The Gold Investor Hall of Fame: 7 Inspiring Strategies

At this point, telling you that gold is one of the world’s most popular commodities would be complete overkill. Its dominance of headlines and the constant debate surrounding the asset have put it on the radar of virtually every investor whether they actually own the metal or not. But the reason why gold often surges into the headlines is because of the people who choose to weigh in on the precious metal, as most of them are well known in the investing world. Below we outline seven of the most prominent and outspoken gold investors or proponents [for more gold news and analysis subscribe to our free newsletter].

1. George Soros: Soros’ name has been thrown around a lot recently given his actions in the gold market, specifically the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD). Mr. Soros dumped a fair amount of his GLD holdings back when gold was near $1,200 per ounce, only to watch it skyrocket to $1,900/oz. After waiting on the sidelines and watching gold fall back down, Soros increased his stake in this ETF from 319,500 shares to 884,400, or about $52 million worth of the yellow commodity.
2. John Paulson: Paulson is another name that has been floating around the headlines given his massive allocation to GLD as of late. Paulson  increased his GLD stake by 26% to hold 21.8 million shares of the world’s second largest ETF. That means that Paulson has approximately 44% of his company’s assets in this singular fund; a big bet that could be a make or break investment depending on the future of gold [see also Three Reasons Why Gold Is Overvalued].
3. Marc Faber: “Dr. Doom”, the man who predicted a coming recession with 100% certainty, also has been a proponent of gold. Some of Faber’s more outlandish statements have been predicting a QE 18 and a third world war, giving him all the more reason to be bullish on gold. He feels that investors need to protect themselves from the “elitists” by owning gold in their portfolio. Now you just have to decide if you believe him or not.
4. Jim Rogers: Rogers is one of the most famous names in the commodity industry, though he normally has been a fan of agriculture. Recently, Rogers noted that he thinks gold has another 10%-20% to drop before it hits a bottom and begins to climb again, so he has stated that he is currently not buying the metal, but will look to do so if and when gold slides.
5. Ron Paul: The list could never be completed with Ron Paul, libertarian and president hopeful for a number of years. Though Ron Paul may not be the biggest gold investor on the list, his plan to return to a gold standard earns him a spot in the Hall of Fame. In support of his war on the dollar, Paul made a famous statement: “What did the Romans do to their currency? The Byzantine Empire had a gold standard for a thousand years and they did quite well and they didn’t fight wars. But the Roman empire eventually destroyed their currency. They put in wage and price controls before they diluted the metals. They inflated. They thought wealth could come by fooling the people” [see also Were Gold and Silver Manipulated Alongside LIBOR?].
6. Peter Schiff: Another name that is widely active in the investing world, as his blog features daily updates and videos on his views of the economy. Schiff has been adamant about his distaste for fiat currencies in recent years and his love for gold. He has even gone as far as to put a price tag of $5,000/oz on the precious metal in the not-so-distant future, as he feels that our mounding debt and QE programs have delayed an inevitable recession that will push gold to new historic highs.
7. Warren Buffett: We had to add one naysayer, as Buffett has been so incredibly outspoken on his hatred for gold. One can literally find dozens of amusing quotes about how much Buffett hates gold, but we’ll share our favorite with you. “Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head”.

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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.