10 Reasons to Hold Gold in Your Portfolio

Investors talk about keeping gold as part of their portfolio. Gold is good to financially protect against world problems relating to currency, stocks or other options. Besides being a way to counteract the issues investors might encounter, gold represents a good investment.

Throughout history, from ancient worlds to today, gold has always had a high value. It will continue to do so in the near future. That’s why most investors have gold in their portfolios and you should add gold to yours. Start by researching ways of buying gold. Some places allow you to buy gold with a credit card.

If you want specific reasons why gold is a good option, see what The Motley Fool has to say.

1. Watch the World Currencies -- When you compare gold to the U.S. dollar, you have a strong indication of where it’s heading. Through 2019, the Congressional Budget Office wants $9.3 trillion in total budget deficits, which is 82 percent of the U.S. GDP. This much debt hasn’t been seen since World War II. Dollar-dominated assets lose their appeal to investors. The United States is one country, but gold can be compared against the Euro or other world currencies with similar results. Gold, remember, is not a commodity. It is more valued than world currencies.

2. Derivatives Derail Banks -- The housing crash of 2008 was the trigger, but it was not the sole cause of the global financial crisis. Unregulated growth of derivatives has been the real problem for the financial industry. Banks are exposed to derivatives heavily. Last year, the five largest U.S. banks lost $587 billion. Analysts believe these losses are just the tip of the iceberg and will hit other financial institutions too. The value of gold, on the other hand, will move higher.

3. Domestic Revenues Drop -- The U.S. Treasury ran a deficit by not receiving enough tax revenues. Unemployment and underemployment rates are increasing, corporate earnings are lower, and spending is skyrocketing. Because of these problems, Americans are not able to fund government activities much anymore.

4. Quantitative Easing Occurs -- The United States introduced a plan years ago to buy $300 billion in Treasury securities. Because of these spending initiatives, declining domestic revenues and lack of desire to hold American debt by foreigners, the government has launched quantitative easing. The world is losing confidence in America’s reserve currency, meaning holding gold is becoming attractive.

5. Dollar Declines Over Long Term -- The dollar is losing ground against the Euro and other world currencies. It now is a structurally impaired currency. Leading financial experts predict more problems with the dollar long term. Because gold is the inverse of the dollar, gold is used to hedge against the dollar’s decline.

6. Hedge Against Inflation -- According to GoldSilver.com, you want to hold gold to protect yourself against inflation. When you have rapid inflation, the value of currencies drop, but the value of gold increases or stays the same. However, although many countries have experienced inflation in the last few years, America has been protected from rapid inflation. In fact, many people predict deflation instead of inflation.

7. Protect Against Stock Market Crashes -- Many people keep gold in their portfolios as insurance in the event of a stock market crash. A huge drop in the market can cause you to lose funds, but gold will not lose your value. If you don’t panic, your stocks will likely increase over time, and gold can help protect your investment during the recovery process.

8. Counter Low Interest Rates -- If you are buying a house, you want low interest rates. If you are buying or selling bonds, you want higher interest rates. Therefore, with interest rates low right now, you want gold to give you something that will increase in value despite the low interest rates.

9. Stable Prices are Attractive -- For years, the price of gold looked more like a roller coaster ride, but this year, gold prices have stabilized. This means that gold is a good investment because you can better predict where its value will go.

10. Long-term Prices Expected for Gold -- If you project how gold will do over the long-term, you will find that it proves a good investment. Gold prices are predicted to continue to increase over the next few years.

For these 10 reasons, it makes sense that you have gold in your portfolio. You can add it in a number of ways, including bullion, gold-mining stocks, exchange-traded funds, or commodities.