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Published: July 9, 2010
I've noticed an emerging trend from my
subscribers.
It started out about two years ago as a whisper. Month by month,
email by email, that whisper has become a little louder. Today,
I'm hearing it loud and clear and received my last email about
it just a few days ago.
Income investors want to know if they can capture high yields
while investing in gold.
So what's behind this rise in interest in gold? And more
importantly, are there high yields available from the yellow
metal?
The flight to gold is all about safety. Safe-haven investors
have been responding to the euro zone crisis and fears of a
weaker-than-expected recovery by fleeing to gold. The price is
up nearly +25% from the average monthly price of $972 in 2009.
This is not a recent phenomenon. Gold has roughly quadrupled
since 2001, when it was selling for less than $300 an ounce.
In fact, my husband and I shifted a portion of our assets into
gold when we had some fears during the subprime crisis. As it
turns out, we didn't need to rely on our gold assets to bail us
out of poverty. Instead, we've so far reaped gains of around
+50%.
But gold is a tricky investment. Many want to hold gold as a
hedge. But it's not always a
hedge in down markets. In fact, gold prices actually fell in
the peak months of the financial crisis in late 2008 and early
2009. And gold doesn't necessarily perform badly in up markets,
either. While U.S. and world markets soared in the past decade,
gold prices rallied up until the financial crisis.
A likely reason for the strong
appreciation in gold prices during the past decade was the
precipitous fall in the value of the dollar (gold prices are
quoted in dollars). But lately, the dollar and gold have both
rallied strongly at the same time.
What's going on?
Investors are fleeing the euro amid the debt crisis in Europe
and placing money in the relatively safe havens of U.S. dollars
and gold. According to The Wall Street Journal, central banks
are increasingly shifting money out of euros and into gold. The
increased appetite led to the metal hitting an all-time record
high price of $1,262 an ounce in June.
Given the uncertainty and risk-aversion that is likely in the
months and years ahead, gold seems like a good bet to do well.
And don't think the rally can't continue even higher. In the
1970s, the price of gold increased more than 20-fold from an
average of about $35 an ounce in 1970 to a high of more than
$800 an ounce in 1980. If history is any gauge, gold could have
more room to run.
But What about Yields?
I can't sugarcoat it -- finding yields powered by gold can be
difficult.
I've been doing some research. I discovered that of the nearly
250 common stocks based in the United States that are part of
the metals and mining sector, only a couple
yield more than 5%. And of the 61 companies focused
primarily on gold, zero have a yield worth looking at twice.
I did, however, come across some convertible preferred shares
from Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) (on Yahoo! Finance, the
tickers for the preferred shares will be "HL-PB" and "HL-PC").
They pay about 6.5%. But while Hecla does have some exposure to
gold, it's far from a pure play.
But apart from a few funds, your options are sparse. The good
news is that both income investing and gold investing are
becoming more popular in today's environment. I expect that some
new offerings could pop up soon that fill the "gold/income"
void. I plan to keep my eye out and will let you know if I find
something with a juicy yield.
-- Carla Pasternak
Editor,
High-Yield Investing
High-Yield International |
