ljr, I have to agree with your comments. If gold were a true safe haven, it wouldn’t fluctuate so wildly. How safe is my “safe haven” when its value could be down 15% tomorrow? I’ve asked all these questions about gold. For that reason, I would be reluctant to put more than 5% of my money into gold.

I’m also concerned with ETFs; if the sort of economic collapse that necessitates gold comes to pass, perhaps ETFs would be unredeemable, due to cash flow problems, computer glitches, anything. But keeping it at home seems risky too, and I wouldn’t want to store it somewhere else. It’s funny, but when I had a mortgage and more debt than assets, I had fewer worries about money; it’s true that the more money you have, the more you worry about losing it all.

Short term gov’t bonds sound good for now, but if the dollar starts plummeting, I wouldn’t like the bonds too much either.

Before anyone says I’m all doom and gloom, I am constantly on the look-out for a ray of sunshine on our economic horizon,because one day it will come, and I want to be one of the first to spot it.