Gold Moving Toward $1000 Again

In case you haven't tracked the price of gold lately, it has been moving up nicely and is closing in on $1000 per ounce again. Last week, gold had some great sessions due in no small part to problems with a weakening dollar and troubles with U.S. Treasury bonds.

In the last 30 days, gold has gained almost $100 per ounce ($96.80 to be exact). When you consider that gold was priced at $255 per ounce in February of 2001, that is quite a run with almost a quadruple in price. A very recent article stated one expert's predication of $1400 per ounce in the next six months.

If investing in gold is getting a little too pricey for you, don't forget the "poor man's gold" - silver coins and bars. Silver has been having a heyday too lately and is knocking on the door of $16.00 per ounce. If you have yet to start investing in precious metals, seriously consider taking that first step now. Several experts say this ballgame isn't even in the middle innings yet.

Happy investing!

Local Coin Shops-A Useful Resource

A coin shop just opened up in my town. If you are asking yourself, "So what's the big deal?" let me explain. The town I am talking about has one gas station, one grocery store, a small bank branch, a post office, a couple of gift shops, a few churches, a couple of bars and a smattering of houses. And now a coin shop.

Even though I probably won't be doing big-time business with them, they are another investing resource for me. If you have one or more coin shops in easy driving distance of you, I hope you take advantage of them. Even if you do most of your gold and silver investing with a major out-of-town dealer, or call in to TV coin shows, or use eBay stores/auctions, a local dealer may fill in some investing "gaps".

Although small, this coin shop has a nice selection of coins, especially Morgan silver dollars. It's nice to be able to see these coins up close, examine them, discuss price, etc. By making a few small purchases and developing a relationship with a local dealer, you can use them as a sanity check before investing in particular coins, grades of coins or discussing your basic investing strategy.

There is one thing I noticed about this coin shop that raised a red flag regarding the grading of coins, especially the higher Mint State grades. I will cover that in a future post as this one is longer than I intended.