Where to buy gold for investment?

18th Nov 2009 by Tobias John Sterling

There are a number of different ways to invest in gold. First, you could physically buy some real gold. This has the advantage that the value of what you have won't be affected by anything other than its intrinsic value (that is, the spot price for gold bullion), but on the downside you'll need to have (or pay for) a place to store it. If you store it yourself you'll also have to either pay for insurance or take the risk of it being stolen. Also, any physical gold that you buy is likely to be at a premium to the current spot price for gold, and it's not always easy to find someone selling it anyway. One popular option for buying physical gold is South African Krugerrands -- these are a solid gold coin minted in South Africa and weighing one ounce each (smaller denomination coins are also available). Krugerrands are available through coin dealers and coin auctioneers (try an internet search to find one). Aside from buying physical gold, other options for investing in gold are to buy shares in a gold mining company, to buy shares in an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the spot gold price, or to invest with a gold bullion account provider who then holds physical gold on your behalf. All the options have their positive and negative, so research each before making your decision.

This answer is the subjective opinion of the writer and not of FinancialAdvisory.com