Lifted by a continued surge in Asian gold sales, consumer demand for gold reached an all-time high in 2013 at 3,893 tonnes. Amazingly, 54% of this demand came from two places: India and China. However, it is only recently that the East has dominated global demand for the yellow metal. In this infographic, we look at India and China specifically to see why demand keeps expanding in the East.

Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) is slowly becoming the de facto standard for measuring gold stock performance. Nearing its eighth birthday, GDX has even usurped the venerable HUI gold stock index as this sector's metric of choice in many circles. Let me explain why that is the case.

A recent Gallup survey on expected future returns of asset prices shows that most Americans still think that owning a home is the best way to generate a high return in the future. Nothing could be further from the truth! It just shows how totally out of touch with reality the average American is.

How rare is gold? Where are the world's gold reserves located? What is the cost of mining gold? Which continent is the most economic at mining gold? What is the future of mining gold? This infographic has the answers.

Following Charlie Munger's advice to “develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day” this article presents my recommendation as to what books to read to learn more about financial market history and the basic math skills you need to be a good investor.

...Everyone is worrying that we are at or near a market peak and this has investors extremely hesitant to buy stocks for fear of a big decline or perhaps even a crash. Obsessing over the risk of a crash, however, could lead to analysis paralysis but there is a basic investing strategy that can save investors from losing too much hair as they make the decision to buy stocks. It's called dollar-cost averaging. Let me explain how it works and why it's great for investors with long-term investing horizons.

we believe that gold staying between $1,300-$1,400 is unsustainable in the long-term. The price might drop down temporarily, but the economics don't lie. Miners have to turn a profit in producing gold, and they can't do it at the current price if gold grades continue to decline and new discoveries aren't found and put in the pipeline.

The historical record shows that those who get washed out during big corrections miss the greatest buying opportunities of a bull market. With that as context, what can we expect from gold moving forward? Let's start with the short term.

During 2011 into 2013 I kept a record of those individuals who expected gold to rise substantially in the coming years and presented updated summaries in a number of articles (see links below). Below are additional or recently updated forecasts by 11 prognosticators whose projections are surprisingly consistent, on average, with previous such estimates.

Below is an infographic illustrating the different forms of investing in gold and their pros and cons.