Of all the precious metals, gold is the most popular as an investment. Investors generally buy gold as a hedge or safe haven against any economic, political, social, or fiat currency crises (including investment market declines, burgeoning national debt, currency failure, inflation, war and social unrest). The gold market is also subject to speculation as other commodities are, especially through the use of futures contracts and derivatives. The history of the gold standard, the role of gold reserves in central banking, gold's low correlation with other commodity prices, and its pricing in relation to fiat currencies during the financial crisis of 2007–2010, suggest that gold behaves more like a currency than a commodity.

Gold has been used throughout history as money and has been a relative standard for currency equivalents specific to economic regions or countries. The demand for gold has always been robust. The process of buying and selling with gold is quite quick. It offers near zero risk of value depreciation.

One can even invest in gold online. Investors can now buy, sell and virtually trade in gold commodity just like any other stock or equities. This has been a driving factor for many to invest in gold because investing online reduces the risk of actually owning the metal.
However, gold doesn't provide any immediate appreciable income. The value of the income has to be seen over the long term.