I got into stocks as my dad was in to them. Tried to get my first stock (AT&T) but at that time had to be 21. Have been working the market for the last 45 years. Have nothing in gold as I figure it is about useless. Like Dave Ramsey said it is only valued as to what some people might think it is worth. Coke, IBM are valued at what the company can produce. Take your gold coins to the store to buy bread and milk, what do you think they are going to give you back in change. Sure is not going to be gold. It would be impossible to go back to the gold standard (what started all of this mess) now.