Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Large Gold Stocks May Provide Extra Safety

By Jon Wilmott


Large gold mining companies to some people could be considered safer than any large bank. Readers may be wondering why this may be true. The financial meltdown of 2008 showed that banks are often vulnerable to major economic downturns. The large commercial banks were also hurt by toxic securities in their portfolios and many large banks used leverage when trading. When their trades went well, they made a lot of money. When the trades went against them they lost huge amounts of money requiring taxpayer funded bailouts.

Large commercial banks also had a disadvantage versus large gold mining companies in the banks hold depreciating paper or fiat currency. Large gold mining companies have large reserves of gold and in many cases other precious metals including silver, platinum, copper and other metals. These precious metals hold their value much better in periods of inflation verus paper or fiat currency.

During periods of economic and political turmoil; precious metals like gold, have held their value far better than paper currencies. Over the centuries, many countries have imploded due to their paper currency becoming worthless. This is usually due to corrupt politcians spending or in some cases looting the country's treasury. Many countries have fallen victim ove rmany centuries including Zimbabwe, Argentina, Germany, Hungary and many others.

During the past 2000 years, precious metals including gold have protected people against paper currency becoming worthless. Today investors can benefit by investing in large gold companies that have significant reserves in gold and other precious metals. You can contrast this with banks holding depreciating paper currency and bad loans.

A prime example of a successful gold stock investor is Ron Paul, Congressman from Texas. Congressman Paul's portfolio of mining companies beat the S&P 500 by a margin of 700% over the past decade. Ron Paul understands that gold mining companies can protect against currency devaluation.

If a small investor is looking for large gold mining companies, where would they start. One source of investor
information is stock software programs. These programs usually have price data for charts as well as the financial information on the gold companies. These comprehensive investment software programs are superior to free web sites. The programs usually do more detailed analysis. Investors can use these tools to find gold mining companies that may be suitable to protect their investments.




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