If you own physical gold or silver as your failsafe store of wealth it is prudent to “look under the cover” so that you know, not assume, that it is indeed genuine gold or silver. [Up until now there has not been an easy and inexpensive way to detect counterfeits but a revolutionary new personal precious metal verifier has come on the market that can do just that.]

The top 10 central banks with the largest gold reserves have remained mostly unchanged for the last few years. They are as follows:

The United States has seen four different gold confiscations — the last of which was in 1933. Few people realize that when the freedom to own gold was restored in 1972, the President retained the power to require us to surrender our gold which he can do again any time (probably on a Friday) with the mere stroke of a pen. That means all confiscated gold could possibly be compensated at only $42.22 per 1oz. and not at the world market price. Don’t take this decision lightly. It was another blatant warning that the government may be contemplating grand larceny — AGAIN. Words: 1740

Gold and silver generally move in sync with each other and tend to move in the same direction. The relationship is such that there’s even an indicator that measures it – the gold/silver ratio. Many investors use the ratio to spot extremes in the pricing of either precious metal, and to spot trends, whether up or down. The ratio currently sits at approx. 80:1 and suggests that silver has some catching up to do.

The current meltdown of the world’s debt bubble is likely to continue in the course of the next months and Hugo Salinas Price, Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist and the president of the Mexican Civic Association for Silver, believes that the salvaging all debt and derivatives might require a gold price as high as between $22,000 and $50,000 per ounce. Here's his rationale.

The 70s pattern for silver is very similar to the pattern that currently exists. Therefore, I do not think it is wishful thinking that silver will reach the target of $675 as a minimum. Now, you have an opportunity to go back in time to 1978, without a “time-machine,” and make a similar but bigger gain.

Fibonacci retracements are technical indicators that help predict when, and to what extent, price reversals are most likely to occur.

The output gap is a critical concept in economics that measures the real economy today relative to trend potential....and the biggest question in the economy today is how long will it take to close the gap.

Wealth preservation and insurance against imploding assets and all the risks around the world means owning gold. Gold is the ultimate protection against this Great Financial Catastrophe. It is not just a must to hold physical gold. It is how and where it is held that is absolutely critical.

While governments have consistently damaged their economies ever further, the house of cards, however shaky, is still standing. If and when the markets crash and currencies collapse, however, there will be a dramatic rise in the price of gold. Here's why.