Is Gold a Retirement and Financial Option?

Over the past few years, I know that I have not been alone in searching for ways to invest for my retirement while also maintaining my current financial situation.  To say that it has been a challenge is probably putting it lightly, seeing how difficult things have been not just for me but for most families across the world.  How are we meant to proceed like nothing has happened, right?

That has been my question for quite some time now, I must admit.  If you have had similar sentiments and have felt lost when it comes to selecting assets and investing in general, you have come to the right place.  I am going to share with you some of what I have learned through some research, and hopefully it can serve you just as well as it has me!

The Importance of Investing in General

It might seem a bit silly to start off on this point, but I do think that it is worth covering.  When I was in school, I certainly was not offered any education on how investing works and why it matters.  Even retirement was just brushed over, seeing as my civics class focused much more on law and legislature than the economic aspects of our government.

The first step that I took was to look at pages such as this one, https://www.thebalancemoney.com/why-is-investing-important-5222360, which can offer some perspective.  Something to note, though, is a lot of these sources are rather complex and difficult to read at times.  That is part of why I want to condense it for you here.

Investing is essentially a way to provide for yourself in the future.  The intent is to purchase an asset that will gain value over time (usually called “appreciation” of value) so that in the future you can cash out on that and sell it for much more than you bought it for.  So, it is optimal to study the markets and past trends before you make a large purchase.

Each asset that we decide to invest in comes with some level of risk.  Some markets are riskier than others, though.  For instance, cryptocurrency tends to come with a lot of inherent risk since it is a relatively unproven form of making money in return.  There is little to no guarantee that it will retain its current pricing, let alone go up in overall value.

So, this is part of why this topic is so important to be informed on.  There are ways that we can be cautious about it, though.  For example, something like a Metal Res 401k tends to be “safer” in terms of keeping current funds but protecting them from inflation.  How does that work, though?

Are Precious Metals Viable for Investing?

Now, let us tackle the main question that I am looking to cover in this article.  Are precious metals something that more of us should be thinking about when it comes to the topic of investments?  Well, the answer does appear to be yes – allow me to extrapolate.  

In our current political and economic atmosphere, it is a bit hard to declare anything a “one hundred percent sound investment.”  A lot can change even from day to day, so I would caution you from believing any sources that claim that.  However, there are certain assets that simply carry less of that inherent risk that I already discussed with you.

The precious metals of the periodic table are one such potential.  They are considered a commodity.  This means that you can invest in them through official channels, such as via retirement accounts.  I provided a resource above to learn more about how that can work, for those intrigued by this.

Now, you might be wondering why these metals are so valuable that they tend not to depreciate in cost over the years.  Well, the answer is rather simple, really.  There are even some academic journals covering this, including the one right here.  It comes down to the fact that they are rare and carry special properties that makes them desirable to us.

The rarity of them is part of why they are considered under the “precious metals” umbrella, which is a special classification on the periodic table of elements.  The ones that many investors flock to are silver, gold, and the platinum family of metals (which includes palladium).  They each have unique chemical properties that makes them both beautiful and useful.

The luster and shine of them means that they have been utilized for jewelry and coinage for centuries, if not thousands of years.  Of course, this implies that they have indeed held value for humans throughout all of that time.  It is hard to imagine that this would pivot drastically in the next few decades, right?

This aspect is what makes it so attractive to those looking to create a protection against inflation rates.  While paper currencies and cryptocurrencies are losing their value, money can essentially be “stored” within gold bullion.  When it is resold in the future, you are far less likely to lose money than you would with something like a stock or a bond while we are contending with inflation like we are right now.

So, even if it might seem like a far-off goal or something unobtainable for us, I recommend at least looking into it.  You may be surprised by what you find out!

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