The 7 Golden Rules of Gold Investing

2007-09-27T22:25:00.000+02:00

1. Buy Gold in Troubled Times – An investment in gold should be based on macroeconomic considerations and investment climate. Today, people are buying gold to protect their portfolio from a currency crisis, recession, and the fear of a crashing stock market should there be another terrorist attack of major proportions. Diversifying into gold prior to these events will provide the most protection from a crisis.

2. Dedicate A Portion of Your Portfolio to Gold – In our opinion, a reasonable allocation of gold in a conservative, diversified portfolio is 1 to 3% during a bear market in gold and 5% to 10% during a bull market in gold. This allocation will provide balance, diversity, insurance for your stock portfolio, and excellent long-term profit opportunity.

3. Buy the Real, Tangible Gold – Bullion gold or gold coins are a more conservative way to invest in gold than gold stocks. In addition, there is greater liquidity in physical gold for large pools of capital. Do not make the mistake of letting someone hold your gold for you or buying a so-called "gold certificate" or "structured note." Insist on taking physical possession immediately of your gold, gold coins, or gold bars. Only by taking physical delivery can you guarantee that you truly own the gold.

4. Keep Abreast of Gold News – Gold is sometimes a controversial, anti-establishment investment. Therefore, you generally can’t rely on conventional financial media, the Wall Street Journal or cable channels for your news. Their sole purpose is to promote stocks to investors. In the gold area, commentary is even more misleading and ill informed than usual. Gather all the information on gold you can before you invest.

5. Don’t Settle for Too Little Gold – Unlike other commodities, the demand for gold rises dramatically as the price rises. Should unexpected events that may seem unimaginable today actually occur, the target price for gold could be several times today’s price. Historically, the faster and higher gold rises, the more investors chase after gold.

6. Buy Gold for Financial Insurance – Historically, gold has provided the best protection against financial catastrophe and upheavals. In the case of the most severe circumstances like high inflation or currency deflation, gold offers you both safety and security. With past currency failures in Argentina and Uruguay, investors who owned gold still had currency despite the fact that banks and ATM's were closed and bank customers could not take their own money out of their own accounts. Naturally, the magnitude of the upside potential for gold is a function of the amount of paper assets that would be sold off and converted to gold in the event a financial crisis.

7. Be Careful Buying Gold – Even though gold itself is a most conservative investment, "gold fever" attracts a crowd of investors, speculators, and want-to-be gold dealers. A firm like Austin Rare Coins & Gold Bullion has been incorporated since 1989. We offer you a variety of ways to acquire gold, gold bullion or gold coins while giving you the assurance of dealing with a reputable firm founded in 1989. We are proud to support the Industry Council for Tangible Assets and are members of the Professional Coin Grading Service, the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, and the American Numismatic Association. Reputable and established gold dealers are the most like to be in business years from now when you’re ready to sell your gold.

Diamonds Facts

2007-09-25T19:17:00.000+02:00

Diamond Facts

Most natural diamonds are 1 to 3 billion years old. They originate deep within the earth's crust and are created under enormous pressure. This makes them the most dense material known to man. They reach the planets surface through volcanoes and most diamonds are found in Kimberlite, a volcanic rock.

Diamonds are made of carbon, the same substance as talc, the softest carbon known. The difference in hardness between the carbons such as talc, gypsum, fluorite and diamonds, for example, is the way the atoms are arranged in the carbon. Diamonds are made under immense pressure so it seems logical that the most pressure the harder the carbon and diamonds are the hardest.

The largest diamond ever found was the Cullinan Diamond in the Premier mine in South Africa in 1905. It weight in at a massive 3,106 carats, or 621.2 grams. This is 6.21 Kilos. It was cut into nine separate stones including the Cullinan or Star of Africa which weights 550.20 carats. This stone is mounted in the British Royal Scepter, part of the British Crown Jewels, and can be found in the Tower of London.

80% of the worlds diamonds are unsuitable for jewelry. They are used in industry for cutting other material or other diamonds and for watches as, for all intents and purposes, cannot wear out.

To get 5 grams of diamond generally requires mining or sorting through about 1 million grams of material but only 20% of these are suitable for jewelry. The rest are used in industry.

Diamonds are thought to be white but in fact can be a range of colors, see Color of Diamonds for more information. Colored diamonds are often called Fancies.

Diamonds, Gold

The 7 Golden Rules of Gold Investing

Diamonds Facts

Diamond Facts