re: Can someone explain the pros and cons of gold?

Gold is now bought and sold tax-free in 45 of 50 states, confirming that, in the eyes of .gov, gold is currency. From another site:


When Nixon announced that the USA was no longer redeeming gold for dollars on 15 August, 1971, the government had been exchanging gold for dollars at $35.00 an ounce and the LBMA price of gold was approximately $43.00. As of 15 April, 2024, the current market price of gold is approximately $2,390.00 an ounce.

Over this period using the LBMA price of gold, it has compounded annually at a rate of :

(2390÷43.00)^(1÷52.6666666667) = 1.0792736442 or compounded at approximately 7.93% per annum for approximately 52.67 years as of 15 April, 2024 or to state it another way, the dollar has lost (1-(43.00÷2390.00)) = .9820083682 or approximately 98.20% of its value against gold.

I suspect that the dollar will lose that remaining 1.80% in the next 5 years against gold.

A compounded annual rate of approximately 7.93% for approximately 52.67 years is not too bad for a pet rock or a barbarous relic and if the a BRICS currency is eventually backed by gold then I suspect the compounding rate could exceed 8.50% compounding.