A friend asked me for advice regarding his mother. She is 91 years old and will be moving into an assisted living facility soon.
Sometimes, the cost of an assisted living facility is more than an aging parent can afford. In this case, that is not a problem. Her late husband was a “gold bug,” methodically buying gold coins that he kept in a safe.
I was astounded when my friend said there is approximately $300,000 worth of gold in that safe. A year ago, it was worth about half that. Since then, the price of gold has nearly doubled.
He isn’t sure if he wants to sell it just yet. However, he also doesn’t want to risk losing a lot of that money if gold takes a dive. This is the classic dilemma that all investors face when a holding has appreciated quickly.
This post originally appeared at Investing Daily.