Looking to invest in gold in 2010? Now is a great time. With the world’s economies shakier than ever, California and Greece defaulting on debts, and the dollar shaky at best, Gold will continue to shine. We at gold coins gain would like to extend our hand out and help you consider gold to hedge yourself against further economic losses. Take a look at our free gold investment guide and decide for yourself whether gold should be a part of your portfolio in 2010:

Or Click Here to Receive Your Free Gold Investment Guide 2010

Did you know you could invest all or some of your IRA in gold? That’s right you can, and there are a number of ways to accomplish this. But, why put any part of your IRA in gold at all? Well, let’s do a little comparison.

Purchasing Gold Before the Stock Collapse of 2008

If you had purchased gold around the end of the housing boom in early 2006 (right before the burst of the bubble), before the stock market tumbled, you could have purchased an ounce at around $500. Let’s say you put just $50,000 into gold, effectively purchasing 100 ounces. Today, that gold would be worth around $120,000. That’s more than double your money over 100% return. The same amount invested in the S&P500 would have lost about 20% as of today (investing a similar amount around the same time in a basket of stocks representative of the S&P 500). Stocks ARE up since the crash, but gold is WAY UP, and it never went down.

Gold, as has been evidenced recently and in decades past, is a great hedge. A hedge against inflation, deflation, a weakening currency (weakening US dollar). Check out our post “8 Reasons to Own Gold.”

But, many are surprised that you can hold gold in retirement accounts as well.  The process is simple, straightforward, and Gold Coins Gain can help. As a first step fill out our:

Free Gold Investment Guide

and a representative will contact you (if you’d like) with more details on how to make an IRA Gold Investment

It’s come to our attention here at the Gold Coins Gain blog that many people are interested in our gold investing guide, so I thought I would dedicate an entire post to talking about investing in gold, and our free gold investing guide.

If you’re like many people out there, you’ve stumbled upon this blog in doing research. You’re thinking about investing in gold, but you’re not sure whether you should or not. Prices are very high right now, is it the right time to go in? Well the short answer is YES. The longer answer involves your personal financial portfolio, your goals, and honestly your personal preferences when it comes to gold. I’ve heard from investment advisors the world over, gold must be a part of your portfolio, but the one thing they can’t agree on is how much.

Check out many of the other posts on this blog for more information on the economy, gold, and how best to profit from its continuing upward movement, then feel free to fill out our free gold guide form. We’ll send you a copy which should answer many of your questions and then, if you’d like, you can speak to one of our representatives and they can help you formulate a gold investment strategy.

FILL OUT OUR FREE GOLD INVESTING GUIDE TODAY

Read some news last Thursday about Gold being bought up in mass in India. The large purchase of gold coming from India late last week seemed to stem from two key areas. First, the Rupee was down, and so too were citizens’ sentiments towards their currency. Because of the decline in Rupee’s people jumped ship and sunk their money in gold.

The second reason for the large purchases of gold from India was the strengthening US dollar. Say what?! Yes, the dollar improved during the week. Gold seems to move opposite to the dollar – when the dollar improves, gold goes down, when the dollar falls, gold goes up. This normally makes sense. Gold is money, it is a standard or way to compare any country’s currency/value to another. So as a currency improves, so too does the physical amount of gold that currency can purchase. Additionally, gold is measured in US dollars.

So, both worries about the Rupee as well as the price decline (brought on by the stronger dollar) sent gold purchases flying in India.

BUT (and it’s all caps because you know it’s serious – I have a finger waving in the air as I write this)…

Why did the dollar go up?

Because of improved financial data. The country is doing phenomenally! Woopee, we can all go back to partying again.

Or not!

Living in one of the most damaged real estate markets in the country, where everything has suddenly become depressed, it is clear that this is no where near over. There are lots of other markets (California, Nevada, just to name a few) that are going through a similar crisis (and other crises). Jobs in virtually every arena are down, even in Silicon Valley (god help us). The truth is the dollars growth is BS, based in large part on government spending (cough cough propping up) of jobs and industries. We’re spending borrowed dollars on stuff that isn’t actually making our economy grow, creating jobs, etc. eventually this house of cards will fail. Gold will probably tumble from time-to-time as the dollar weakens and strengthens but is the ultimate protection for when the house falls down.

Late last year, October 2009 to be exact, we wrote a post about inflation or deflation in 2010. After significant feedback, requests, and time, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit the article and discussion on whether or not 2010 is heading towards inflation or deflation. First let’s get everyone up to speed:

What is Inflation?

Inflation is defined as a general and progressive increase in prices. Pretty simple, and I’m sure we’re all pretty familiar with this common definition. If you’ve ever heard your parents or grandparents complain (or fantasize) about how prices for a  movie were just 25 cents and you could buy a home in the 50’s for less than $15,000 you’re probably familiar with inflation (although in some areas home prices have insanely dropped to such a low).

Inflation though is a funny thing.

WHY DO THINGS COST MORE? Is it because they are now higher quality? Because they use more advanced, expensive materials? Probably not. The truth is over time, the costs of goods SHOULD go down. As we (humans) become more efficient at mining, assembling, and creating, the costs of goods shouldn’t go up.

The truth is, inflation is really the weakening of a national currency. A dollar doesn’t buy as much as it used to in the 50’s. Check out this awesome chart I found courtesy of Campaign for Liberty:

Did I just blow your mind?! I bet I did. You see how, over time, the purchasing power of the dollar has decreased. Or put another way (and shown on an inverted graph) inflation has increased over time. Never mind the correlation of the steep drops to us leaving the Gold Standard. That’s a whole other post.

What is Deflation?

Deflation is defined as the contraction of economic activity (for example spending within the U.S.) resulting in a decline of prices. It’s a decline in prices. As our economic engines slow there is less need for goods/services (or less desire for consumption) so prices inevitably fall. This is definitely been evidenced, in some small ways, over the last 1.5 years (since the crash of the stock market and turning point of the economy).

As a quick side note… remember all the hulabalu over whether or not the U.S. economy was in a recession or not? Pundits all over CNBC and other networks were going back and forth and no one wanted to admit it. Those were the days.

Back to deflation. If you’ve purchased a car recently, home, etc. you’ve no doubtedly noticed that prices are lower than they once were (circa 2004 – 2008). I purchased a car about 6 months ago that I never could have afforded a few years ago, but because of dealers’ huge inventories I was able to get my dream car. Same with houses. The market is literally flooded with homes, both those that were built and never purchased as well as  ”older” homes whose owner’s were in financial distress and either need to sell, or have been forced into foreclosure. Prices have come down.

But the purchasing power of the dollar is down.

So the question I have is…

Will 2010 signify both deflation and inflation?

Prices, relative to the purchasing power of the dollar may go up (as the dollar falls), ie inflation, but since there is less money shuffling, less purchases being  made, the general prices of goods and services in the U.S. may also fall.

In this case inflation will cancel out deflation – and the average U.S. consumer will see no or nearly no differences. BUT and it’s a big BUT if I may say so, the U.S. economy and the dollar relative to other countries’ economy and currency will stagnate and look stale, dated, and impoverished. Let’s face it, with such little collective savings, and such enormous debt, we are in trouble. So, where deflation may save us for awhile, our engine can only grind to a slow murmur. We will always need to consume the essentials – food, water, housing.

And when that happens should inflation continue, as it should given our ballooning national debt and deficit, we may be spending $100’s of dollars for a cup of coffee.

In the last few days I watched the following two videos:

• Peter Schiff’s Video – UnHappy Stimulus Anniversary
• PBS Frontline’s The Warning

Peter Schiff (who not only runs an investment firm, is also running for office in Connecticut AND continues to put out quality videos on youtube all the time) continues to damn the stimulus package and reveal how it is simply hiding/delaying the inevitable.

The Warning reveals the story of the CFTC (commodities futures trading commission) which regulated agriculture futures as well as derivatives, and it’s new president in ‘96, Brooksley Born.

Both of these videos deal with money the economy, but what do they REALLY have  to do with one another?

Predictions!

Both of these individuals, Peter Schiff & Brooksley Born, predicted in their own respective ways (and specialties) the current economic meltdown we’re wading through. Peter Schiff foresaw the implosion of the real estate crisis, Born predicted the toppling of major US financial institutions due in part to derivative problems (see AIG).

Crazy Predictions

We hear them all the time, the panelists on CNBC or MSNBC predicting the share price of stocks, and they get it wrong. But, Peter Schiff in particular, when making his predictions about the over all economy beginning in 2006 and continuing through the full collapse at the end of 2008 was shot down:

And he was right. Born, on the other hand, predicted the potential problems of derivatives all the way back in ‘96 when derivatives were first being used (and abused) by major financial institutions – and at the time they weren’t in any way regulated.

So, Peter Schiff continues to be a doomsday profit, saying that the current stimulus package is the wrong move. What do you think? No new industries have been created or taken off in the United States, our spending (as a whole – aka Government) is WAY up.

Here’s some crazy stats:

2009 Deficit $400+ Billion
2009 National Debt $5.6 Trillion

2010 Deficit $1.2 Trillion
2010 National Debt $14 Trillion

1 Year deficit increased nearly 300%! 1 year debt increased nearly 300%!

In an awkward move (if you’ve been paying attention to what he’s said recently about gold) US billionaire and renowned investor George Soros has doubled his gold holdings in the first quarter of 2010. Soros Fund Management, under Soros’ direct control, has increased it’s gold holdings to just over $660 Million.

This is in stark contrast to some of the seemingly negative remarks Soros has made about gold recently. For example, Soros called called “the ultimate asset bubble.” But, was he commenting on what could happen if tons of people rush into gold at once – trying to protect themselves against other monetary crises’?

We think so.

If that were to happen it could drive prices up to a point where they no longer were in lock-step with the real price of goods.

If gold did get to another outrageous price and popped it would definitely be horrible, but although we’ve seen record gains in terms of price per ounce, we’re no where near the inflation adjusted percentage increases we’ve seen in the past. So we think Soros is getting in at a good time.

He is quoted as saying: “gold is the ultimate hedge against inflation” – if you think inflation’s going to rise, then I’m not surprised he bought into gold.

For more information on Soros’ recent gold investment please check out this article.

Again, gold hit a new record high today, December 2nd, 2009, soaring past the $1200 mark and ending at $1219.84. The news of gold’s record highs is everywhere, as is it’s affects on international economies.

According to both Felix Salmon, at Reuters, as well as Matt Walcoff at Bloomberg, gold prices were responsible for massive gains in the Canadian Stock market today:

Canada Stocks Rise on Record Bullion Prices…. Canadian stocks rose for a second day, led by materials producers, as gold prices climbed to a record on demand for an alternative to the U.S. dollar.

Similar sentiments were echoed in articles and commentary on Australia’s markets. David McIntyre over on The Sydney Morning Herald, in his Article, Gold Price Boosts Australian Stocks, proclaimed gold’s new record highs as the reason for the rapid growth of gold mining company stocks based in Australia:

Australian shares closed at a five-week high on Wednesday, up one per cent on the day, after record gold prices prompted a rally by miners of the precious metal.

There is still tremendous fear regarding the economy in general and the U.S. dollar (as well as other national currencies – but particularly the dollar) and that has caused this uptick in gold’s price. But, nothing has changed, we still have a record amount of national debt, little personal savings, and we just increased the money supply. Additionally, we have yet to see the effects of inflation and this increased money supply.

With a mass exodus of retiree baby-boomers on the horizon (and the monetary ripples this will cause with healthcare AND social security), we believe gold is going up!

November gold prices are breaking records!

The run on gold is just steps away from breaking through the $1200/oz mark!

Spot gold hit a price of $1190.20./oz today.

Gold prices have gone up 15% this month as the dollar sits at 15-month-low. The fundamentals are strong as investors pour into the market. Central banks are buying gold in massive amounts. The world’s most successful investors are creating hedge funds devoted to gold. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch released a report this week on expectations of gold hitting $1500. Don’t sit this one out! Even Forbes is now encouraging its readers to “put a little sparkle in your portfolio.”

The Reformed Broker has put together this graphic to determine just how much gold the Man Who Made Too Much owns. The data is extrapolated from World Gold Council statistics and Paulson & Co’s SEC filings. The Reformed Broker provides a disclaimer about the accuracy of the claim, but his analysis sure provides a fresh way of looking at the concentration of wealth John Paulson’s hedge fund holds in gold.