Buying gold

These days I see or hear an ad advising me to buy gold just about every time I turn on the radio or television, and the gist of the pitch is always the same: “Gold has never been completely worthless, and it’s the only investment you can really count on to hold at least part of its value in dire economic times”. This is true of course, but there is one sticking point that really makes me uneasy about these ads…
 
Virtually all of the companies hawking gold want you to let them hold on to your coins or bars for “safekeeping”. In my opinion, accepting a paper “title” to a pile of precious metals held on your behalf in some other state or country is no safer for your long-term fiscal health than investing in stocks or bonds.

I mean think about it – if the bottom falls out of the world’s economy, chaos will reign supreme and “titles” and “ownership” will mean little or nothing. And what if that company in Texas or Switzerland or Australia or Mozambique goes belly up? Will you have any realistic chance of getting your hot little hands on your hard-earned gold? Not likely by a long shot.
 
I agree that buying gold is one of the best ways to “insure” your financial future in the event that the financial world should some day fall apart, but you should take steps to store your gold yourself in a secret and secure location that you alone will always have complete control over. That way if you ever need to “spend” your gold, you and only you will have physical access to it.