But the time to sell will come. Here are the signs I’ll be looking for:
Gold and gold-related financial products will be commonplace.
Even today, most financial institutions still hold the “barbarous relic” attitude toward gold. Yes, you can get GLD through any stockbroker, but with a few exceptions, the brokerage firm’s heart isn’t in it. They offer GLD for the same reason even the best seafood restaurants have a steak on the menu – they know someone will ask for one, even though that’s not what they are in business to serve.
Before the bull market is over, that attitude will change. Mainline brokerage firms won’t just have gold-related products available, they will advertise them. They will boast about them. They’ll claim to specialize in them. And it won’t be just the brokers. Your local bank will offer gold-related CDs. Your insurance company may be offering life insurance denominated in ounces.
Gold going mainstream won’t mean that the bull market is over, but it will be a sign that it’s getting long in the tooth. An early warning signal.
You’ll be hearing gold chatter wherever people talk about investing.
The inhabitants of Financial News TV Land will be talking about gold approvingly, and each of them will be trying to suggest he was early in recognizing the gold bull market. You won’t be able to get through a golf game or a cocktail party without someone talking about gold. Even your brother-in-law will want to explain it to you.
The gold standard will become respectable.
Today advocates of the gold standard are seen as standing to the good side of whacko, but not by a big margin. But as gold attracts more converts in the investment world, the politicians will want to associate themselves with it by proposing some brand or other of gold convertibility for the dollar. Respectability for the gold standard will be a sign that a majority of the people who are going to buy gold already have.
Other things will look cheap to you.
When gold nears its peak, even if you suspect that that’s what’s happening, you won’t feel certain about it. But when you start seeing investments – probably conventional stocks – that look like strong bargains, treat those sightings as a sign it’s time to start selling gold. You know the reasons that led you to buy gold. If you are tempted to sell part of your holdings to buy something whose low price seems to give it better prospects, then you probably will be selling at the right time. You could be selling to the last new buyer.
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