Trainee neophyte":24pggzx9 said:
Yes. And, in general, gold isn't bought by any educated investors here unless they are gigantic and need a hedge. It's far more commonly bought by people who think the stock market is made up of space aliens and older people who only believe in investments that they can touch.
My father is a big fan of silver. I can tell you why..
.. because he bought gold in the 1980s and it took a couple of decades for him to break even on it again.
His theory is that he's learned his lesson and will not buy gold again. I recall getting silver coins as a young kid (some kind of government minted 1 troy ounce coin). They were $7.25 each. That was at least 30 years ago. Since then, they've appreciated to the princely sum of about $18.
The S&P 500 would have left him with about four times that amount had he invested in it (in the states, he could've invested tax deferred until now).
At any rate, it's common on talk radio and other media avenues catering to older people to try to sell gold, shares in gold, coins, etc, with appealing to the generation post-depression who listened to too many scary stories from their parents.
