Investing For Canadians All-in-One For Dummies

Chapter 2

Going for the Gold

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding the consequences of gold’s history

Investigating inflation and gold

Finding data, info, and resources on the gold market

“Going for the gold” and “good as gold” and many other familiar phrases mentioning gold have been around for what seems like forever but for good reason. Few things conjure up thoughts of wealth and affluence the way gold does. No pirate in a B-movie shouts “Aargh! There’s aluminum buried on that island, mateys!” On the other hand — gold … now we’re talking. Few things have had the endurance of gold both as a metal and as a store of value. It is then the first precious metal to consider for wealth-builders today. It has through the ages become the quintessential precious metal.

Gold is an element that is found on the standard periodic table of the chemical elements. Gold is listed there with the symbol AU and the atomic number 79 (don’t worry, the quiz has been cancelled). The most malleable and ductile of the metals, you could actually take a single ounce of gold and essentially stretch it out into 300 square feet (no one knows why you would do it but it sounds impressive). Gold is a good conductor ...