gold - is it a good investment

gold - is it a good investment ????

flem suggested that gold was the best long term investment and that I should buy some......

after looking up the both long term (over 50 years) and shorter term charts I don't think you can come to any definite conclusion on that at all..

the very long term chart shows a spike in @ 1782, and the more current spike a couple of years ago @ about 1800..... this chart also suggest that we are" "possibly" still on the downward leg of the second spike - its not definite that the price of gold should continue up from here.......

if you compare the "current gold price" with 20 years ago or even 40 years ago the price appreciation is two or three times that of the country's indices....... the trouble is that you do not know where the current price is in its overall cycle......

The rise between low points in 1970 and 2001 (31 years) for instance was just 62%.... so anything can be interpreted depending the locations from where each measurement is taken....

some might say, but gold is now a scarcer commodity........ that, and and how much people will be prepared to pay for gold is anther argument again imo.

I'm sure there are plenty with a different view on this one ???

gk