The Ways to Invest in Gold

1.Buy physical gold– this is the preferred method of buying gold as an investment. You have no counterparty risk and low cost of ownership. On the flip side, there is a risk to store the metal. Physical gold is usually bought in the form of gold bars.

2.Gold coins – as long as you stick to the widely accepted gold coins, you are fine. Examples of the most traded coins are the South African Kruegerrand, the Australian Kangaroo, the Swiss Vreneli, the Canadian Maple Leaf or the American Eagle. Premiums on some of these coins, but mainly the more unique ones, are usually higher than gold bars.

3.Perth Mint – this 100-year old mint is the only government-backed bullion storage facility in the world. It’s located in Western Australia and it fully guarantees your account and physical ownership. You pay a service and administrative fee, but storage is for free and ordering the metal for physical possession is perfectly possible. One advantage is that this gives the lowest risk should confiscation occur.

4.Vaulted gold – with the advent of the Internet, you can easily buy your gold online and have it stored for you in special secure vaults. When buying vaulted gold, the service provider usually holds gold bars for you. This option is somewhat related to the previous one, but it is using much more of the Internet and you can easily trade. The most known service providers are GoldMoney.com and BullionVault.com.

5.Gold stocks – shares of gold and silver mining companies is a much more risky way to profit from the current gold & silver uptrend. It requires thorough analysis. Several mining companies will grow tremendously in value over the coming years, as they have the gold in the ground. But be careful, not all mining companies will have the same bright future. Professional advice is recommended when investing in gold stocks.

6.Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) – you can easily buy those financial instruments on the stock exchanges. They usually track the gold or silver price. We intend to call it “paper gold” and don’t love them as they are not always backed with physical gold (that’s an issue in case of a collapse of the financial system).