A Guide to Gold Basics

By Lawrence Reaves

With the soaring prices of gold it is a good time to consider buying or selling your gold jewelry. You need to have some basic knowledge to make smart decisions. Gold jewelry seems like it never goes out of style. This is because it is beautiful and easy for most people to afford and wear.

Pure gold will not tarnish, rust or corrode and is the most malleable of all metals. Pure gold is too soft for jewelry so it is mixed with other metals, including silver, copper, nickel and zinc to give it strength and durability. The color of gold is determined by the type of metal alloys it is mix with and the percentage of each metal alloy.

Most people think all gold is yellow, but the fact is there are many variations of color that gold can be. Colored gold is just as "real" as golden colored gold. The color depends on what the gold is mixed with. Other alloys are mixed with gold to make it strong and to hold up under every day wear and tear that jewelry goes through. Craftsman learned through the ages that mixing gold with copper, silver and platinum would increase its durability. When gold is alloyed with other metals it changes the color of the finished product. An alloy of 75% gold, 16% silver and 9% cooper makes yellow gold. White gold is 75% gold, 4% silver, 4% copper and 17% palladium. Other combinations of alloys can make pink, green, peach and even black gold.

The alloys of gold have a lesser value per unit weight than pure gold. The standard in the gold trade is known as karatage which is commonly called karat. Pure gold is known as 24 karat gold and is usually marked with 24K. An alloy that is 50% gold is 12 karat gold and is marked with a 12K. An alloy that is 75% gold is 18 karat gold and is marked with 18K. High karat gold jewelry is softer and more resistant to tarnish; on the other hand, lower karat jewelry is stronger, but less resistant to tarnish.

Gold is highly valued and there is a limited supply and has been used as a medium of exchange or money for centuries. 6000 years ago is when the first transaction was done using pieces of gold and silver. The reason that gold has been used for this purpose for so long is because it has high value, durable, portable and can be divided easily. At one time the United States used a gold standard and maintained a stockpile of gold to back every dollar in circulation. It became too cumbersome and is no longer used by any nation. Gold coins were commonly used in transactions. Gold coins were issued in two types of units. Some were units of currency and some were issued in standard weights.

Today gold coins are no longer in wide use for financial transactions. Gold coins issued in specific weights are popular for people who want to purchase and invest in a small amount of gold. Gold coins are also collected and issued as commemorative coins. These types are a good investment because gold retains its value overtime. These are just some informative basic facts about gold. As you can see gold is a good investment whether it is in fine jewelry or coins. - 23309

About the Author:

The best online resource to sell gold or sell gold coins can be found at http://www.refinity.com

Strategic Investing Tips and Advice

By Lennie Mclucas

My husband and I actively purchase and trade stocks and bonds. We are trying to save even more to retire and figure we should add to our savings as much as possible by doing investment research.

In the past, we used a major brokerage to handle all of our trading needs. We decided that the service that was provided to us was vary general. When we asked for advice, we were given general market summaries that had no real market direction outlined. We noticed that their financial newsletters were describing the market the same way it was a few months prior. New trends and current market reports were not provided to us.

We realized the brokerage's research was not good enough to invest our money off of. Then we realized that the research needed to be done by us to be able to secure our stock portfolios position.

Shortly after we started doing our own research we realized we did not need to be in business with the brokerage at all, we just felt like we were not gaining enough to be paying out for a lower level of service then we could provide ourselves. If you were doing all of the research, and coming up with your own plan of attack, you would also feel resentful if someone was taking a huge cut of your pay.

Our financial outlook has changed recently. We found great new tools on MyStrategicForecast.com's website. With the accurate investment research from My Strategic Forecast you really can succeed with investing. When we first contacted them, they provided us with a sample financial newsletter that concisely outlined the direction that the market was taking. Once we were sure their research was accurate we decided to turn to them for research and investment advice. We then felt we could start investing strategically investing of trying to guess if our research was complete and accurate.

My Strategic Forecast offers investment research in the form of financial newsletters, stock newsletters, and investing newsletters. We were thrilled to discover the research analysis not only covers current trends but backs it up with historical fact to show the markets direction. We felt well prepared for what the market may bring.

With My Strategic Forecast providing our investment research, I felt that I was receiving information that wasnt just a prediction or a hunch. Things like economic trends, political conditions and other interesting elements go into their financial forecast newsletters. I mean, why should non-economic factors really be part of investment research? My Strategic Forecast realized that financial markets are not only driven by economics, and that other investment analysts seem to forget that fact. - 23309

About the Author:

My husband and I are confident that our decision-making has been enhanced through the research provided by My Strategic Forecast. You can't afford to not look into it. Check out www.MyStrategicForecast.com and start benefiting today.