The Goldwatcher by John Katz and Frank Holmes
This book is a goldmine for anyone caught up in the excitement of gold's rise in the past twelve years from $285 to $1200 per ounce.
It provides a wealth of factual information related to the history of gold, the gold mining industry, how to invest in gold mining companies, what factors move the price of gold, the history and consequences of the gold standard, and much more.
Unlike many previous books by gold bugs pushing the wonders of this historical store of permanent value, they take a much more practical approach.
If it has a real flaw, it could be that there are so many facts and figures, there's little room for the ordinary emotional appeals surrounding gold.
There's also a long section in the middle of the book describing the basic economic problems faced by the United States in the 21st century.
This goes at length into budget deficits, competition from India and China, the declining dollar, the rise of oil prices, the prospect that countries now shoring up our budget deficit will stop buying US Treasury bonds or even sell them (plunging the US dollar into a frightening collapse), and so on.
Many times in these pages I got confused about whether I was reading a book or a sales letter for an Agora financial newsletter.
It goes a little bit into the subprime mortgage crisis, but evidently was published before the transformation of Wall Street in September 2008.
There's a large amount of information here, including many graphs and charts.
It's both an overall look at gold from an economic and investment perspective.
There's lots of good advice on buying gold coins and bars, buying gold mining companies, gold mutual funds and gold Exchange Traded Funds.
One author mentions his theory that the prime buyers of gold ETFs are Sovereign Wealth Funds, which are pools of investment money controlled by governments.
If he's correct, that would mean countries around the world have ownership interest in a lot of gold that's not in their central bank vaults and not reported to the International Monetary Fund.
It's not illegal.
It is a clever way to shore up gold reserves while remaining under the radar -- if true.
The overall implication of this book is that due to the various economic problems faced by the world, it's smart to invest in gold as the proven store of value.
The world is not going to return to the gold standard, but gold is a form of "stateless wealth.
" That is, it's worth something to everybody around the world.
It's not money issued by a specific government.
I'm not so sure that gold is a great investment, because it doesn't write dividend checks, and I prefer income investing.
Plus, in a real catastrophe food, shelter and a stack of firewood are more likely to be of real value.
However, if you're interested in the subject, there's a huge amount of information to help you.
It provides a wealth of factual information related to the history of gold, the gold mining industry, how to invest in gold mining companies, what factors move the price of gold, the history and consequences of the gold standard, and much more.
Unlike many previous books by gold bugs pushing the wonders of this historical store of permanent value, they take a much more practical approach.
If it has a real flaw, it could be that there are so many facts and figures, there's little room for the ordinary emotional appeals surrounding gold.
There's also a long section in the middle of the book describing the basic economic problems faced by the United States in the 21st century.
This goes at length into budget deficits, competition from India and China, the declining dollar, the rise of oil prices, the prospect that countries now shoring up our budget deficit will stop buying US Treasury bonds or even sell them (plunging the US dollar into a frightening collapse), and so on.
Many times in these pages I got confused about whether I was reading a book or a sales letter for an Agora financial newsletter.
It goes a little bit into the subprime mortgage crisis, but evidently was published before the transformation of Wall Street in September 2008.
There's a large amount of information here, including many graphs and charts.
It's both an overall look at gold from an economic and investment perspective.
There's lots of good advice on buying gold coins and bars, buying gold mining companies, gold mutual funds and gold Exchange Traded Funds.
One author mentions his theory that the prime buyers of gold ETFs are Sovereign Wealth Funds, which are pools of investment money controlled by governments.
If he's correct, that would mean countries around the world have ownership interest in a lot of gold that's not in their central bank vaults and not reported to the International Monetary Fund.
It's not illegal.
It is a clever way to shore up gold reserves while remaining under the radar -- if true.
The overall implication of this book is that due to the various economic problems faced by the world, it's smart to invest in gold as the proven store of value.
The world is not going to return to the gold standard, but gold is a form of "stateless wealth.
" That is, it's worth something to everybody around the world.
It's not money issued by a specific government.
I'm not so sure that gold is a great investment, because it doesn't write dividend checks, and I prefer income investing.
Plus, in a real catastrophe food, shelter and a stack of firewood are more likely to be of real value.
However, if you're interested in the subject, there's a huge amount of information to help you.
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