Time To Buy Gold? Peter Schiff Thinks Gold Could Hit $5,000 (GLD, GDX, ABX, GOLD, PHYS)

Noted investor, author, and candidate for the U.S. Senate, Peter Schiff, granted Benzinga an exclusive interview earlier this week. Schiff, who is the president of Euro Pacific Capital, famously predicted the financial meltdown of 2008, and he says that there is more pain ahead.

Talking about gold, Schiff told us "I don't even look at gold as an investment...I would look at gold more the way that I would look at cash. It's liquid. It's a store of savings...I don't really view it as an alternative to stocks or bonds, it's an alternative to the Euro or the Dollar or the Japanese Yen, and from that perspective, it's an absolute winner...I think it's going over $5,000 an ounce."

There are a number of different ways that investors can capitalize if gold prices continue to soar. The easiest way to gain exposure to the shiny metal is to purchase shares of the massive SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE: GLD), which hit a new all time high today.

There have been some questions, however, about how much physical gold the GLD actually has in its possession. If you want to be 100% positive that your shares are backed up by physical gold stored in a vault, take a look at the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (NYSE: PHYS).

Another way to participate in the gold boom is to invest in individual mining companies such as Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) and Randgold Resources (NASDAQ: GOLD). These stocks have appreciated 17.65% and 20% year-to-date, respectively.

It is also possible to buy a basket of gold mining stocks through the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX). Year-to-date the GDX has climbed 17.14%.