The need for gold and the investment of gold in retirement investing are as much tied to each other as they are to inflation. During the recession, gold has been very low as a share of all money and even stocks have gotten out of favor. The same thing could happen again as an inflationary era would threaten the world.

Gold, like stocks, is an investment because it's "good." It's good to hold on to a little bit of it now, and also because there will be more of it in the future than when you sell it.

retirement hedges investing can also be tied to gold as well. If inflation were to come back, a lot of people think that gold would be among the first things to go. Gold has always held up well during an inflationary situation and is likely to do so again. Because gold is fungible, you can make a lot of profit in a smaller amount of money.

There are two types of investments made in gold, numismatic and conventional. The first is based on understanding where the metal comes from. In numismatics, for example, a business might own some gold or collect some from the deep sea. In conventional investing, gold can be bought at a metal store and sold for a profit in just a few days.

In this type of investing, the longer time horizon is long-term investors only. The gold investor might be someone who owns gold but needs a steady stream of money coming in to pay off his debts. In this case, a regular stream of investments might not be very helpful.

You will also need to know what a precious metals broker is. A bullion dealer can buy a stock in precious metals and then liquidate it. However, the price of the metal can rise more quickly than the value of the stock in order to make more profit in the short term.

In a way, it's much like a hedge against inflation. If you only have a couple of thousand dollars to put in a stock, and that stock doubles in value, you can always use your principal to buy more shares.

Just as in stocks, it will be very important to look at how the new asset class is being priced. This is something that has to be done before a bullion dealer comes calling.

In any case, gold is no different than stocks. They will be worth more in inflationary times. At least, that's what I do.

If you've been investing in gold or a similar gold-based asset, you'll be surprised at the investment options. You can keep gold in a safe place, such as a safe deposit box or your old home, and then use that as your base when you're considering the investment of your retirement money.

Gold, of course, is an investment for a very different reason than stocks. Although there are parallels, there are different factors that contribute to what makes gold valuable as an investment. When you are working on retirement investing, just like when you're looking at investment alternatives like stocks, gold will have to be an integral part of your plan.