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Gold is one of the oldest and most prominent assets in the world. It’s synonymous with victory, beauty, wealth, and generally considered a standard you aim to achieve. Gold is also set for record prices this year even though it is a natural resource that is obtained by mining.
Gold is also deeply entrenched within the global financial system, often used relative to the value of money. It is also rooted in tradition in many cultures and is often viewed as a symbol of prestige. This perception of gold has been the norm across generations to the point where some might even question the need or relevance for an alternative.
We never really thought about our norms until covid-19 happened
Although we don’t need to point out how extraordinarily strange 2020 has been, we should point out that plenty of norms have been shattered across the planet.
From cancelled cultural festivals and global sports events to a collective hard kick in the faces of the medical, travel, food & beverage, events, hospitality and tourism industries worldwide, Covid-19 has also upended plenty of economies and forced many governments around the world to unleash unprecedented stimulus packages on their populations to keep their economies going. And once again that word, unprecedented.
This time, not everyone managed to get away
The other notable glaring observation was that even the richer people weren’t immune either. Companies were forced to shut down, jobs were lost, salaries were cut and unemployment in the United States alone shot up by 6.9 million in a single week.
What made the headlines were the losses, the pains, and the tragedies but what was missed out was the useful advice on how not to repeat the mistakes of others.
Just don’t forget to look forward
Hindsight is always 20/20 and for every loss a person makes, it’s a painful lesson for something that can’t be changed. It’s easy to get lost in the past but if you look in front of you, there is still a path.
Restaurants were forced to stop dine-ins and in turn, spawned a stronger delivery culture out of necessity and an even greater need for secure online payments. Social distancing requirements meant events and festivals were forced to cancel and that spawned a global trend of live-streamed music events, something that will also eventually require a secure and contactless digital payment system.
But back to you.
Be smart about how you manage your assets
We mentioned here in a previous piece, not to put all your eggs in one basket. Eggs in this case mean your assets, and the basket is where you place them. Should you do it online or offline? Physical or digital?
Gold is something you can already visualise in your mind’s eye even if you’re not physically holding it but an alternative like cryptocurrency is something you can neither see nor touch, but it belongs to you. It is mined using advanced computers and consumes electricity to secure its network through the blockchain technology, which is something even traditional banks are exploring to expand on and improve current financial transactions and processes.
What will the world be mining in the future? What would you prefer? You should not always be led to choose between ‘this’ or ‘that’. It can also be, ‘why not both?’