If you have not yet read Part I, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

Part II: How High and When to Sell?

Confiscation and/or Taxation

Here is a quick aside on the prospect of confiscation and/or additional and punitive taxation of gold (and silver) because it comes up often. I think neither is especially likely at this point.

Confiscation will become a concern for me if:

• Gold is ever remonetized. Should gold become the international choice of cross-border balancing, as I expect it might some day, the chance of it being ‘nationalized’ will skyrocket. However, as was true in the 1930s in the US, I fully expect that holders of gold will be compensated for their holdings. 
• Gold is demanded for oil. Should a current oil-exporting nation demand that it be paid in gold instead of cash, I would expect gold to be nationalized.
• Gold crosses $5,000/ounce. Once gold becomes a significant store of value compared to other sources such as money market funds or 401k plans, it might become a target of choice for revenue-strapped governments. As it is right now — on a relative basis vs. the equity or bond markets — the size of the entire gold market is a tiny, puny store of value, and therefore not really worth the government’s effort.

Should any of these things change, I believe we will have weeks, if not many months, of forewarning of confiscation or additional taxation — and my alert service will have you prepared well in advance.

There will be rumblings and discussions and other warning signs to forewarn that a change is coming, if one ever does. For now it seems rather unlikely that either confiscation or burdensome taxation is a near and present concern to hold.