Gold has a timeless allure -- especially if you worry about stock market volatility, inflation, a decay of ordinary currency or the collapse of civilization. Yet not everyone agrees that gold offers the safe haven its promoters describe. After soaring for a dozen years, it has plummeted in 2013.
After all, while gold has some practical uses in electronics and a few manufacturing processes, most of it ends up as jewelry on people's wrists and necks -- or rests quietly as stacks of ingots in rooms with thick doors and strong floors. How reliable can demand be for a commodity that very few people actually need? What is the proper role for gold in an investment portfolio? Why has its price been falling?
"People call it an insurance policy. I call it a very expensive insurance policy," says Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel.
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