If your a seasoned investor, you’ve probably heard of ETF’s and might have even purchased a few index ETFs for your portfolio but did you know that there are now a myriad of specialized ETF’s you can choose from including my all time favorite; a gold bullion ETF.
Before I tackle why I recommend a gold ETF as the investment vehicle of choice for this commodity, let me first reason with you why I like gold bullion as a whole. If you’ve paid any attention to the markets the last five years, you’ll see a clear uptrend in gold prices. In fact they are at all time highs when taking into account inflation. Few could argue that we are currently in a gold bull market. What is up for debate however, is whether we are still in a long term gold market or whether this gold uptrend will come to an end.
As a professed gold bug, please take this with that context in mind as I probably am biased in my view but I do believe we are still in a long term precious metals bull market. Why? Simply, gold is and always will be money. Yes it makes pretty jewelry too but when it comes down to it is simply a currency; a currency that will always hold value. This same thing cannot be said for fiat currencies such as the US dollar, Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan, or any other world currency. Foreign currencies are only backed by their governments that issue them so if that country’s economy starts to falter, you’re going to feel it and if it collapses, you could be out most of your money. How likely is this with major world currencies? Perhaps not likely, but then again, the USD has suffered it’s biggest loses in decades with no recovery in the near future and if the USD can falter like this, what currency really is safe other than gold?
Hopefully I have presented a pretty good argument for owning some gold in your portfolio. Now, aside from owning gold bullion in a private vault or safety deposit box, an ETF gold bullion fund is the next best thing for participating in the bull market so consider adding a reputable gold fund like GLD to your portfolio. In future years, you’ll probably be glad you did.