Bijak Wang (TV3) : Elok melabur dalam bentuk emas

MINGGU lepas saya dijemput oleh TV3 menerangkan tentang emas sebagai pelaburan alternatif dalam program Bijak Wang. Minat dengan pelaburan emas memang sedang meningkat. Melalui program tersebut pun ada beberapa penonton yang menelefon bertanyakan beberapa perkara tentang emas.

Saya diminta menerangkan mengapa wajar melabur dengan emas. Emas sebenarnya ialah suatu komoditi yang tidak luntur ditelan zaman. Walau tertanam beribu-ribu tahun sekalipun, emas tetap berkilau.

Tidak ada negara yang mata wangnya tidak tertakluk kepada turun naik nilai emas, termasuklah negara kita semasa krisis 97/98 yang mana mata wang kita dikatakan menjadi bahan spekulator dan pernah jatuh ke paras serendah RM4.50 untuk satu dolar Amerika.

Mata wang dunia tidak lagi disokong oleh emas dan negara seperti Amerika Syarikat didapati boleh mengeluarkan seberapa banyak wang sesuka hati mereka.

Sekian lama mata wang dolar Amerika digunakan untuk segala-galanya daripada rizab negara kepada dagangan dunia.

Boleh dikatakan tidak ada urusan yang tidak lepas daripada dolar Amerika sehinggalah Kesatuan Eropah menghasilkan Euro yang menjadi pencabar kepada kedudukan dolar Amerika.

Apabila berlaku krisis ekonomi pada tahun 2008 yang berpunca di Amerika, dolar terus tertekan kedudukannya selaku mata wang utama. Tambahan pula negara seperti China yang banyak membeli Bil Perbendaharaan Amerika Syarikat merasa bimbang mengenai penurunan nilai dolar dan menyarankan penggunaan mata wang alternatif untuk perdagangan.

Pada waktu sama China juga mengajak negara-negara Asia Barat mengubah haluan menggunakan mata wang lain selain dolar Amerika.

Suasana begini dicampur dengan defisit kerajaan Amerika yang berjumlah trilion dolar menyebabkan ramai orang membeli emas selaku pelindung atau insuran.

Mereka yang mengambil langkah perlindungan ini bukan saja orang individu tetapi juga negara. Selasa minggu lepas, Bank Negara India telah membeli 200 tan emas dari Dana Kewangan Antarabangsa (IMF) dan ia telah melonjakkan harga emas pada hari itu. Dikhabarkan IMF akan menjual sebanyak 200 tan lagi. Kenaikan permintaan ini menyebabkan harga emas terus meningkat.

Minggu lepas sehingga semalam (Jumaat) emas naik dari AS$1091 (RM3,815) seauns kepada AS$1106 (RM3,871).

Bagaimanapun mereka yang ingin membeli emas patut melihat pembeliannya untuk disimpan selama 365 hari. Bukan untuk dijual minggu depan atau bulan depan kerana dengan mengambil sikap demikian segala turun naik harga (volatiliti) dapat diatasi.

Misalnya sejak setahun lalu, harga emas naik sebanyak 52 peratus dari AS$734.90 (RM2,572) seauns kepada AS$1116.80 (RM3,908) seauns.

Kalau emas tidak penting mengapa kerajaan India membeli 200 tan emas minggu lepas?

Kebimbangan akan kejatuhan nilai matawang dolar Amerika dan kemungkinan pemulihan mungkin akan mengambil masa lebih lama daripada dijangkakan kerana pengangguran di AS hampir mencecah 10 peratus dan masalah yang membelenggu sektor perumahan belum dapat diatasi lagi.

Kerajaan China juga menasihatkan rakyatnya menyimpan 5 peratus daripada wang simpanan mereka dalam bentuk emas dan ini bakal menaikkan lagi harga emas.

Kita ingat semasa zaman ramai pelarian meninggalkan negara asal mereka seperti semasa perang Vietnam. Mereka yang lari daripada Kemboja membawa bersama emas dan apabila sampai di sini mereka menggunakan emas tersebut untuk memulakan perniagaan dan hidup baru.

Contohnya di kawasan Kota Tinggi, Johor. Ramai orang Kemboja yang memiliki perniagaan seperti barang kemas dan perniagaan kain. Emas diterima di mana-mana tidak kira di negara mana sekalipun, emas tetap emas.

Seperti yang pernah dinyatakan dahulu, emas boleh dibeli secara buku pas dan secara syiling atau keping (wafer) dari bank-bank perdagangan. Selain itu, barang kemas juga suatu pelaburan dalam "bentuk emas" walaupun ketulenan emas pada barang kemas adalah rendah daripada emas keping iaitu 91.6 peratus bagi barang kemas dan 99.99 bagi syiling dan emas keping.

Bagi Bursa Malaysia pula, mungkin Dana Dagangan Bursa Emas (Gold Exchange Traded Fund) mungkin boleh difikirkan selaku salah suatu tawaran di bursa kita.

Dengan adanya ETF Emas ini dapatlah lebih ramai pelabur melabur dalam emas dengan modal yang lebih rendah.

DATO' SALLEH MAJID ialah bekas Presiden Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur (kini Bursa Malaysia)

[Source:Utusan Malaysia]

Penurunan harga emas...Perhatian kepada Dealers

Salam semua...

Dealers tidak perlu bimbang kepada penurunan harga emas, di sini suka saya mengemukakan satu pertanyaan yang dikemukan oleh Kak Yatie (Dealer kawasan Marang dan sekitarnya) seperti berikut :...

Salam, Maaf ganggu lagi. Ada beberapa pertanyaan ni. Kalau ada buyer masa harga murah dari masa harga kita beli dulu kita mesti jual, contoh: harga jual sekarang 2300 harga beli 2200 harga kita beli: 2500 saya lock harga 2300 dan order yang lain dengan PB or en khairul. lepas tu saya kena gi tebus kat BR sekeping dan kena bayar harga sekeping ikut harga BR or kena bayar berapa... Dah tu bagi emas tu ke pembeli (dia ada RM1500 je) dia pajak lak dapat dalam seribu terus bayar ke saya...camtu eh... Jadi agen ni mesti sentiasa ada emas dalam nilai 30k ke dalam akaun kita. Katakan kita nak labur banyak untuk sendiri dalam 50k. Lepas 2minggu, or 1 bulan or 3 bulan harga naik tinggi untuk beberapa hari (kira untung la tu..) kalau kita nak jual kesemuanya boleh jual pada en khairul or PG. Kalau ke PG, mr branson atau orang dia kena datang laa... En khairul selalu tekankan 'buat sale sebelum 1 nov untuk dapat komisen' Kami daftar hari tu dah lambat. Jadi mungkin lepas 1Nov baru ada jualan... En khairul buat sendiri ke blog tu ...Kalau saya nak buat blog (kurang pandai lagi) macamana nak dapat mssukkan add PG, PDinar, BR, kitko dan lain2 tu... Sekian dulu. Terima kasih.

...ini di antara persoalan yang bermain di kepala kita sebagai Dealer, beli harga mahal jual harga murah....adakah Dealer memperolehi keuntungan? jawan nya "YA"...Dealer tetap akan memperolehi keuntungan sekiranya kita mengambil langkah seperti berikut....

1. Jual stok yang ada ditangan sebagaimana harga yang diminta oleh client kita even harganya jauh lebih rendah dari harga kita beli...
2. Pada masa yang sama kita buat order baru berdasarkan harga yang diminta oleh client kita...
3. Kita akan menerima emas yang kita order pada harga yang dipesan oleh client kita sebagai stok baru kita..
4. Pada masa yang sama kita akan menikmati komisyen dan stok baru pada harga yang lebih rendah...
5. So...disini tidak timbul persoalan rugikah kita?
6. Proses ini lebih kurang mendahulukan stok yang ada pada kita sebelum kita menerima stok baru yang harganya sama seperti yang diminta oleh client kita...

Dengan itu tidak timbul "saya terpaksa hold dulu, sebab masa saya beli hari tuu harga lebih tinggi"...nasihat saya..apabila apabila permintaan...kita let it go...jangan kita berfikit sebagai pembeli...tetapi kita berfikir sebagai seorang Dealer...

Emas sebagai alternatif pelaburan

MINGGU ini saya bercerita sedikit tentang emas sebagai pelaburan. Sebenarnya emas sudah menjadi bahan pelaburan sejak harganya mula-mula diselaraskan pada tahun 1717 oleh Sir Isaac Newton.

Pada tahun 1971, emas tidak lagi terikat dengan Dolar Amerika dan diperdagangkan secara bebas. Pada 6 Oktober 2009 baru-baru ini, harga emas di pasaran emas dunia melonjak sebanyak AS$24.60 kepada AS$1,041.80 seauns sehari.

Enam bulan dulu harga terendah emas ialah AS$868.70 dan setahun dulu harganya ialah AS$709.50 seauns. Dalam masa setahun harga emas naik sebanyak 46.8 peratus. Lima tahun dulu harga terendahnya ialah AS$412.10 iaitu kenaikan sebanyak 152.8 peratus.

Secara purata seseorang yang melabur jangka panjang mendapat pulangan purata dalam masa lima tahun sebanyak 30.5 peratus. Rasanya pelaburan di pasaran saham sendiri tidak boleh memperolehi keuntungan sebanyak itu.

Tidak ramai yang sedar akan pulangan yang lumayan daripada pelaburan emas. Cara yang baik untuk melabur emas ialah dengan membeli syiling emas atau emas keping selain barang kemas.

Untuk makluman, suatu auns bersamaan dengan 31.10 gram. Bagaimana pun harga jualan emas di institusi kewangan berbeza-beza kerana harga emas bukannya sesuatu yang terkawal.

Banyak kos perkhidmatan seperti insurans diambil kira oleh institusi-institusi ini. Syiling dan emas keping ini boleh diperolehi di bank-bank seperti Maybank dan OUB.

Ada juga yang menggunakan buku pas seperti Public Bank tetapi pelanggan tidak menyimpan dan melihat emas sebenarnya hanya jumlah dan harga semasa pembelian dimasukkan ke dalam buku pas.

Kini ada pembelian dan penjualan boleh juga dilakukan dengan Koperasi Etika Emas yang mempunyai cawangan di seluruh negara.

Kenaikan harga emas tertakluk lazimnya atas tiga faktor utama. Pertama penyusutan nilai dolar Amerika. Apabila nilai dolar Amerika susut harga emas akan naik, apabila dolar Amerika stabil harga emas akan susut.

Emas bertindak sebagai pelindung nilai menentang dolar Amerika. Pada masa ini dolar Amerika lemah dan menunjukkan tanda-tanda akan menjadi lebih lemah.

Ada juga ura-ura negara Asia Barat dan China akan menggunakan mata wang lain selain dolar Amerika disebabkan kelemahan dolar Amerika ini. Walaupun peralihan kepada mata wang selain dolar Amerika (euro misalnya atau mata wang bentuk baru) bukan sesuatu yang boleh berlaku dengan segera, berita itu telah cukup untuk melonjakkan harga emas dunia.

Faktor kedua ialah harga emas akan naik selari dengan kadar inflasi. Apabila inflasi naik, harga emas akan naik selaras dengan inflasi.

Dalam keadaan negara-negara di dunia termasuk kuasa-kuasa ekonomi besar menyuntik pakej rangsangan ekonomi dengan besar seperti AS$787 bilion pakej rangsangan Amerika Syarikat kesannya ialah peningkatan inflasi.

Amerika hanya mengecap duitnya sesuka hati dan ini akan menyebabkan nilai duitnya akan turun.

Faktor ketiga ialah kenaikan harga petroleum akan menyebabkan harga emas naik selari dengan kenaikan kos penghasilan dan penghantaran barangan, jika harga petroleum jatuh. dijangka emas juga akan turun tetapi pada tahap minimum.

Terdapat beberapa cara untuk melabur dalam bentuk emas dan diterangkan secara lengkap di dalam www.gold.org/value. Orang ramai boleh melabur secara langsung dengan membeli emas bulion (jongkong), syiling emas, dinar emas, atau secara tidak langsung melalui gold futures, options, waran atau sijil pelaburan.

Salah satu cara paling popular dan cepat berkembang dalam sekuriti bursa di seluruh dunia yang dikenali dengan nama Gold ETF (Exchange Traded Fund).

Antara bursa saham dunia yang menawarkan Gold ETF ialah di Australia, Amerika Syarikat, Perancis, Hong Kong, Jepun, Mexico, Afrika Selatan, Switzerland, Singapura, Turki dan United Kingdom. ETF ini dalam bentuk sekuriti dan disokong 100 peratus oleh emas secara fizikal.

Pelaburan secara ini berkembang dengan pesat sehingga 38 peratus daripada pelaburan yang dikenal pasti terdiri daripada sekuriti bentuk ini. Di sini belum ada lagi Gold Emas ini diperdagangkan di bursa kita.

Melihat pergolakan yang berlaku sekarang terutama sekali tergugatnya kedudukan Dolar Amerika ekoran krisis ekonomi yang berpunca di Amerika, daripada mereka dan merebak ke seluruh dunia. Orang ramai sudah tentu mencari sesuatu bentuk pelaburan yang lebih selamat daripada pergolakan harga.

Oleh DATO' SALLEH MAJID, Mantan Presiden Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur (kini Bursa Malaysia)

Source : Utusan Malaysia Online 10 Oktober 2009 / 21 Syawal 1430

Dinar Emas, Pusat akhirnya akui amalan Kelantan

Hazayani Zakaria Sun | Aug 30, 09 | 11:55:33 am MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, 30 Ogos: Exco Kerajaan Negeri Kelantan Dato' Husam Musa menyambut baik saranan kerajaan agar Tabung Haji (TH) dan Pusat Zakat (PZ) meneliti penggunaan dinar emas sebagai asas dalam urusan mereka. Namun beliau yang merupakan Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Perancangan Ekonomi, Kewangan dan Pembangunan Masyarakat berharap ianya dilaksanakan mengikut seperti yang dikehendaki Islam, bukan hanya mengambil sebahagian sahaja. Pertama saya ucap tahniah kepada kerajaan persekutuan.Akhirnya boleh berkongsi pandangan dengan kerajaan negeri Kelantan. Tetapi pelaksanan itu mesti seperti yang dikehendaki Islam. Tak boleh ambil separuh-separuh," katanya ketika dihubungi Harakahdaily. Beliau turut berkongsi kebimbangan mengenai keadaan ekonomi negara yang tidak stabil ketika ini dan memerlukan kepada penggunaan dinar emas sebagai alternatif memandangkan ianya terkenal dengan sifatnya yang stabil terhadap aktiviti spekulasi dan manipulasi. Idea penggunaan dinar emas telah dicadangkan oleh Husam dari tahun 2001 lagi apabila Mantan Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad menganjurkan idea yang sama pada tahun itu. Pada tahun 2001, Tun Dr Mahathir mencadangkan penggunaan nilai dinar emas dalam perdagangan antara negara-negara anggota Pertubuhan Persidangan Islam (OIC) bagi menghadapi manipulasi mata wang. Namun idea berkenaan terhenti setelah Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi mengambil alih pentadbiran negara pada tahun 2004. Kerajaan Kelantan bagaimanapun telah menggunakan Emas Dinar Kelantan sebagai simpanan nilai, walau pun ia tidak dipersetujui pihak-pihak tertentu termasuk Kerajaan Pusat ketika itu. Manakala pada 24 Julai 2007, Kerajaan Kelantan melalui badan penyelidiknya, Kelantan Reserch Institute and Strategic Studies (Kriss) menganjurkan seminar antarabangsa dinar emas (International Seminar on Gold Dinar) di PWTC. Tun Dr Mahathir turut berada di majlis itu dan memberikan ucap utama atas kepentingan idea bersama iaitu 'dinar emas' antara beliau dan pemimpin PAS Kelantan. Husam juga berkata, meskipun baru sekarang kerajaan menyedari kepentingan penggunaan dinar emas sebagai alternatif kepada penggunaan mata wang, namun ujarnya Kelantan bersedia untuk bekerjasama dengan kerajaan pusat bagi meningkatkan penggunaan dinar emas. "Walaupun dia terlambat tapi saya alu-alukan dan kelantan bersetuju untuk beri kerjasama untuk membolehkan wang dinar ni berkembang lagi," jarnya. Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom berkata, sistem kewangan dunia berasaskan wang kertas dan berlandaskan riba telah membawa kepada banyak kerosakan seperti kemiskinan, kerosakan alam sekitar, monopoli pengeluaran dan pengedarannya serta masalah lain seperti pengangguran, jenayah, maksiat dan kejatuhan moral. Teks ucapan beliau dibaca oleh Setiausaha Politik Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Shahabudin Yahya pada majlis perasmian Sminar antarabnagsa Penjanaan Ekonomi Melalui Transaksi Wang Dinar 2009 di Institut Latihan Islam Malaysia (ILIM) di Bangi Khamis lalu. Ini sekaligus menunjukkan apa yang teah dipraktikkan oleh Kerajaan Kelantan ternyata membawa kebaikan dan turut diakui oleh kerajaan pusat. Source : Harakah.net

10 Rules of Multiplying Personal Wealth

Rule 1: Be systematic, unemotional and diversified

This is the very first rule we touch on right from the beginning. There's a popular bumper sticker that says, "I'm spending my grandkids' inheritance."

That whole idea just frustrates me. In some ways, our society's personality is such that if we can spend our money before we die, we've lived a great life. But you can't do that.

Rule 2: Never spend principal

That's the second rule. Inflation has gone above 10 per cent in the US economy five times, and I'd bet you it will happen again.

Rule 3: Never borrow money to buy a depreciating asset

Almost everybody does this at some point. But as soon as possible, and definitely by retirement, you have to get back to a cash basis.

How many people know what a $30,000 car bought on credit costs them at age 25? In retirement dollars, at age 65 and assuming a hypothetical 10 per cent return, that financed car could cost as much as $11,314 a month in potential income. Forever!

So, do you or your children understand what an "investment" in a car really costs you? Yes, I know we all buy cars. But try to imagine what would happen if I got every 25-year-old to forgo just one car purchase and invest that same amount of money in their long-term retirement goals. What a huge difference that could make to their choices at retirement!

Rule 4: Never save money in a spending account

Keep separate bank accounts for saving and spending. You have to save in savings accounts. If you truly want those savings to grow, use an account that helps you leave the money at work, rather than a "slush fund" that's easy to dip into.

People tell me they are saving $545 a month in an account. Yet when I ask them how much they have accumulated after seven years of doing this, their answer is often $1,123 because they spend out of that same account.

It is not a save-to-save account -- it's a save-to-spend account! If you know you're not naturally a disciplined saver, make it harder to get at the money. You'll be doing yourself a favor in the long run.

Rule 5: Use half, save half

Every time you pay off a debt, get a pay raise, get a bonus, or have any excess cash, have fun with half the money, and put the other half toward your long-term goals.

This is one of the best rules, especially for younger people. By following this rule consistently, in ten years, most people are amazed at how much they can save.

Whether you save or not has nothing to do with how much money you make. Either you save or you don't. It's a habit. Make a habit of investing half of any windfall, big or small, right off the top.

Rule 6: Always use matching money

For example, your employer's 401(k) matching program (in India, the employer's matching Providend Fund Contribution, for example).

Do whatever you must to take advantage of matched contributions in a retirement plan. You can't afford not to take the free money.

Hypothetically speaking, if you invest $100 take-home pay in a taxable investment (25 per cent tax on growth) at an assumed 10 per cent return, you would potentially have $135,586 in 30 years (sales charges and fees not included).

If you put the same $100 into your 401(k) that is 100 per cent matched, now you have $150 a month saved because of the tax savings.

Meanwhile your boss adds $150 because of the match -- and it grows tax-deferred, too! Using the same hypothetical return scenario, we have $683,797 to live on -- five times as much wealth with the same work.

Sometimes being smart with our money is a phenomenal advantage. This is a classic example of where investor behavior, not investment performance, makes a huge difference in your long-term wealth potential. You can hate your boss, or plan to quit, but you must take advantage of the matched money.

Rule 7: Do not spend more than you make

This should seem painfully obvious, but people often have no idea how much they're really spending and what relationship that has to how much they make.

In making a budget people often cannot account for 30 per cent of the money they earn and where it goes.

If you are just a little more vigilant, you can significantly enhance your long-term ability to reach your goals.

A budget doesn't happen by accident; it takes practice and is an ever-changing tool in our financial planning. Practice makes perfect. Although "perfect" is never the ideal word for a budget, it does have more meaning and usefulness the longer we practice its use.

Rule 8: Never leave undivided real property to joint beneficiaries

Lots of things are more important than money. Family is probably at the top of the list. If you want a vicious family feud on your hands, breaking this rule would be a great place to start.

Imagine a farm that gets left to four sons: One has farmed it for 20 years; one is an environmentalist and wants it to be a park; one is broke and needs money; and one could not care less about it. Who will get wealthy from this plan? The attorneys. And the kids and grand-kids will probably hate each other forever.

Remember that 'equal', 'equitable', and 'fair' are three different words with three totally different meanings.

Rule 9: Never name co-trustees or co-executors of your estate

This one goes right along with the undivided property rule above. Next to poor planning, litigation can be the biggest financial drain on an estate.

Minimize the number of trusted decision-makers, and you'll reduce your chances for litigation. What's more, the entire process will be easier and more efficient with one decision-maker.

Rule 10: Above all --

Be happy with what you have, and it will lead to both unbelievable financial success and personal (not mere financial) wealth!

Zakat for Gold...

The second important duty of servanthood is zakat. God's Messenger, who depicts prayer as Islam's pillar or support, describes zakat as its bridge (Canan, ibid., 6:346), for zakat not only brings the social strata closer to each other and fills in the gaps between them and their members, but also stops such gaps from forming.
Zakat means purity and growing. Since it purifies wealth and people's attachment to it, and causes both it and Muslims to grow in purity and sincerity, the Qur'an calls it zakat (or the prescribed alms):

(O Messenger,) take alms (prescribed or voluntary) out of their wealth so that you may cleanse them thereby and cause them to grow in purity and sincerity, and pray for them. Indeed your prayer is a source of comfort for them. God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (9:103)

Taking into account its very nature, zakat constitutes one of Islam's five pillars. It is associated with prayer (salat) in 82 Qur'anic verses. God, the Exalted One, prescribed it in His Book (the Qur'an), His Messenger corroborated it by his sunna, and the Muslim community by consensus upheld it. Ibn 'Abbas reported that when the Prophet sent Mu'adh ibn Jabal to Yemen (as its governor), he said to him:

You are going to a people who are People of the Book. Invite them to accept the shahada: that there is no deity but God and I am His Messenger. If they accept and affirm this, tell them that God, the Glorious One, has enjoined five prayers upon them during the day and night. If they accept that, tell them also that He has enjoined sadaqa (meaning zakat) upon their assets, which will be taken from the rich of the (Muslim) community and distributed to the poor. If they accept that, refrain from laying hands upon the best of their goods and fear the cry of the oppressed, for there is no barrier between God and it. (Bukhari, "Zakat," 1:41; Muslim, "Iman," 31.)

Many verses exhort Muslims to pay zakat and forbid hoarding wealth. For example:

The believers, both men and women, they are guardians, confidants and helpers of one another. They enjoin and promote what is right and good and forbid and try to prevent the evil. They establish the prayer in conformity with its conditions, and pay the zakat (prescribed purifying alms) fully. They always obey God and His Messenger. Those are the distinguished ones whom God shall treat with mercy. Assuredly, God is the All-Honored with irresistible might, All-Wise. (9:71)

and:

Those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend it in God's way (to exalt His cause and help the poor and needy: O Messenger,) give them the glad tidings of a painful chastisement. (9:34)

Who Must Pay
Zakat must be paid by every free Muslim, man or woman, who has a nisab (the required amount of wealth). As for the insane and children who have a nisab, if their wealth is under disposal or in circulation, their guardians pay it on their behalf. If a person dies before paying it, it must be taken from the estate before paying off any debts, if there are any, and the heirs share the inheritance.

Conditions for Nisab. Nisab is conditioned by the following:

• Nisab is the amount of wealth remaining after meeting all expenses for such vital necessities as food, clothes, housing, and a mount. Thus, one does not have to pay zakat on what he or she needs to make a living, such as tools or machines related to carpentry, farming, tailoring, or working as a doctor. All debts are subtracted from one's wealth. If one has enough secured credit to pay off the debt, it is added to one's wealth, and if the resultant wealth reaches the nisab, one must pay zakat.
• For many items subject to zakat (e.g., money, gold, silver, and cattle), a full year of the Islamic calendar should pass, starting from the day of the nisab's possession. If the wealth possessed decreases during the year but is still possessed one year later, zakat must be paid. What matters is the availability of nisab at the beginning and end of the year. However, this condition does not apply to plantations and fruits, for their zakat should be paid, or at least calculated, on the harvest day and include what has been consumed before the harvest.
• In short, there are two types of zakat: one grows by itself (e.g., crops and fruits), and the other is used for growing and production (e.g., money, merchandise, and cattle). In the former case, zakat should be paid at harvest time; in the later, at the end of the year.
• The wealth subject to zakat should be actively or potentially increasing, growing, or productive. This condition will be explained below.
• One must have private, doubtless ownership or possession and the right of disposal of the wealth liable to zakat.

Intention. Since paying zakat is an act of worship, its validity depends upon one's sincere intention to pay it for God's sake. If one pays it without making the intention, one can still intend while the wealth expended as zakat has not yet been consumed.

Paying Zakat at Its Due Time. Zakat must be paid immediately at its due time. Deferring it is prohibited, unless there is a valid reason not to do so.

Holdings Subject to Zakat and Their Nisab. Islam enjoined zakat on currencies and similar things, such as shares, bonds and checks, gold and silver, crops, fruit, livestock, merchandise, minerals, and treasure.

The Standard of Richness. Islam does not criticize earning; rather, it encourages working and earning one's livelihood. But it does not approve of earning for luxury and a luxurious life, and urges Muslims to work, earn, and live for the other life as their goal. It encourages mutual helping in society and spending in God's way and for the needy, and has not established a fixed standard of living. It regards having a house, a mount, two suits and other articles of clothing, and one month worth of livelihood (some say that one can keep a year of livelihood at the most) as the necessary commodities or wealth upon which one does not have to pay zakat. Bediüzzaman Said Nursi expresses a standard that can be valid for all times, as follows: While most Muslims are below the average standards of living, a Muslim cannot live a luxurious, comfortable life.

The Sunna has established approximately 90 grams of gold or about 600 grams of silver or 40 sheep or 30 heads of cattle or 5 camels as the standard. If, according to the place or the general standard of living of the people in a particular place, one has banknotes, merchandise, or other kinds of increasing income or capital whose value is equal to any of the standard values given, he or she must pay zakat. However, in establishing the nisab, the minimum amount or value, which favors the poor, is considered.

The Nisab and Zakat for Different Items of Wealth

The Nisab and Zakat for Gold, Silver, and Other Jewelry. The nisab for gold is 20 dinars (approximately 90 grams) and for silver is 200 dirhams (approximately 600 grams), both being owned for one year. The due on them is one-fortieth of their value. Any additional amount is to be calculated in this manner. Gold and silver are combined. Thus, if one has gold and silver whose value is equal to 200 dirhams of silver, zakat must be paid. Likewise, gold, silver, banknotes and the like, and commercial merchandise are also combined. Things made of gold and silver are treated like gold and silver. In other words, if the weight of gold and silver they contain amounts to the nisab, their zakat is paid.

Although most of the scholars opine that no zakat has to be paid on diamonds, pearls, sapphires, rubies, corals, or other precious stones that women wear as ornaments and unless they are used for trade, it is piety and a measure to be saved from the obligation of zakat, which is both God's and people's right on rich people, to make some payment due to them. One should not buy such precious stones in order to avoid paying zakat.

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Is Gold Money?

As someone who has been interested in gold for the last forty years, I have always been interested in the definitions which can be applied to gold. Is gold money? It often has been, but it is not at present. I suspect it may become money again. Is gold a commodity? I think the answer to that question is “yes”. Gold used in chemical reactions, or in jewellery, is plainly a commodity which can sometimes be replaced by another commodity.

However, the question I find most interesting is whether gold is a real asset. One of the problems of investment is that there are two variables, reality and liquidity. Land or property are relatively illiquid, but are also real, in that they have a use which does not depend on their value in exchange. Gold is highly liquid, indeed it is more liquid than paper money. In extreme circumstances, paper money can lose all its value, when gold is still acceptable as payment. In 1940, when the French Army was defeated, many French people took to their automobiles to escape the advancing Germans. They found that petrol stations would not accept paper francs, but would sell their petrol in exchange for gold coins.

Gold also remains an acceptable currency in periods of high inflation, when paper money can lose all its value.

What does “reality” mean, when applied to an investment? Obviously we talk about “real estate” to describe the legal possession of property. I think that means property with a permanent character and at least a potential use. In the same way, the traditional theorists of the gold standard would say that gold was a real currency, because it has permanence and a potential non-monetary use.

I accept that reality in an asset is a relative factor. In an ideal world, we would all like to hold our financial needs in a currency with a high degree of permanence, strong alternative uses and high liquidity. We have to make do with currencies which fall short of perfect “reality”, and fall short of perfect liquidity as well. We make do with imperfect currencies because we have no choice.

Gold makes one think about these issues, but it makes one even more uneasy about electronic money. In book publishing, I am well aware of the library demand for archival books which can reasonably be expected to last for centuries, like the printed works of earlier centuries. We need also to have permanent money, which can be relied upon to survive, even though its value may decline over time. The historic value of gold has been astonishingly stable over centuries.

In an extreme example, one could be worried about the issue of money and about its preservation. Mr. Madoff has shown that fraud can reach the unbelievable level of $50 billion. Might there not be still larger frauds, so large as to achieve what the wartime German operation attempted, a complete takeover of a targeted currency?

Cybercrime is already operating on a huge scale. Suppose that Al Qaeda, instead of attacking the twin towers, had attacked the electronic systems which record all the monetary holdings of New York. No lives might have been lost, but an electronic pulse might have erased one of the central counting houses of world finance. The world might have been ruined.

Is there not some element of this cybercatastrophe in the present world crisis? Reality may be a variable concept, with nothing 100 per cent real and hardly anything zero per cent. When I was born, in 1928, gold was money, and gold was over 90 per cent real. In 1970, when I was in my forties, money was paper, and even the convertibility into gold of the Bretton Woods Agreement was breaking up. Now money is a largely unidentifiable electronic pulse, itself vulnerable to attack by electronic means. Virtual money has very low reality, much lower than paper. Surely this is a system which could be blown away because there is nothing in it to gain confidence. Even a return to paper money would raise the level of reality attached to world currencies. There is a problem of raising the reality level of all currencies – a problem which nineteenth century economists solved by convertibility to gold.

Source : Is Gold Money? by William Rees-Mogg