Just about everywhere you turn, individuals are afraid. The wildly flailing financial state has frightened a large number of investors to the point that they have eliminated themselves from their respective markets and turn out to be mere spectators. Failing to realize that stuffing funds into a cash account isn’t worthwhile throughout inflationary cycles, these people sit on their cash in hopes that the current recession genuinely has ended.
Throughout history, gold has been a highly valued substance. It’s unique properties and relative scarcity caused almost every world culture to use it as a form of money, as well as a way to "store" value.