Gold: Time to Dump or Time to Buy?

Are you planning to buy gold? If yes, then you should know first if this is the best time to buy or not.Insider Monkey made a posting about "Gold: Time to Dump or Time to Buy?". The meteoric rise of gold following the 2008 market collapse had many investors and hedge funds managers clamoring to beef up their holdings.  More than four years later, however, the spot light on the precious metal has died in lieu of a recovery across many of the indexes.  Have managers given up on gold, or do they see these calmer times as reasons to hold on, or possibly accumulate more?

Kyle Bass, founder of Dallas-based Hayman Advisors, urged fund managers in early December 2012 to not sell their gold holdings, reminding investors that government deficits across many developed economies such as the U.S. are still significant (see Hayman’s current holdings here).  Those who do not want to stray too far from their equity accounts can seek out gold ETFs or ETNs, which are exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes, respectively.  The latter is more of a newcomer in the capital markets but offers the same ease of access and liquidity benefits of ETFs.  Whereas an ETF gives an investor exposure to the direct underlying asset, an ETN represents a debt offering by a bank or financial institution that more or less tracks the benchmark it comprises (gold in this case).  Please see Insider Monkey for more info about gold.