Gold promoters often cite inflation’s steady rise after the United States abandoned the gold standard in 1971. Yet is gold the worst investment ever? Quite possibly.
The U.S. dollar no longer being backed by gold became a reason to invest in the real thing — gold itself. Warren Buffett, a stock picker who hates gold, says he understands that fear.
Cash is essentially worthless, Buffett contends.
Gold investors, he says, are “right to be afraid of paper money. Their basic premise that paper money around the world is going to be worth less and less over time is absolutely correct. They have the correct basic premise. They should run from paper money.”
Before you rejoice and run out to stock up on gold bullion, consider what Buffett said next about gold buyers: “But where they run to is the mistake.”
So let’s unpack why exactly gold is not really the haven from depreciation, inflation, and economic stagnation that many gold bugs hold it out to be and what makes gold the worst investment ever.
