Yep...my third post. I joined this site a couple weeks ago because I am thinking about going into the RE biz and this seems to be an excellent RE site with lots of helpful posters/information. Still deciding if I want to be a landlord or a hard money lender. Will go to my first local RE investment club meeting next month to get more insight.
Like Anthony, I too am in finance so this topic struck a cord. George, just go to the CBO website I posted and go to the historical government budget figures and you should be able to figure out why Gold has enjoyed such a run lately. Of course, after the credit crisis of 2008, more people focused on gold. I believe the rise in Gold prices is all about the lack of confidence of our government's situation. Our government is hoping to inflate our way out of this debt mess, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Gold is a protection against this inflation. I am not advocating buying gold and have less than 5% of my net worth in it (wish I had more). I would just say this, if you were to contemplate investing in gold, have a VERY long time horizon for it. Comparing 10 year histories of gold versus stocks is foolish I believe. According to my Bloomberg, since 1927, Gold has appreciated at a CAGR of 5.30% while the S&P generated a CAGR of 5.33%, WITHOUT dividends. Of course, there are all sorts of problems with the S&P returns, such as survivorship bias, etc.
