Can someone explain the pros and cons of gold?

I smoked crypto one time got me messed up for a couple days

I wouldn’t put all my eggs in one basket (i. e. stock market). It wouldn’t hurt to invest some in gold. I don’t want a piece of paper that says I own gold, I want the physical gold. In an economic collapse that piece of paper won’t do you any good.

Pros would be diversification, serving as a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty given that its purchasing power tends to hold up over time (e.g. high inflation or market downturns). Cons: lower returns and can lose value more frequently than stocks in ordinary economic conditions. It doesn’t generate passive income like stocks do, and you have to worry about keeping it safe & can come with additional costs for storage and insurance. Also, liquidity can be a concern, as selling physical gold may not be as quick as selling stocks. Investing in gold doesn’t necessarily mean owning physical bars, though (you can buy gold ETFs, mutual funds, mining stocks, etc.).

William Devane can.

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It's a useless substance that we value because we're basically monkeys who love shiny shite. It is proof that we are stupid.

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This says a lot about you (none of it surprising).

To the OP: Gold is largely inert and highly conductive. It doesn’t corrode or degrade over time, is relatively rare and difficult to mine in large quantities. It is highly malleable and can be worked at low temps to adapt to all sorts of applications.

As far as a currency, it is easily recognizable, testable for purity, can be sized in minute quantities and chemically stable with high value density. For a day to day transaction in a scenario where fiat currency has collapsed, silver is probably more appropriately valued to be used in daily trade but it does tarnish and can be corroded over time.

I much prefer to hold it in small denominations over just “owning” it. The risk you take is like any other commodity which is someone could conceivably find a huge deposit and devalue it from the supply side but the uses for gold in the modern world continue to climb exponentially, so it’s a safe investment long-term in addition to being a safety hedge.

I bought a salt mine. I will be king

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The basic concept against gold is that it doesn't produce anything.
It doesn't generate anything.
It will never ever yield a dividend.

I.e. it is 100% speculative.

You can speculate on a company which does make a product or service.
You can speculate on a company which does generate revenue.
You can speculate on a company which can yield a dividend.

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Companies can, and do, go to zero. Gold never has.

The downside is that the gold market is manipulated by those who don’t want to see it compete with fiat. Companies sell Gold Contracts, which is the promise of gold which they say is in the ground, but don’t know, and which they say can be extracted reasonably, but which they don’t know. This is ‘paper gold’, and the market treats this and physical gold the same. For every ounce of physical gold in the market, there are 400 ounces of paper gold. This allows those who promote fiat to also purchase paper gold, and pump their fiat UP by dumping their paper gold on the market to drive gold DOWN - manipulation.

Sooner or later there will be a separation in the paper and physical market, and paper gold will move in the direction that fiat is moving, while physical will move in the other. When people in India and China begin saying, “nah, I want the metal stuff”, that is a game changer.

Silver is no different. Both are easy to buy in bulk, they send it to your door via UPS. You can put 1M in gold in a small safe deposit box (whether this is smart, or not, is a point of debate)

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But "potential currency" never crosses their mind. Not once.

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Because you need an instance in which the world government collapses and then re-establishes in a similar manner, where they won’t just straight up steal your gold.

Societal collapse where nothing is left? Trade a chunk of gold for a loaf of bread? I think I’ll just kill you and keep both.

I own it on paper as an investment only. It has done rather well for me.