Why Buy Gold and Silver Now? 5 Reasons Investors Should Know

Why buy gold and silver when investors have stocks, bonds, real estate, and other places to put their money?

In this episode of The Rich Dad Radio Show, Robert Kiyosaki and Kim Kiyosaki sit down with legendary natural-resource investor Rick Rule to examine the case for owning precious metals—and why protecting purchasing power has become increasingly important for investors.

Rick argues that the case for gold and silver isn't built on fear or speculation. It's built on arithmetic.

He identifies five forces behind his outlook for precious metals: monetary expansion, growing government debt and deficits, negative real interest rates, historically low allocations to precious metals, and the possibility that major institutional investors could shift capital away from traditional debt instruments.

At the center of the discussion is a simple problem: purchasing power.

When inflation rises faster than the return on savings and fixed-income investments, investors can earn interest while still becoming poorer in real terms. Rick explains why this dynamic changes the traditional definition of a "safe" investment and why gold has historically attracted investors concerned about the depreciation of fiat currencies.

Robert also challenges the conventional idea of saving cash. He explains why he prefers gold and silver as stores of value, while Rick offers a different perspective: cash can provide liquidity during a financial crisis, giving an investor the ability—and confidence—to buy assets when others are forced to sell.

That leads to an important distinction. Rick considers physical gold and silver highly liquid, but he also describes precious metals as "volatile cash." An investor must understand how that volatility affects his or her ability to deploy capital when other opportunities appear.

Robert, Kim, and Rick also discuss:

-Why gold can function as a store of value without relying on a counterparty

-How inflation erodes purchasing power

-Why government debt and deficits matter to investors