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Buying gold 'feels very funny' - Sam Zell
(Kitco News) - Legendary investor Sam Zell said he was pushed into buying gold despite years of talking down the metal.
The 79-year-old American billionaire appeared on Bloomberg.
The Equity Group Investments chair and founder said concerns about fiat currency made him buy gold.
"It feels very funny because I've spent my career [asking]: 'why would you want to own gold?'" Zell said in an interview on Tuesday. "It has no income. It has costs to store, and yet when you see the debasement of the currency, you say, 'what am I going to hold onto?'"
Zell said that the U.S. "...is not the only country that is printing too much money. One of the natural reactions is to buy gold, which I've actually done for the first time in my career."
Zell pointed out that he sees inflation everywhere.
"We are seeing it in all of our businesses. The obvious bottlenecks in the supply chain are pushing up prices," said Zell. "It's very reminiscent of the '70s."
When asked if inflation will just be "transitory," Zell quipped, "didn't the Fed say that in the '70s, too?"
"Everything you are doing has to include the assumption that costs are going up."
On Equity Group Investments bio, Zell's current investments are listed as being in logistics, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, and real estate.
