Gold Investment?

Is this the right time to invest in gold and what are the pros and cons of investing in gold?

Gold (and many other commodities) have broken out of a very long term base, after its price was depressed for many years, now the trend is up as we see continued demand out of China, India and other rapidly growing countries.

As far as it being the right time to buy gold or not, that depends on how you are going to play it, usually the best and most leveraged way is to buy shares of gold mining companies, however, many companies already have had a good run, so you must be very careful if picking individual companies. If you chose to go with the stock of a mining company, stick with quality and avoid the highly speculative penny stocks of which there are many.

As far as shares of metals and miners, RTP (Rio Tinto) looks to be a good buy under $350 a share:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ae?s=rtp

ABX (American Barrick Resources) has always been one of my favorites, but the stock price appears a bit pricey at these levels.

You can also buy the commodity itself such as gold bars or Krugerrands, through a reliable and trusted gold dealer.

Gold is a good part of a defensive portfolio, and while historically seen as a hedge against inflation, the prices I believe are being more driven by demand these days. Some of the cons inlude the possiblity of a worldwide recession which would lower demand for gold and prices or an exceedingly big find in the mining industry, neither of which seem likely any time soon.

Like most investment vehicles, they tend to be cyclical. Gold is one of these. It can provide short-term gains or even mid-term gains, but historically, it is a terrible long-term investment.

In 1980, gold reach $855 per ounce. If it would only keep up with inflation, it should be priced at over $2100 per ounce. It is currently priced around $885. Terrible long-term.

I visit a great website for information. It gives a good look at precious metals.

go to : low-cost-stock-recommendations

.com

Go to the "Precious Metals" Button

Good Luck

Long term investment: Keep under 3% of your portfolio.
Short Term Investment: Keep under 1% of your portfolio.

Best bet: Go with an ETF like GLD

Timing: Why would you ask strangers when to invest your money? You don't know their motives or qualifications. It just seems crazy!

Can't think of any pros for it but many people value stocks before they buy in. Actually most people do this. You generally won't invest with a company losing a ton of money and will buy a company with great earnings and potential. So really you are making an educated guess of value on stocks. With gold, how do you know if you paid too much or got a great deal on it?

You can't so you need to depend on others guessing and buying in. I don't like that. The market has been bad and there are a lot of GREAT companies that have had their stock price beaten down. Find those instead and thank me later when they recover (they will) and you didn't speculate or use any funny chart analysis with gold.

Let's see, a few years ago you could have bought gold for under $300 an ounce. Now it is trading near $900 an ounce. Do you really think this is a good time to start buying gold?

Normally I think everybody should have some gold in their investment portfolio either in bullion or gold stocks (gold stocks are easier and cheaper to buy and sell). I currently own some Kinross Gold (KGC) that I bought much cheaper than today's price of around $21. Nothing wrong with owning some gold, just don't know if right now is the best time to get in.