People want to multiply their asset for wealth. They need money for financing car, house, health, education, etc. Unfortunately, the crisis make the investment climate is so bad. Practically, we could not gain any return today. After Subprime is fail, Fed should cut interest rate. It is fruitless to save any buck in bank or certified deposit today.

Before the Fed rate is low, Bank account and certified deposit is the safest investment.  Government guarantees your money at certain limit. In Australia, the government does not limit the amount of money. Australia government tries to collect the citizen money to reduce global crisis effect. 

I think there is no safe investment. All investment has some risk. There are some risks that threat investor i.e. financial risk, market risk, interest rate risk, currency risk, country risk, etc. As higher risk, the return must be higher too and reversely.

Bond was the safest investment. For Government bond, you should feel safe because the US administration has guaranteed it. Today the bond return is small so we can say the bond is not safe. The just give you return near zero percent per year. Certainly, the bondholder also suffers loss because the value of bond is decreasing. Before crisis, Bond has given some return to the holder, which higher than certified deposit or saving.

Stock is also favorite investment before crisis. Stock could give higher return than Bond or around 15% to 100%. The return will depend on the stock. Unfortunately, most company also suffers loss. As consequently, the stock price is decreasing.  The blue chip (the good company) stocks also suffer loss because their sales are diminishing. I think you should sell the bad stock. Do not wait until you make big loss.

Some people hold mutual fund whereas we know the mutual fund asset also decreasing. Some mutual fund closed or merged with other mutual fund company. Mutual fund that investment linked with investment asset like stock, bond, index, money market, precious metal does not give any return.

For the commodity trader also suffers some loss in their trading. The commodity has decreasing price rend like oil, metal, agriculture commodity, etc. People who set high price for the contract must be suffer financial loss because they have to pay more for cheap commodity.

Investing at real asset could not give you any return today. We know building, farm, and house price is decreasing after subprime fall. You could by more assets, if you have more money. Hold the asset until the ended of recession. The asset will increase and make more money.

The investor should know there is no safest place for investing. All of investment has risk. As risk higher, you should get high return.

Some people guess that they can invest safe and get higher return. They want the asset double in short time.

You should know that every investment has risk. Investment with high risk such as junk bond, penny stock, and money market could give you ore money. On the other hand, low risk investment like bank account and certified deposit just give you low return.

Gold Investment

I think the safest investment today is Gold. Gold has proved as the best investment that resist from any bad economic climate. Gold has been using everywhere as the currency. Gold may be volatile, but it stronger than dollar, Euro, and Pound sterling. Gold does not depend on economic of a country. ON the other hand, currency depend on economic condition. For example, Dollar is decreasing relative to foreign currency after Subprime default.

In bad recession in 1980, Gould could give return up to 130%. On the other hand, Stock as measured market Index only gives you 13%. I think you should convert some stock into some gold. You can sell gold anytime and buy anything with it.

Gold is stable commodity because the demand will not deplete. People need Gold for jewel, electronic, watch, computer, etc. Gold is the best metal for electronic. Gold is acceptable currency all the word. You can exchange gold at anywhere.

Gold investment has variety shape. All shape has different characteristics. Today, we can buy any gold like gold bar, gold coin, jewelry, etc. Every country release gold coin e.g., American Eagle (United States), Golden Maple Leaf (Canada), Australia Kookaburra (Australia), etc. Indonesia has release special gold coin too that specific purpose for Hajj Pilgrim.

Beside con, we recognize Gold bullion. Gold bullion is traded at one ounce weight. This investment is the best gold investment because the content of gold bar is almost 100 % gold. Gold bar bullion is the most liquid than other gold investment. You can sell the gold anytime. The gold is powerful because it has authentic certificate. The certificate guarantees the value of gold bullion.

Gold bar is the ingredients for gold coin or jewel. Gold Coin company or jewel company could buy gold bar from you. On the other hand, Gold coin is less cashable than gold bar. Some coin could be trade at the certain country. The gold coin has different nominal.

Before bank founded, some people also save their money at jewel like ring, bracelet, watch, necklace, etc. Some miner used gold as teeth replacement. They were proud to exhibit his teeth. When they need money, they sell the jewel. Jewel has some beautiful shapes. The beautiful jewelry is very expensive. Unfortunately, we cannot sell jewelry same as the buy price. The buyer just pays the weight the gold. They do not buy your shape of jewel.

Some people think investing at stock gold company is not different with gold investment. I think they should realize that both investments are different. A gold company is not produce gold only. The may produce silver, cuprum or nickel. Certainly, you will not hold pure gold. The stock is also volatile. Some investor invests at mutual fund or ETF. Mutual fund and ETF are not pure gold too and could move volatile. You just hold a piece of paper.

Alternative of gold

Beside gold, you can consider some alternative of gold. Platinum is good too. Platinum is usually expensive than Gold. Unfortunately, the return of Platinum is lesser than gold.  The demand of platinum is not high as gold as.

The second winner of a competition is silver. Silver is a precious metal too. Silver has been used as second currency in ancient country e.g. ancient China and ancient Arab. This metal is cheaper than gold so the tiny investor could buy this metal.  In my country, Silver is produced as accessories, toy, ring,

Diamond is a good alternative too. In high inflation, the return could reach up to 80%. People use diamond usually for jewel.

Message

Although gold is the safest investment, I am not recommending you buy the entire your money to gold. Invest wisely by buying gold enough.  You should invest some money to another investment like building, house, land, education, health, car, etc.