image credits: goldbars-silvercoins.com

Back in the ancient times, we all know that people used to barter goods in the absence of a currency that will enable them to purchase what they need. But since gold bars are very heavy, what people did was to leave it in churches as they say, and was then issued a piece of paper giving an account of how much gold was stored by that person. Sounds like banking, eh? 

Back in college, I had a classmate who asked our professor why countries swimming in debt, like the Philippines cannot just mass produce money and pay off its debts. You’d think a college student would know better, eh? Thank God  for a friend and classmate of mine in high school who explained the concept to me earlier on, as she saved me from having to ask my college finance professor that same question. In case, you don’t know, the answer to that is NO, Countries cannot just mass produce paper bills and pay off their loans. Because going back to the concept earlier, the currency is backed by the number of gold in the World Bank. The gold reserves of a country determines how strong your currency is. Back in the 90′s instead of gold reserves it was US Dollar reserves since it’s the currency that is most recognized around the globe. The Philippines do not have a lot of Dollar reserves and so the exchange rate is what it is, 1USD = 43PHP.

Now, let’s move to investments.

A lot of people are intimidated when it comes to the topic of investments and stocks exchange. It is really very simple in concept. Say you would like to invest in a particular venture or company. Let’s say Jollibee Foods Corporation for example. When a company is new and newly listed in the stocks exchange, the price per stock is relatively low. Let’s say, hypothetically, since I do not know the figures, when Jollibee started in the Philippine stocks exchange, say they offered the price per stock at P3.00. If you have P300,000 and would like to invest everything Jollibee, that would be equivalent to 100,000 shares of stocks more or less, of course the stock broker will also assess fees for processing. Anyway, since Jollibee became very popular and more and more people are investing, let’s say 6 months down the line, the price shoot up to P8.00/share. Then that just goes to say that your 300,000 will then go up to P800,000, thereby making you half a million pesos richer in 6months time.

If you are looking for higher returns, that means that you will have to put your money in high risk investments. That’s another rule in investments, the higher the risk, the higher the returns. No wonder conservative people tend to put their money on conservative investments, with guaranteed returns. One very popular investment right now is the gold IRA, because people recognize that the market is becoming very uncertain once more.

Speaking of gold, if you have a great deal of money, note that IRA Gold accounts is the safest form of investment, not to mention the purest form of money. No wonder investors are referring to it as the crisis commodity and more and more investors nowadays are converting their 401k into gold IRA, the act of which referred to as 401k Gold.

Alright, I got carried away right there. To sum it up, investments is a paradox, it is simple and yet tricky. Kinda like playing a game of poker. You’ll have to be able to call or go all in at the right moment. If you ever plan on buying shares in the stocks market or investing somewhere else, do your research and find the right people. Good luck!