Depending on what circles of the internet that you’ve been in for the past few years, you’ve probably heard a fair bit about investing and how important it is. Why has it been such a hot button topic?
Well, there are plenty of reasons, but the biggest one is that the economy both here in the United States and on a global level has been stagnating, and it alarmed the people.
It’s not really difficult to see why, either. Inflation means that retirement funds are losing value by the day. The price of everything has gone up, most notably groceries. A lot of us are having a hard time just getting by on a day-to-day basis.
With all of this said you might be wondering where gold investing comes into play. For the most part, it’s about preparing for the future and keeping our financial status as secure as we can.
Unfortunately, a lot of “traditional” investments and assets rely on the value of paper currency. As we’ve seen happening in real-time, that can go downhill quickly. Inflation will always play a role in what is considered the “safest” type of asset.
Investment Companies – Can We Trust Them?
To address the elephant in the room right off the bat, it’s only fair to consider this question. Many of us are feeling a bit skeptical towards the big companies out there at the moment, and ones that focus on investing are no exception.
Can we really trust them, when it’s basically their job to make sure that we invest as much as possible?
The answer is both “yes” and “no.” Admittedly, that’s probably not what you wanted to hear, but allow us to explain. Much of it will really rely on the company that you’re looking for and that you want to work with. Some are absolutely trustworthy, while others aren’t.
What sets them apart, though? Well, one way that you can get a gauge is to consider how customer-oriented they seem. If they appear to be more intent on getting you to spend money as opposed to explaining what the top-performing assets are, then you may want to be wary.
That said, though, there are plenty out there that are focused on helping their consumers. Blogs detail it a bit further if you’re curious about how it might work now that we’re rapidly approaching an economic recession. It feels scarier than ever to delve into the world of investing.
Why is Gold Investing so Popular?
Now that we’ve got the prior point covered, we can turn our attention to the matter at hand: gold investing. Is there a reason that we’ve seen it skyrocket lately? This probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but there definitely are a few reasons behind it. Inflation is probably the biggest motivator, though.
As we mentioned, most assets are based on paper currency. This is something that can be rather risky, especially when we seem to be on the verge of a recession. The solution that many folks have turned to is investing in precious metals, which are a fairly accessible alternative to some of the traditional assets.
Beyond that point, though, there’s also the fact that precious metals aren’t nearly as impacted by inflation as stocks or bonds. Companies like Goldco explain why this is, but it’s pretty simple – the price of commodities like silver, gold, palladium, and platinum stay relatively the same over long spans of time.
Naturally, this makes them desirable in times of uncertainty. Starting to see why they’re so popular right now? All things considered, it’s not super surprising.
Precious Metals and Investment Companies
Obviously, just as with other types of investment, there are companies that are geared specifically to this market. How reputable are they?
Again, it will somewhat depend on which one you’re looking at. We’ll avoid going into specific names, and instead we’ll focus on what the better ones can bring to the table for us as investors.
Quality Customer Service
Admittedly, this is a bit of a given for most of us out there. Who wants to work with a company with bad customer service, right? We mention it because of how critical it can be to the investing experience as a whole.
Essentially, it’s a big deal to have representatives and agents who are knowledgeable about the gold sector and that can assist you as the customer with any questions that you might have along the way. After all, like it’s noted here, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jacf.12236, this process can be a bit complicated depending on your experience as an investor in general.
Knowledge
In a similar vein to the above, it’s paramount that a gold investment company is knowledgeable about the various methods of investing in precious metals.
There is more than one. For instance, you may decide to convert a 401(k) or roll one over into a self-directed IRA (individual retirement arrangement) that specializes in gold and silver.
However, not everyone will want to do that. Some of us just purchase bullion outright. The good businesses are there to help and explain things along the way no matter what method you’re opting for.
Heck, they can hopefully be of help even if you’re aiming to invest in several ways at the same time!
Reviews and Proper Accreditation
Finally, we’d like to note that you can get an idea of what to expect out of a gold investment company by looking at some external sources.
These might be reviews that you see on the search engine that you use, or even just a post that you see on social media! Really, the important thing is that you do check out what other customers have to say.
How you choose to do this is totally up to you. If you know friends or family members who have also invested in gold, silver, palladium, or platinum, it might be worth asking them who they worked with and where they purchased from.
For anyone who doesn’t, though, the internet is right here – you can find thousands of reviews pretty easily.
Many of them will display these reviews right on their website, thankfully, so you shouldn’t have to look too far to find them.
Four and five stars are the general ballpark where we’d recommend that you trust a site, but that’s up to your discretion.
As far as accreditation goes, we are specifically referring to the Better Business Bureau, often referred to as the BBB. Why is this important? Well, it definitely lends some legitimacy to the companies that are certified.
This is a big deal with online companies like gold investment ones, since there is a bit of a gray area on the “unlawful” web.
Either way, if you’re someone looking into investing in gold, it can be helpful to start a consultation with a company sooner in the process rather than later.
They can help you sort out what assets will suit your portfolio and coach you through the process, no matter what method you want to go with.
