Mr. Rawles:
The other day you mentioned some pretty outlandish predictions for gold and silver from the “gold bugs.” Just what are they saying, and how credible are their claims? I’d also like to hear your own estimation of gold’s potential. Thank You, – Mrs. F.
JWR Replies: Some of the claims are indeed outlandish — like Roland Watson, who predicted $10,000 per ounce gold. (See below.) But it isn’t just die-hard gold bugs that are predicting significantly higher precious metals prices by the end of this decade. There are quite a few Wall Street wonks that are talking about $1,000 per ounce gold within a year or two. My personal prediction is a peak of around $1,400, but that would only be in the event of WWIII or a full scale dollar crisis.
Ponder the broad range of these predictions for gold’s potential peak:
$1,000 per oz. (Jim Cramer – TheStreet.com)
$1,000 per oz. (Jim Rogers, former George Soros partner)
$1,200 per oz. (Mark Thornton)
$1,500 per oz. (Nick Barisheff)
$1,700 per oz. (Dana Sameulson)
$2,000 per oz. (Credit Agricole)
$2.000 per oz. (David Morgan)
$2,000 per oz. (Larry Edelson)
$2,500 per oz. (Stephen Leeb)
$3,000 per oz. (Craig Smith, Swiss America)
$3,500 per oz. (Edgar J. Steele)
$4,000 per oz. (Peter Schiff, Euro Pacific Capital)
$5,000 per oz.(Michael Miller)
$6,000 per oz. (Marc Faber)
$8,000 per oz. (James Turk)
$10,000 per oz. (Roland Watson)
But in the final analysis… nobody has a crystal ball. My current advice is to hedge substantially into precious metals. We live in perilous times, so it is prudent to make your investment portfolio diverse.