Having precious metals like gold and silver as investments, usually as part of IRA accounts, is certainly one of the best things that you can do. If you want your retirement investment portfolio to always be safe and secure, to offer you total control, and the possibility to adapt to possible future events and still come out on top, gold is something to think about. Investing in gold doesn’t require any extensive financial knowledge or experience and can be done by everyone regardless of their age. There are a lot of other reasons why physical gold has huge benefits when it comes to your savings and, in this article, we will be diving deep into the most important of them.

It Has No Default Risk

Unlike paper assets (which are assets that cannot be easily turned into cash), physical gold carries no default risk at all. This means that you can easily store and allocate physical gold anywhere you wish to, not necessarily within a banking system.  Should you choose to do this, it means that nobody will ever become unable to or refuse to give your gold back or pay for it. Such issues will not be possible because you are the only one who owns the physical gold and nobody else can intervene. Yes, gold may not be an asset that generates an income but this is not its point at all. As you will see in the following lines, there are many other enormous benefits of owning physical gold that everyone should be aware of when thinking of making investments or putting aside some retirement savings.

Physical Gold is Extremely Safe

There is no point in arguing that physical gold is an extremely safe asset to invest in. Its level of long-term safety and stability, especially in the context of market volatility, has made it one of the most preferred types of investment. Most other assets have fluctuating prices which are usually caused by multiple factors such as political climate, economical situation, etc. Gold does not suffer from that and will never do. On the contrary, it has been proven time and time again that gold not only doesn’t lose its value over time but can also register growth in the long run. This is mainly the reason why a lot of people turn to gold investments during times of economical crisis. If you want to have an even clearer image of how advantageous gold is, just think of the equity market and how can stock prices drop down to zero when something bad happens to the company. Just like that, your investments will collapse and leave you with nothing. This is yet another huge benefit of owning physical gold.

It Maintains or Increases its Value Over Time

As we have already mentioned, physical gold not only keeps its value in time but can also increase it. We all know that gold is an investment asset but, in addition to that, it is also a consumer good. This means that even if its value can indeed fluctuate because of various external factors, its overall value will still remain the same in the long run. These fluctuations are usually happening during short periods and even when there is accentuated economic and/or political turmoil, the value of gold remains a lot more stable than that of other assets.

Gold is Easy to Buy and Sell

Because it is a type of liquid investment, the market of gold is not only very large but also highly liquid and globalized. This makes it very easy to buy and sell the asset as you can do this whenever you feel like it, without worrying about other factors. For example, you can easily purchase physical gold in form of jewelry at the nearest jewelry store without any problems at all. Obviously, you should only buy it from certified sellers who also offer you a guarantee certificate. You can also buy physical gold from banks in the form of coins or bullions if that’s what you want. As for selling gold, the same thing applies as jewelry stores and banks are the easiest to stumble upon.

Gold Can Act Like a Hedge Against Inflation

It’s no secret that physical gold can offer you protection against inflation. Investing in this type of precious metal means that you will stay safe from the dangers of inflation as gold has outperformed it over the decades. Remember that if you have a retirement account, it’s never too late to convert IRA to gold, convert IRA to Silver, or even convert IRA to precious metals of your choice such as platinum and palladium. Tax is also not something that you should be worried about when investing in physical gold.

It Doesn’t Require Maintenance

Physical gold doesn’t deteriorate in time and you can easily keep your savings somewhere secure without worrying that something might happen to them. In fact, gold can last for hundreds of years and proof of that stand the numerous archaeological findings that go back even centuries. The same cannot be said about money which is usually made of paper and will get deteriorated a lot sooner along with the decrease in value that we have already mentioned.

Gold is the Best Way to Save Money

Investing in physical gold also means having a secure way of saving money for the future and even passing it down to the next generations. By owning gold you will also keep your money safe for years and it will be much easier to leave something behind for your successors. You can purchase gold coins or bullions from banks or simply have gold jewelry and accessories that you can either sell if you wanted to or leave as an inheritance. Remember that gold doesn’t lose its value over time and your children and grandchildren will inherit almost the same amount that the gold was worth when you first started saving it. This is a much better idea than leaving them money because those get degraded and lose their value due to various reasons.

Gold Allows You to Get Loans

Last but not least, another interesting benefit of owning gold is that it allows you to get loans. In case you have an emergency, and you need some money fast, you can always liquidate your gold investments. You can do this with all types of gold like bullions, coins, or jewelry. The bank will offer you the loan quickly and its amount will be based on the value of the gold you have. Once you have cleared this type of secured loan, you will be able to take back your gold.

Summary

To sum it all up, there is a myriad of reasons why you should start investing in physical gold. There are a lot of benefits that come with owning gold and most of those will also be extended to your successors, should you choose to leave gold as an inheritance. It doesn’t lose its value, doesn’t get damaged in time, allows you to get loans, can protect your investments against inflation, has no default risk, and it’s very easy to sell and buy. Those are only the main advantages of this precious metal that has fascinated people throughout history.