However, "inflation" used to be called "a wage and price spiral". I see little evidence that wages are poised to spiral

... at least not up.

NOT LIQUID!

... when the stock market (&/or dollar) is soft or declining.

In general, if the stock market is strong investors buy paper (stocks & bonds). If the market is weak, they buy metal (gold).

I kept an international precious metals fund in my portfolio for many years but finally sold it off last year. It just wasn't doing anything, with such a strong stock market.

I won't invest in metal again until I see the stock market stumble & start to decline, along with a corresponding rise in gold.

except in cases of bad management.


If you buy the metal outright, you are paying a high commission, in and out. Buy the stock and you pay $10. or so in and out.

A friend of mine had stock in a company mining in Africa. The Ebola crisis hit and the mine was shut down. He lost $25K.

As investment, consult a real professional. For what it's worth, and I realize you know absolutely nothing about me, I've had financial advisers in one form or another for more than thirty years, and none of them have ever suggested precious metals by themselves. Not even as a very small part of the portfolio.

As one person has already said, they are not very liquid. I'm also under the impression that there's a high cost to the buying and selling in the first place, so do plenty of research and understand exactly what you are doing before you buy.

As mentioned, commission is one. Unless you are buying coins and KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING and are buying from a reputable dealer that sells for a thin margin, it is difficult to come out on top.

Secondly is the storage. Be they coins or bullion, you have to keep it somewhere and that means either a safe deposit box or a safe in the house. That is an added expense that can kill any gains.

They pay no dividends or interest, so you are relying strictly on price movement.

They can and are used as a storage of value. One good analogy I heard was that in the 1850's, a $20.00 gold piece would buy you a finely tailored suit. Today, that same gold piece will buy you a finely tailored suit.

I had a client who bought heavily into coins in '06 and if he sold at the right time, he would have done well. If he didn't? Not so much, not to mention, as I indicated above, he had a lot of money tied up in an asset that provided no dividends.

There is nothing wrong with having a portion of your portfolio in metals, but how much depends on your risk tolerance, and ALL commodities are an inherently risky asset class for the average investor.
(Edit here; This is a possible reason why SheilaT above, has never had an advisor suggest it. As an asset class, it is likely outside her risk tolerance and they knew it, as they should if they have done their jobs properly.)

Would you also consider placing a portion of your portfolio in Feeder Cattle? Oil? Corn?....etc.

As mentioned by others, a Gold or other precious metal ETF is a somewhat safer and certainly more liquid facsimile.

Gold ETF's;
http://etfdb.com/type/commodity/precious-metals/gold-etf/

Other precious metal ETF's;
http://etfdb.com/etfdb-category/precious-metals/

CAUTION! On the tables at those links above, where you see the letters "ETN", that stands for "Exchange Traded NOTE". These are debt securities. One should make sure they understand COMPLETELY these securities before investing, as they act differently and can be priced contrarily to an Exchange Traded Fund.

As usual.

Got diagnosed as diabetic a while back, so I've been trying to get my crap together and get healthy.

How have you been? How's the open road?

Things are good. Been with this firm a year December now. Staying busy, even at the bottom of the seniority board!

Sorry to hear about the Diabetes. Stay healthy!

Gold prices fell for a third consecutive week with the precious metal off more than 2.17% to trade at 1177 ahead of the New York close on Friday. Investors, big or small, both are bearish on gold.

There is a strong majority of those who believe there is a bearish continuation. Yes! Financial Headlines regarding gold bullion are downright negative on gold. But, is this all about gold price in 2015?

Watch this video--Lombardi says there is a classic supply/demand squeeze is in the works that could push up gold prices significantly.

$882 an ounce. Gold is $1077