Mary Anne and Pamela Aden are among the advisory world's top authorities on metals and resources.

In a recent Q&A session, the editors of The Aden Forecast answer the most common questions that they are asked by readers as to the current state and future outlook for the precious metals markets.

In addition, the sisters answer what they say is the most frequent question they receive: "What is the best way to buy gold." Here, they offer a review of five strategies for investing in gold, including their top picks among stocks, closed-end funds and ETFs.

You may have heard the recent calls from China for a global reserve currency that is not the dollar.

Good luck with that one. The dollar is the global reserve currency. Do not underestimate the strength of this country as compared to the rest of the world. Predictions of our demise are premature.

For more than 20 years, the price of gold did nothing. If you invested in gold, you wasted your time. That all changed with fears of inflation and hedge fund speculation several years ago.

Today, the church of gold is full of believers. What changed?

Related to manipulation, the simple fact is that there is a limited supply of gold.

Those who want to return to the gold standard fail to appreciate that at some point a lack of supply could have disastrous consequences in a gold-based system.

One thing I am very afraid of with gold is manipulation.

Unlike paper currency that is impossible to manipulate in any way, gold can be accumulated by a group of connected buyers for the sole purpose of eliminating supply from the market. A successful cornering of the market can result in volatile swings in price. Unsuspecting buyers acquire bullion at higher prices only to see a flood of supply hit the market resulting in damaging price collapse.

Whether it's collapsing home prices, discounts on automobiles or reductions in stock prices, asset values across the board are declining, not increasing.

The gold bulls state that enemy number-one of the dollar-denominated currency is inflation. I agree wholeheartedly, and so does the Federal Reserve.

I will be very blunt: I despise gold and everything it stands for.

It's an abhorrent example of materialism and serves no real purpose. Lust for gold is over the top excess, and despite the protestations of the goldbugs, there is no real basis for the metal serving the currency needs of the world.