The New Case for Gold Review

Rickards’ Best Yet: Get the Goods on Gold in this Short, Value-Packed Book

For those who have never read a book written by James Rickards before, you’re in for a treat. In my opinion, he’s at his best in the newly released, The New Case for Gold. Now, if you have read one of Rickards’ books before, you know that they often run over 300 pages – not something you can easily rip through in a couple of evenings after work. The New Case for Gold, however, is a value packed 170 pages with his thesis organized into 6 concise chapters, making it something you could dig into on your lunch break.

Accessible Investing Knowledge & News

There’s something to be said for the length of a book, newsletter or other investment resource, how easy it is to get through it, and if you can take what you learned and easily apply it or put it into action. That stuff matters, because at the end of the day, why spend the money on investment tools that take you 6 months to get through (if you ever finish them) and the only action they see is when you use them as coasters? Not to say that short is always better, because there are a lot of resources that are concise and still not worth the paper they’re printed on. What I’m saying is try to choose the resources that are going to best compliment your learning style, time constraints and interests. But, I’m getting sidetracked…

Gold Investing Newcomers Will Appreciate This Book

I really enjoyed this book, but having read many of Rickards’ other books, I didn’t feel I learned anything I hadn’t heard before. For anyone new to investing in gold, on the other hand, the book is a real asset because he’s assembled all of the best information concerning his thesis for gold investment in one concisely written book – I’m highlighting the brevity of this book because it’s somewhat of an anomaly for Rickards. Those who have read their share of monetary books, such as myself, may not discover anything earth shattering in The New Case for Gold, but if you’re looking for information to confirm if you’re investing correctly, this a great source.

Gold Is Money

Rickards cuts to the chase and gives the thesis for the book early in the introduction:

“Gold is money…monetary standards based on gold are possible, even desirable, and in the absence of an official gold standard, individuals should go on a personal gold standard, by buying gold, to preserve wealth.”
~Rickards, The New Case for Gold, 2

Rickards uses 6 chapters to explain his case for gold as money and why you need to make it a part of your personal investment portfolio. These chapters are titled:

Gold and the Fed – A look at US monetary policy past, present and future.

Gold is Money – A history of gold in the world monetary system and a look at what gold isn’t and why that’s a good thing.

“Understanding gold provides us with a frame of reference for understanding the future in the international monetary system” (Rickards, 56).

These ideas and facts are the reasons I first started investing in gold. They have since led me to the junior mining sector, where the ultimate leverage to the gold price exists.

Gold is Insurance – A look into the mathematical side of the world economy and the theory used to model it.

Gold is Constant – A look at the gold price and why you should change your perspective from the gold price rising and falling to the currency price rising and falling in relation to gold.

If you follow Rickards’ arguments in the previous chapters then this one won’t be difficult to wrap your head around.

“July 2015, China updated its official gold reserves…to show 1,658 tons…up from 1,054 tons in 2009” (Rickards, 92).

China’s assent into the world economic powerhouses will be predicated on its acceptance into the International Monetary Fund’s basket of currencies that back the world currency – the SDR (Special Drawing Rights). To do this, gold will play a major role in supporting the Reminibi (Yuang), thus the major push for gold consumption. China is not only the world’s largest producer (it consumes all production), but also the largest importer. Rickards believes that the Chinese gold holding is much higher:

“China’s figures are deceptively low…there are perhaps 3,000 additional tons…in an agency called the State Adminstration of Foreign Exchange” (Rickards, 92).

Gold is Resilient – A comparison of gold to the other mainstream investment vehicles of the world, mainly America’s stock exchanges, and why you are at risk for holding your wealth electronically.

This may be the least discussed topic outside of the ‘conspiracy theory’ realm of commentary, but it’s something that I believe people should take much more seriously as our lives become more and more digitized!

“As a 21st century investor, I don’t want all of my wealth in digital form…I want part of it in a tangible form, such as gold” (Rickards, 147).

How to Acquire Gold – A summary of all the ways you can invest in gold.

I think most of us are fairly familiar with many of the ways to invest in gold; purchase physical bullion, shares in ETFs such as GLD, Sprott Physical Trusts, mining stock shares and international storage banks such as Gold Money. It is, however, interesting to read the pluses and minuses that Rickards’ attributes each of the various ways to invest in gold – check them out!

Collapse. Yup, As In The Collapse Of The World Economy

Ultimately, Rickards believes the world economy is headed for collapse with a major monetary crisis forcing the world’s powers into a third major meeting to sort out a solution:

“When the next collapse comes, there will be another meeting such as those held in Genoa in 1922 and Bretton Woods in 1944” (Rickards, 43).

To weather this coming storm, Rickards encourages a conservative 10%, of investable assets, allocation in gold. With the ideas and facts laid out in this book, you must ask yourself “what are the new rules of the game and how can I survive it?”

Famously, the late Richard Russell used to say, “in times like this, it isn’t who profits the most, it is who loses the least.” If that truly is the case, we’re in for a bumpy road, one that the majority of the population is NOT ready for! Are you?

Is This The Gold Book You’ve Been Looking For?

For those who are new to the gold thesis and want to improve their knowledge of the metal, this is a great place to start because you won’t find another book that describes the case for gold so succinctly without glossing over any points that are necessary to the argument. Like I said, if you’ve been at the gold game for a while, you shouldn’t expect to unlock any new secrets while reading Rickards’ latest, but at 170 pages, this is a book you can add to your collection and return to any time you’re looking to reaffirm your stance on gold.

Until next time,

Brian