A lot of business owners, retirees and financial advisers believe in gold to be the number one protection against inflation. For thousands of years, gold has been a store of value, helping people to preserve the money they have earned. Gold, also has real world uses in electronics, semi-conductors and industrial manufacturing processes. In comparison to Paper Money, the key attribute that allows gold to act as a real store of value, is the inability of anyone to print gold into existence, the way paper money or polymer money can be printed into existence; gold must first be mined from the earth and refined.
Consider for instance in the year 1945, one ounce 1oz of gold sold for USD$37 thirty-seven US dollars; if you were hiking by the country side and you stumble upon such a gold coin and pick it up as a finder’s keeper, that gold coin in your possession is worth USD$2,490 two thousand four hundred and ninety US dollars in year 2024. What this situation implies is that, the purchasing power of USD$37 in year 1945, is equivalent to the purchasing power of USD$2,490 in year 2024. Also, another food for thought, if you were to stumble upon USD$37 paper money, while cleaning out the suitcases of your grandfather or grandmother, that USD$37 paper money, will only buy what USD$37 can buy at the grocery store in year 2024 [not much at all].
