Hello, Steven here, and thanks for reading my article. If you’re looking for a review of Mike Maloney’s best-selling book, ‘Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver’ you’ve come to the right place.
The book is part of Robert Kiyosaki’s series of ‘Rich Dad’ books advising on financial management and wealth creation, and was published in 2008. It is the best-selling book on investing in precious metals ever published. The author is the CEO and founder of GoldSilver.com.
Divided into 4 sections, the book focuses respectively on the history of money, the current situation of the monetary system, how the situation is likely to develop and the different ways people can obtain gold and silver, including pitfalls to be avoided.
The book starts with the monetary systems of the ancient world, and the reader will soon realize that the saying “there is nothing new under the sun” applies to the history of money just like everything else. The reader is guided through the debasement of the coinage in ancient Rome, and its origins in spending promises by the political class to gain popularity, but which could never be delivered.
The original gold and silver coins were made smaller, debased by mixing with lower value metals, and re-cast with higher values stamped on them. This served to increase the supply of money but had the effect of making each unit of money less valuable. More recently the book outlines the period of the classical gold standard from the 19th Century to World War One, the gold standard light system of Bretton Woods after World War Two, and the ending of the convertibility of the US dollar to gold by President Nixon on 15th August 1971.
With regard to the current situation, Mike argues that the value of most financial assets have been falling since 1999/2000, which was both the bottom of the gold market and the top of the stock market. This time was when paper assets were most coveted, and the real money of silver and gold most over-looked. Although the price of paper assets may have increased in nominal terms, in reality their fall in value has been hidden by inflation.
The book discusses the soaring government deficits and liabilities, and that these are being financed by increasing the money supply. Mike argues that the market cycle is turning away from paper assets, and in favour of the historic money of gold and silver.
The fourth section contains a comprehensive overview of the ways to buy precious metals, including pitfalls to avoid.
The book was easy to read and informative, and I would recommend it both specifically as a guide on precious metals, and more generally for improving peoples financial education.
