Ephraim Rinsky, 37, recently moved in with his girlfriend. He packed up a suitcase with paintings that his mother made, a few Hawaiian shirts, his passport, and “some gold.” Over the phone, I asked him how much.
“The first rule of gold is never to tell anyone how much gold you have,” says Rinsky. “The second rule is never tell anyone where your gold is.”
Rinsky fell down the “precious metals rabbit hole” during the pandemic—“audiobooks and cooking didn’t really catch”—but adds that the market hadn’t started “really popping” until recently. The price of an ounce of gold is at $2,408, having increased more than 22 percent since this time last year. Central banks in India, Brazil, Russia, and most notably China have been buying gold hand over fist, while selling their U.S. debt. Young Koreans are flocking to new vending machines that sell gold by the gram. Costco started selling 1-ounce, 24-karat gold bars last August and is apparently selling $200 million worth per month.
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