Gold’s myth and popularity is deep-rooted in its long and prosperous history,thus reflecting people’s future expectations in gold’s ability to retain its value across time.

One of the main motives behind every purchase of gold is the fear of deterioration of value of other currencies – in particular, of paper money. Gold has the unique ability of being able to maintain its worth – even while banks and countries are in dire financial straits and stock prices are falling, gold can still be traded and sold.

Owning gold enables one to withstand even the harshest of crises and yet manages preserve its value despite deep cuts in the economy and society brought about by structural and political change.

The scarcity of all precious metals, in particular gold, massively influences their price. Scarce commodities usually command high prices. The relevant literature on the topic of natural resources/minerals assumes that one ton of earth rock contains merely four milligrams (four thousandth of a gram) of gold.

This therefore leads to a natural restriction on the global supply, or the availability of gold. Demand, however, continues to grow. Access to gold has featured heavily in the 21st century. In addition China’s decision to legalise the private ownership of gold is playing a relatively big role therein. A large chunk of the world’s gold reserves is currently believed to have been exploited and either stored in central and commercial banks or taken the form of jewelry/objects of value.

Gold is extremely versatile and can take many shapes or forms. It is used in many ways, spanning from its use in private households as jewelry, as high-value gifts and as a lasting value “reserve”, all the way to burial goods in India.

It also serves as a reserve currency for central banks. In industry gold is deemed as being an essential commodity, owing to its specific physical and chemical properties.

To obtain possession and to be able to protect the gold itself is not only of high importance to States and financial institutions,  but is also a clear goal for the individual.

Having personal property is for many people a prerequisite to carrying out and fulfilling their life plans and being able to achieve their own goals.

Savings accounts, land and real estate, stocks and mutual funds along with life insurance and pension provision products are just as essential as gold.

In the 21st Century, gold could get a new (old) meaning: The present age is characterised by a currently unforeseeable long period of uncertainty. Challenges that were unheard of for many decades and were certainly not discussed publicly, have forced us to change processes and bring about radical changes in the global power structure.A growing proportion of the world’s population considers itself to again be facing existential challenges, especially in the industrialized states of Europe and the USA.

The only thing that we can be certain of at the beginning of this century seems to be we must live with the fact that the rapid and ongoing changes unto themselves are going to remain a part of our world and economy. In times of uncertainty, gold is and was always a sought after good, therefore making gold the raw material and commodity of the century!