What can families do now to protect themselves?

[hiltonlee981]

Higgenbotham’s point about coins as a hard asset is the useful one. Spot gold in the headlines is 24k bullion. A family that liquidates a 14k chain or a broken ring is selling about 58% gold, and a pawn shop or cash-for-gold counter will pay a slice of that melt, not the ounce price on CNBC.

If the plan is “we have jewelry in the drawer, that counts as gold,” weigh it, read the karat stamp, then compare melt against a typical buyer payout before you take the first offer. I run those numbers on a gold calculator:https://mygoldcalc.com/ so the quote is not just a guess off the spot chart.

Coins and bars are closer to money. Household jewelry is scrap unless a piece has collector value.