Why You Should Be Selling Gold And Buying Timber
Sell Gold and Buy Timber?
No question, gold has had a nice run. It’s been up 12 consecutive years. And during this period, gold prices are up around 500%. This is probably why in 2012, 84% of new cash invested in commodities went into gold funds.
But these investors would have done far better if they had invested in another commodity that we use every day. One that beat gold by 567% in 2012.
While gold was up 6.6% last year… Timber was up 37.4%. And timber future prices were up 49%.
I’m not surprised.
I grew up around a lot of trees and vividly remember our annual family camping trips in the northern woods of Wisconsin. It seemed like millions of towering trees – some more than 200 feet tall – closed in on us from all sides, for miles on end.
But by a long shot, the best part of these trips were the pancake breakfast specials and all the stories about the lumberjacks and timber barons.
Fortunately, the cut and burn practices of the nineteenth century lumberjacks and timber barons have been replaced by a sophisticated, sustainable and scientific business model.
And this is why timber has proven to be a terrific investment over the years. Looking ahead, Jeremy Grantham’s GMO research team ranks timber the No. 1 asset class for expected returns over the next seven years.
Indian Jeweler Becomes Billionaire Selling Gold With Price Tags
Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — T.S. Kalyanaraman is beloved by his customers and detested by his rivals for bringing transparency to jewelry sales in India, where haggling is the norm.
He opened a shop in the southern Indian state of Kerala in 1993 and taught customers how to test the purity of their gold to expose cheating craftsmen. He was also the first jeweler in town to attach price tags to his gold and gem collection, angering competitors who accused him of ruining the trade.
Two decades later, the 65-year-old has become a billionaire as a 12-year rally in gold prices fails to damp demand in India, the world’s largest consumer of the precious metal. He owns 44 stores in India and plans to open 36 more by March 2014, including five in the Middle East.
“Less profit, more turnover; that is what we believe in,” Kalyanaraman, chairman of Kalyan Jewellers, said in a phone interview from Kerala. “Be as transparent as you can in your trade. The big thing in life is trust.”
Selling Gold – Where to Sell Gold Without Getting Taken
New York, NY — (SBWIRE) — 01/24/2013 — In this economic climate of chronic unemployment, many consumers are reluctantly selling their heirloom gold jewelry and other antiques containing gold simply as a way to make ends meet. Joshua Goldblum, a successful financial and business consultant and creator of the site Buy Gold, is cautioning the public to be savvy about which gold buyer they prefer to deal with.
Joshua warns that, depending upon which gold dealer you tap, the amount of cash you receive for your gold items will vary significantly. He states, “In other words, some dealers offering to buy your gold for cash will pay you a mere fraction of what you would receive from a more reputable bullion dealer.”
While gold continues to gain in popularity among the public, the risks associated with buying and selling gold lead Joshua to create Buy Gold, a comprehensive website that provides informational resources to assist the public in every aspect of buying and selling gold. The Buy Gold website features a directory of dealers who buy and sell gold coins, ingots, jewelry and various other items made with or containing gold. Besides the expected dealer descriptions and contact info, the directory features an interactive rating and review system so that consumers can both leave reviews of dealers they’ve done business with as well as research reviews left by others to investigate the reputation of any gold buyer before deciding to work with that particular merchant.
While commodities prices continue to trend up, selling gold continues to make the news. In spite of a lengthy bull market spanning the past decade (or because of it?), the public interest in gold continues to swell. Where the prices of gold, silver and platinum end up on the last trading day of 2013 is anybody’s guess, but at this point in time it looks likely that prices will continue trending up.
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