Gold: Friend for a Lifetime

The savings habit of Indians in a risk-free investment model is a product of the family system. Gold is one of the favorite investment models of Indians. It’s no wonder then that India is one of the largest consumers of the yellow metal in the world.

Since childhood, my parents used to tell me stories about how gold can be the best option to create money; in case of an emergency.

I was quite young when my father lost his job and was jobless for many months. It was a difficult time and or family savings were almost over. There was no hope of a new job and no money left in the bank. Both my parents were self-respecting people — they would never beg or take a loan from anyone. This was the time when my mother opened her secret saving box. There was some gold jewelry that she got at the time of her marriage and there were some gold coins she purchased over some time.

My mother was a housewife and had this peculiar habit of saving a little from what my father used to give her to run the home. With these savings, she used to buy a 1 gram gold coin. She collected many of them over some year and these coins came to the rescue in the last moment. She sold those coins and arranged some money that was sufficient for some months until my father got another job.

Work and invest to obtain currency but hold your wealth in gold. This is the infallible strategy that has worked for thousands of years.

I picked up this habit of buying 1 gram gold now and then and did the same when I started earning enough to buy some gold. There was a time during my 4-year-long sabbatical when I was almost broke and there was no hope of money to survive.

It was a difficult time. I’m also quite a self-respecting human like my parents and hence I too wouldn’t beg or take any loan. Like last time, the gold coins came to the rescue. I’m glad that I picked up this habit of saving in gold coins like my mother.

This yellow metal has been a friend for a lifetime.

In India, savings in gold is huge. There are differing views on choosing the optimal percentage of gold to hold in an asset portfolio and different viewpoints depend on how one views gold. For some, it’s just a style statement,m for some its wealth accumulation, some it’s the best form of liquidity after paper currency, and for some, it’s a family emotion.

Gold is the safest and greatest steady store of value known to humans. No other asset class comes close to gold in terms of constancy over history. It’s, and for thousands of years has been, the principal point for many significant savers of wealth.

The ultra-rich, the poor, and even the banks, all save in gold to preserve generational wealth.

As the world’s financial and monetary systems become increasingly fragile, saving in gold is the ultimate haven for protecting you against a systemic collapse. In the unavoidable changeover that’ll follow such a downfall, holding gold as wealth is the ultimate approach for survival.

However, I suggest you view gold as savings rather than as an investment. Gold has the power to change your life for the better. It can give you peace of mind like nothing else if you just let it sit there — like a friend — without worrying about it.