Historically, gold has often been a good way to invest in to protect yourself and your family against country's economical and/or political (that brings economy down) crisis. Is is still the case nowadays? Or is investing in gold is a thing of the past? In the last year I've started seeing so many ads in local papers and in town about firms buying gold that it made me think about it more. What do you think?

I believe silver was once upon a time considered as precious as gold, but lost its appeal as time went by. Same thing may happen to gold (but maybe not too soon )