My first investment lesson came last night. Finally !

Hi Magic ! Thought your post was very interesting and was reading a lot of the comments that were made. There seem to be a few people here with a keen grasp on what is going on with the gold market and the markets in general. now, I'm not aan expert or financial adviser or anything, but i do consider myself to be well read, especially when it does concern gold. Gold is definitely a commodity one can make a lot of money (and of course, lose a lot of money ) if they really know what they are doing. But my take on it is more in the way of "leverage". I live in America, and if you ever follow the current financial trends and politics in general, you will probably know that the U.S. dollar is greatly losing it's value. It has been for years and years. So many factors affect this like inflation, the amount of money being printed by the Federal Reserve (which is, again, inflation), how many U.S. bonds have been purchased and sold, and etc. So I usually think of the situation as being that buying gold is like putting money in a very safe bank for protection. If you have a certain amount of gold that is worth a certain amount on day one, and then the currency that was used to buy that amount of gold drops drastically on day two, the gold still has value where the currency that you bought it with isn't worth as much. If all you have in your pocket is the printed or minted currency that dropped, you in essence lose money. So instead of "day trading" with that type of commodity, these days I would be buying it to be safe and have something that still has value, in case all hell were to break loose. In the mid to late 90's and early 2k's, the price of gold was about $250 to $350 a troy ounce. I became very interested in gold at that time, but was never able to invest in it. Actually, I STILL don't have the money for it, at least not in a big way. And I want gold that I can actually have on my person as well, instead of paper in the market that says I own some. But the point is that IF I had bought, say, one troy ounce at that time, I would have the equivalent of about $1000 now. It would have tripled and even quadrupled in value. I wish I could have bought $10,000 worth when I had wanted to ! But that was then, and this is now. Now, with the price being so high, I would still buy it. but it would be to make sure I had something of value in very stressful times. Good luck in all you do, and be careful !

You are doing what is called 'Speculating'. In this case, you are a "Gold Speculator". You are absolutely right in saying that you are simply gambling. You are buying market gold, under the 'speculation' that it will go up in value, so you can sell it. No there is nothing greedy about it, anymore than getting a job and working means you are greedy for a pay check. Anyone who talks to you about being 'greedy' doesn't know anything about greed. Ignore them. However, here is the truth. Speculation is very very very risky. You can, and if you do it long enough, you will lose all your money. It is a high risk, high stress business. Can you make money? Of course. Can you lose money? Like all of it? Yes. So let's talk about Gold specifically. Gold is a highly unstable commodity. When nation economies start to stumble, people tend to get spooked by it. Instead of putting money into company stocks, or general commodities like food or consumables, they buy Gold. The price of Gold then climbs. When the economy starts to recover, and business picks up, people want their money in something that will generate more return, like company stocks. Gold then falls in price. In the photo you can see the long term price of Gold. You'll notice in the 80s there was a massive spike in price. Then it fell. There was a major recession in the late 70s early 80s. Similarly, you can see that in the last few years, the price spiked up again. What this means is, if the recession in the world markets goes away, and the economies recover, chances are Gold will fall in price. On the other hand, if the economies crash again, Gold could vastly increase in price. What a speculator does, is bet on that answer, and adjust accordingly. So you have to determine whether you believe that the economies around the world will recover, in which case Gold isn't a good idea. Or do you think they will stutter stammer and fail? In which case, leave the money there, and hopefully the price will rise. The current guess, is that prices will rise. There is evidence here in America that our economy could slip back into recession. But I really don't know. That's why I am not a Speculator. Too stressful for me. Good luck.

Well let that not be a reason for you to quit from doing it. The failures are a good lesson for you to be better investor in the future. Never give up when doing so and you will enjoy the benefits of it later in life.

Hi magic, Errr..... you are proud to be having success at gambling? At the risk of "pouring cold water", I suggest you only gamble or "invest" with money you can afford to lose without feeling too much pain. In gambling, most people usually lose overall for the long term so... have a care...

Hello, My mom used to do that before and it worked out good though. She stopped doing that since 2 years ago. well, My suggestion is to start a little at a time and then you will earn more and more then you can reach for the large amount. Hope and wish you all the best

Thats nice and great to hear. What your mind can perceive your body can certainly achieve. I want to start up a gold buying business as well, because here in the Philippines, my hometown is a good and long gold mining area. There are few gold buyers as well. The miners still need to go to the banks in the cities to sell their gold. I want to buy their golds right infront of their gold tunnels. I am looking for a partner by the way, you might be interested.

I am no expert at trading in gold too. But I believe that gold is one of the best form of investment today, after real estate. We do need to understand the fluctuations in other market instruments that will relate or impact the prices of gold. This is a good discussion for me as it brings me back to remembrance to keep gold investment in mind. I do hope to be able to buy and sell gold in small quantity too.

i don't have a clue of investment. but i know there're short and long term investments. maybe you should be more patient. maybe you can wait till the price goes up again. coz like you said, you don't have enough financial knowledge to back you up. i don't see the difference if you start to buy a new one, you buy the new one according to the same feelings when you bought the current one. now if you sell it in lower price, and you're not sure to buy which one can earn money, why don't just wait until its prices goes up and sell it later. this way sure you can make money. lol. treat it as a long-term investment. just my opinion. not sure if it's right.