Gold Fever.

Since time immemorial men and women have left hearth and home in search of all that glitters.

The discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in 1848 was clearly a pivotal moment in US history – thousands of miners flooded California, extracting over $2 billion in gold in just 3 short years.

You could well make the case that gold paved the path to California statehood.

But even though a few struck it rich, most of the 49ers failed to just break even. Alas, the quest turned up mostly “fool’s gold” – iron pyrite. This metal looked like gold, but was ultimately worthless.

Although, according to a recent breakthrough reported by Popular Mechanics, those stashes of Iron Pyrite (aka Fool’s Gold) may prove worth something after all.

Experiments by researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered a way to turn pyrite from a useless rock into a magnet – which could provide the basis for a new kind of solar panel material that’s both cheap and abundant.

What they did was essentially dunk the iron pyrite into a batch of electrolytes (Gatorade anyone?), fire up the juicer, and give the rock an electrified bath. This process “poured” electrons into the material, increasing the concentration of electrons to a point where the previously non-magnetic material turned magnetic.

According to the university, this is the first time scientists have been able to take a non-magnetic material and make it magnetic.

Now I’ll admit, it’s not as cool as the legendary Philosophers Stone (which turns any metal into gold), but it’s still progress. Give me a ring at 513-563-PLAN (7526) or book online for a free 15-minute call on how you can turn your retirement into gold.

Regards,
Nikki Earley, CFP®