[natedawg5280]

Would it be a bad idea to buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of gold while the dollar continues its slide? Or even to take a loan for such a purchase, knowing that you'll make at least some profit? Or is it maybe not that simple to exchange gold for money? Maybe I'm missing something else too.

[JerryLove]

If you know that gold will continue to rise relative to the dollar at a rate greater than the return you oculd get on another investment, and tradde back to dollars when that changes, then it would be a good idea.

[Chrysostom]

Originally Posted by natedawg5280

Would it be a bad idea to buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of gold while the dollar continues its slide? Or even to take a loan for such a purchase, knowing that you'll make at least some profit? Or is it maybe not that simple to exchange gold for money? Maybe I'm missing something else too.

Trading out your fiat money for gold is profitable when fiat money undergoes high inflation relative to gold. As far as leveraging yourself for this kind of purchase, it depends on (a) the particulars of the situation which determine your risk and reward, and (b) how much you're willing to risk. E.g., if you get a loan at 5% and risk 5% to make 15% (in one year), you've got an OK setup. A loan just increases your risk, which means that you've got to have a particularly lucrative risk/reward setup to make that loan a good idea.

Also, there are serious limitations on what kinds of loans you'll be able to use on precious metals speculations. Generally you're talking about high interest-rate loans -- say, an unsecured 'loan' on your credit card.

With respect to the present, you've got to consider whether you think gold has already run up so much that it's going to peak soon or whether you think gold has already started a trend upward that will continue into big spikes and further trends.

[normajean777]

From the very basics of gold investing that I know (I haven't ever played with commodities, I have only played with stocks):

Go ahead, gold is risky of course but could very easily climb yet higher in this coming year. My reason is that the fed probably won't tighten enough for a while yet, so gold should stay high.

Just know that you don't want to buy solid gold (bullion) you want to buy a certificate. That way there would be less fee and more liquidity.

I personally would not borrow to buy more commodities. Commodities are very risky to begin with, and buying more of it with borrowed money increases the risk even higher.

Plus I'm not sure anyone would advise you to put all your money into one basket. Diversification is the main thing to investing. The whole idea is to make money with the least risk possible.