eli5: Why is investing in Gold considered so secure?
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Gold is a physical thing and as long as you posses it, it holds some value.
A lot of that value is man made and as much a construct as the value of money, but below that gold has some actual worth as a soft shiny metal that can be easily worked in to all sorts of shapes and doesn’t corrode easily and conducts electricity and heat well.
Gold is also relatively rare and with a predictable amount of new gold produced each year by mining. Aluminium used to be rare and more precious than gold, until we figured out how to make it cheaply and easily. the same won’t go for gold. Short of somebody finding a new unexpected and large gold mine, a philosopher’s stone, easy atomic fusion, easy asteroid mining or a dragon’s hoard the amount of gold that will exist in the future remains limited and predictable.
Gold will fluctuate in value, but it won’t suddenly become nearly worthless unless something extreme happens.
Gold is not necessarily a good investment if you want to make more money, but in terms of not losing money it is very good. Perhaps not the best, but you are unlikely to lose it all if you buy gold.
Anyone trying to sell you gold online is likely a scammer.
Anyone who is trying to sell you gold promising you will get rich is a scammer.
Anyone hoarding gold to maintain his wealth in the case of a collapse of civilization is deluded.
Anyone advocating a return to the gold standard is probably not as much of an expert on economics as they think they are.
Buying gold from reputable source in physical form or as certificates from a trusted source as a hedge against losing everything in a crash is not the worst idea, but it isn’t genius either.
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