Damning themselves with faint praise

[dvandom]

Monex has been running ads for at least 20 years claiming that "there's never been a better time than now to invest in gold." Their latest ad, though, reeks of desperation.

"What if I were to offer you fifty thousand dollars in cash, or fifty thousand dollars in gold, with the understanding that you couldn't cash it in for five years? Which would be the better investment?" (Or words to that effect.)

Whisky Tango Foxtrot. Their best selling point is that gold is a better investment than stuffing cash in your mattress? They are literally saying you should invest in gold because it's better than the guaranteed loss of holding onto cash? Or, at best, that the returns are better than a savings account (although they strongly imply that you're supposed to just let the cash and the gold both sit in a box)?

Damn, there's no way I'm investing in precious metals if that's the best they can do.

Comments

[not-croaker.livejournal.com]

I think these guys' target market is the people who keep expecting the Stock Market to crash any day now.

[warpticon.livejournal.com]

I'd take the cash. Then I'd invest it in something higher yield than gold, like an index fund.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Yes, but their pitch was "what if you couldn't DO anything with it for five years?" Their point being that gold increases in value without any managing needed. Of course, the exchange value of gold is already way above the actual value (i.e. the value it'd fetch as a commodity rather than as a speculator target).

[foomf.livejournal.com]

And that exchange value is among the first things to go crash in any situation where the economy gets turbulent.