I was trying to make an Australian equivalent of the American dollar charts that are around since the start of the Fed. I picked 1910 as that was the when the Australian Pound was introduced under Fisher and, more importantly, I could get an ABS data series going back that far. It wouldn't be unreasonable to use other points of course (including 1966) but my first thought was to mimic the USD pics.
Is the currency knight a reference to gold? I thought the Australian pound was linked to the GBP. I've got some facts and figures somewhere in relation to that, when I get home from work I'll try and locate it all.
Well let's take commodities then If I want to invest in commodities how would I got about it? I think oil is the most valuable commodity but how do I invest in oil ? I possibly could buy some sort of oil futures contract but I don't trade futures. I can't really buy 1000 barrels of physical oil and store it in my back yard can I ? gold can be a proxy for oil The price of oil is a major cost in the mining process, so if oil goes up the cost of mining gold will also go up Reserve banks hold gold for the very reason of allowing them to keep buying oil if their local currency tanks Gold and silver are commodities that are easy to purchase and store. Or let's take currencies Japan is openly following a policy of devaluating the Yen as a way to get out of their 20 year shit hole. Will China and Germany sit by while Japanese made cars become cheaper than others ? Or will there be a currency war with everybody racing to devalue Australia will be bringing a pea shooter to a bazooka fight in such a scenario So how can someone with Aussie dollars protect those in the event of a currency war ? Doesn't matter how good Australia's public debt is, it will be collateral damage Which currency to buy ? Euros ? Gold can also act as a currency in this regard - a currency of last resort Like I said, there are many reasons for owning gold you may not have considered
Ok, this is getting a little off-topic from gold here, but let me elaborate: For individuals, their options can be limited as opposed to institutional investors. If you want exposure to oil, you can take positions on futures contracts for oil. This is done through trading CFDs (Contracts for Difference) There are some platforms that you can trade through, these are what some day traders use: http://www.cmcmarkets.com.au/ http://www.ig.com/au Be warned though, CFDs trade on leverage and may carry the risk of losing bigger amounts of money than what you put down as your margin. They are definitely not for the inexperienced - you need to have understanding of Technical Analysis to be able to trade successfully. However, if you have a real interest in commodities, you can learn about CFDs as it gives you exposure to a wide variety of commodities, such as crude oil, natural gas, gas oil, etc. (these are what we call "energy commodities") and wheat, corn, sugar, cocoa, coffee, wool, etc. (these are what we call "soft commodities"). Through CFDs you can also trade currencies, or what we call more commonly "Forex" (short for Foreign Exchange) if you don't want to buy the actual cash of another country. For real estate, instead of buying houses, there is also a more liquid alternative called Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). They are listed on the stock exchange and you would buy them similar to how you buy shares. More info here: http://www.asx.com.au/products/managed-funds/areits.htm I know people have more reasons for owning gold, like what you said "currency of last resort". However, when things hit the fan, the whole world and their currencies will be affected. However, they will be affected by varying degrees. You may have developed countries taking the biggest blow and their currencies depreciating a lot. However, you may have emerging countries rising from this opportunity and taking the helm. China is a great example - many people are fleeing to the Chinese Yuan because they deem it as a strong currency that is backed by a lot of economic strengths. Hence you see the Chinese Yuan (CNY) appreciating a lot recently. Although things are not that simple - China does have problems of its own, but that's a whole other discussion. There are other alternatives out there and it's very interesting to see how everything interacts in the grand scheme of things.
Thank you for your concern. Are you a voluntary lollypop lady at the school crossing? Perhaps you could start your own forum, Nonstackers.com perhaps?
I thought this was a free forum where we can discuss both sides of something? Or did I miss something when I registered for these forums?
You missed the top of the page... "Silver Stackers Discussion forum for those who love to stack precious metals."
Just say your thing. Gold and Silver have positive aspects and negative aspects. It takes maturity to investigate and acknowledge both aspects. There is more to life and stores of wealth than PMs.
Thank you, I will. I respect those who are willing to see and talk about both the positive and negative aspects of their investments.
Bits and pieces of my own research, with my own opinions thrown in just for good measure. Essentially, we had a Clayton's gold standard (surprise surprise when a government mandate creates a currency :/ ). snippety snip
Whilst I value differing views, it never ceases to amuse and amaze me, how some new members appear to be on a crusade to impart their wisdom as an absolute over many others. Typically, it generally takes 4-6 months for them to settle down and understand that some of the older stackers have much more worldly experience than they do. Just my $0.02 worth.
Batphone's probably ringing as we speak though. Or is it Superman who lives in a cave? Now that I think of it, does spiderman live in a shed?
I, for one, actually thought the article was pretty good. The section before the 10 points showed that the author had some idea about what gold actually is, rather than the usual mainstream writer writing an article about gold having never actually owned or understood it. As bullion baron said, contrarian views are as valuable to the forum as their opposing views. I'm not a trader, so for me, I don't hop in and out of an asset 100%. Out of interest, Cave_Guard, what percentage is your asset split? (If you don't mind saying). Thanks for the article.
I'm not saying anything about my personal asset management because there are too many people eyeing my posts, as you can see here. I do actively trade though, if you must know.
