A good number of people have lost sizable amounts of money in the stock market the last several years that leads one to look for more conservative investing options. Gold has always been thought of as a good investment choice when things get uncertain in the world and one is looking for safety. Anyone who has had money in gold has done better than the stock market but perhaps not as well as one would have thought.

Anyone who doesnt have gold in their portfolio might take a look at it to see if it might be an option. The stock market has made a slight rebound and yet one has the feeling that stocks could start to head back down again anytime. The world economy has not made a recovery and more bad news could be around the corner causing stocks to plummet again.

The one thing to note about the gold price over time is that it has never gone to zero. Gold has been considered valuable for many thousands of years going back to the ancient Egyptians and further. At no time in history was gold not valuable and for this reason many people buy gold as a safe investment. With the economy being what it is and the stock market in free fall for so long, gold seems to be one of the places one might put some of their money for safety. If the economy does not recover soon, gold will become one of the most popular places for people to have their investment cash.

It might be asked why the price of gold has not gone up more than it has in this time of extreme economic uncertainty. Those who have held gold for the last several years have been able to avoid the perils of the stock market but one would have though gold might have actually gone up significantly rather than pretty much treading water at the same price. It might be due to many investors having to cash in their gold positions in order to pay off other debts.

During normal economic times most people invest in gold by buying gold stocks or ETFs which are much easier than actually collecting the physical gold. However, due to all the scandals and uncertainty in the financial markets, more people have been choosing to buy real gold coins and gold bars. This presents a storage problem but some people are gearing up for really rough times ahead and feel safer with real gold in their hands.