# Is Gold Really a Good Investment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 18, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gold-really-a-good-investment/589452 "2011-07-18T15:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gold-really-a-good-investment/589452/141 "2011-07-28T02:01:58Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Let’s be clear. This is the sort of investment that pays off hugely when it wins. He may be risking only $15k, but stands to win much more than that. And it’s quite possible that his portfolio contains other investments, also calculated to profit from his own sabotage. He also stands to lose much more than that, if the treasury bombs. > [@septimus](#): > > Do we know Cantor’s net worth or total investments? We do have a pretty good idea of his net worth. [Eric Cantor’s net worth was between $2,182,171 and $7,106,000 in 2007, according to Cantor’s mandated financial disclosure statements.](http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=400060) That was 4 years ago. The guy is worth several million. A potential payoff of 50k, or even 150k doesn’t strike me as incentive for the guy to crash the economy, considering the rest of his assets will lose far more value. Wherever the rest of his money is, be it in stocks, bonds, treasuries, shoeboxes, or real estate, it’d plummet in value if the economy tanked. Honestly, I doubt the guy even manages his investments himself. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gold-really-a-good-investment/589452/142 "2011-07-28T08:43:24Z")
> [@Algorithm](#): > > The guy is worth several million. A potential payoff of 50k, or even 150k doesn’t strike me as incentive for the guy to crash the economy, considering the rest of his assets will lose far more value… > > Honestly, I doubt the guy even manages his investments himself. Thanks, I really didn’t know. (Perhaps I should have assumed a Congressman opposed to taxing the rich was rich!) That the investment is unimportant in size to him makes it all the odder he would indulge in the questionable morality but, as you suggest, it might not even be his idea. It’s off-topic here, but I’m still curious: For those who say Congressmen are controlled by lobbyists, is there a lobby group actively pushing for loss of Treasury’s AAA rating? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gold-really-a-good-investment/589452/143 "2011-09-26T04:49:22Z")
If I am feeling schadenfreude at the prospect that that [all the Fox News goldbugs are about to lose their shirts](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Gold-prices-plunge-more-than-cnnm-404528044.html?x=0), does that make me a bad person? ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gold-really-a-good-investment/589452/144 "2011-09-27T01:17:52Z")
An article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal today (9/26) declared that gold is not the hedge, dividend stocks are. It’s[this article](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204831304576592822485984958.html?mod=ITP_pageone_0#articleTabs%3Darticle), feel free to subscribe if you want, I just looked at a hardcopy myself. I’d like to point out that is basically what I said months ago 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gold-really-a-good-investment/589452/145 "2011-09-27T04:54:50Z")
Now the big question is: What is the demand for gold while the price is dropping? If you bought gold at less than $1000 an oz., you should have plenty of time to cash out. The more you paid, the less chance you have of getting your money back. Sounds like a perfect opportunity for someone in the loop to buy a lot of undervalued gold in the near future. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gold-really-a-good-investment/589452.md?page=7)