and they don’t sell any speculative scams. You can order online or over the phone. Their customer service is superb.

1. To purchase it quickly and easily and not hold the physical assets, open a Royal Canadian Mint Account at http://www.kitco.com. The advantage is that you don’t need to pay shipping, handling, and insurance, and you don’t need to figure out where to store the gold safely. It is stored for you at the Mint for a flat fee of $60 per year (for all of your holdings) and there is a transaction fee of $25 per transaction. Click on Precious Metal Store, and then click on the button for the Royal Canadian Mint Account.
2. If you want to buy the physical assets (to be stored in a bank safe deposit box or gold repository, never in your home!), you can purchase gold directly from Kitco. Just go to their website, http://www.kitco.com, go the Precious Metal Store, and click on Complete Bullion Products. The most convenient and saleable product is the one-ounce gold bar. Kitco’s price is about $10 above the gold market price, and then you’ll also need to pay shipping, handling, and insurance, which can be as much as $50-$60, so unless you are getting a large amount – five ounces or more – the cost of this option eats into your investment. Kitco also offers an option to store your gold for you in a repository in New York.

Alerts

The Storm Rages On

The Storm Has Begun, Takeover of Freddie and Fannie

The Calm Before The Storm

Jedi Mind Tricks

The Meltdown Continues, IndyMac, $100,000 FDIC Limit

The Meltdown Has Begun

Welcome, predictions, Bernanke Bluster

Tips on Buying Gold

Avoid Foreclosure

Standard Disclaimer: The information above, Bad Moon Rising Alerts, and the Bad Moon Rising Survival Guides do not constitute financial advice, but are condensations and distillations of the work of others and a few words of what I believe to be common sense. Please seek out an independent licensed accountant or financial advisor to review the information and references I have provided as well as their own expert knowledge, in order to tailor a financial plan to your circumstances. I cannot be held responsible for the consequences of decisions made based on the information I provide. If I suggest that you stop playing the lottery to save money and your number comes up, don't blame me.

©Graphics, Web design, and content Copyright 2003-2008 by Jonathan L. Campbell.

Jonathan Campbell
Research for Empowerment and Survival
43 Boynton Street, S. 2R
Boston, MA 02130-3263
EconomicAlert: http://www.cqs.com/economicalert

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