Very often I receive the same question from my customers that want invest money in gold: What's the better, invest in gold coins or buy gold (like bars/ingots) ? What do you think ? Thanks, Leonid
In my opinion, it's gold stocks. They know supply and demand much earlier than people buying and selling and whether to open up mines or increase production.
Well, it depends on how much you want to risk. Buying "Gold Futures" would get you the best return or bankrupt you quickly. If you want security, then raw gold in a safty deposit box. All situations are the same, but in a different way.
I would say any form that is easily verifiable. A bulk bar would have to be assayed or at least weighed to make sure the weight is there. A coin or a one ounce in a standard form at least can usually be verified easily. An upside of a coin is that you do have potential for numismatic appreciation as well as just bullion. Hope that helps.
Large bars often have to be "good delivery" bars meaning that the assay of the bar is guaranteed by the originator. Once they are taken possession by a middleman, they lose that guarantee. Gold bars that are delivered to the ETF "GLD" must be "good delivery" bars. Gold plated tungsten bars are infamous. Jim
Again, I think that investment in a good gold or precious metal mutual fund or directly into established gold mining stocks is the way to go. Gold futures are way too volatile; targeted mutual funds spread the risk between different metals and gold stocks take in silver as well. When I was younger, it was appealing, but I could be looking at sod roots any day in the future.
Gold is considered a speculation, not an investment. Use appropriate measures in determining your risk factors and allocations and be ready to lose it. ------------------------------------------ "Time is gold, yet, patience is a virtue." L. Rodgers Gold Buyers of USA
Nearly all investments are speculations. Even Treasury bonds are speculations because you are speculating that when you sell them, the combined interest (which is almost nothing) plus selling price will be more than the original investment. The only non-speculative investment I can think of is an FDIC-insured bank account, but the interest from that is almost zero.
While I believe the speculation quote is true, it comes off badly since most people have a narrow definition of speculation. Any type of purchase that by definition cannot grow, (meaning certain things, not price appreciation), is termed speculation, not investment. A scenario would be buying stocks or investing in a company is investment, while buying any commodity is speculation. Its just terminology. A speculative investment is not by definition more or less risky than in investment. I am not a gold bug, but I believe in diversity of assets and believe either PM mining stocks or PM itself has a place in most people's portfolio. I do not include in those things leveraged PM or any commodity investments, as those are pretty risky and you only trade in those if you believe you know what you are doing. In those investments, its a net zero game and the house has better odds. Chris
Silver is almost at par with gold, making it a better investment rather than gold. It is a hedge against inflation after all. Sarah Grunewal URLs deleted, vIolation of Forum rule 3B B - Posting links to personal sales sites is not permitted. A personal sales site may be defined as any web site of a business that you own, or the site of a business that you work for, or are affiliated with in any way, that offers items for sale. Read more: Coin Talk Rules
Someone said that gold is speculation..... I started buying gold jewellery, watches. bracelets, chains etc etc about 15 yrs ago when 9ct gold was £2.30 a gram... I often bought under scrap value. 9ct gold is at £11.50+ a gram today.... so items I bought then at scrap value or below have increased 400% and more... How much would I have achieved if I had invested in a bank long term??? I can tell you.. much much less.... Gold goes up and down, up and down, up and down but the downs do not equal anywhere near the ups in the long term... so where is the speculation???
The speculation is that your fivefold increase represents long-term growth, not a spike. If you'd bought in 1975 and sold in 1980, you might've enjoyed a fourfold gain. But if you'd followed that "trend" and bought in 1980, you could've watched the value of your "investment" fall by almost 50% over the next five years, and fall even further by 2000. Now, is 2011 a repeat of 1975, or of 1980? I'm still buying a bit, but I have to admit, it looks more like 1980 to me.
The truth is that the economy throughout the world is dodgy at present and whilst it is so... for whatever peculiar reason.. gold maintains a high value and even rises... I believe because people have faith in gold as a solid investment in the most declining economy anywhere. Gold is a tradable asset and maintains a level price throughout the world in spite of economies in different countries... (ie if the price of the Euro drops.. gold in countries that use the Euro is still of the same value as the rest of the world so will cost more Euros to buy... If a Countrys' economy fails completely.. and a person in that Country has most of their wealth in gold... they will be as well off as they were when the country failed as their gold holds its' value in the world market even if their Countrys' cash doesn't....Hope that makes sense).
Sure, what you've said makes sense. But if the economy does improve, gold will come back down. I know it may put me in a minority in these circles, but I don't think the US economy is headed for complete collapse, and I do think we'll see improvement eventually.
If it's any help Jeff.. I knew about gold in the early seventies when a sovereign could be bought for around £16-18 in the UK.... they are now worth over £200 each as bullion..... As I said.. gold goes continually up and down but the ups definitely outweigh the downs..... I wish I had been well off enough to invest then but I am at least glad I did when I did. Even if the economy goes up, and it has many times... gold seems to maintain or only drop slightly..... peoples faith in it is solid. Best wishes Mike
Your response was to the question: "so where is the speculation?". It's very unpopular now to suggest that G&S could ever meaningfully go down again. Let alone crash, & then go into a long bear market, like they did in 1980. I've been told many, many times that the PM market from 1975-1980 has nothing, nada, zip to do with the PM craze now. It sure feels the same to me, with all the same justifications as back then (people pretending now that "fiat money", deficits, inflation, an Afgan War even, are something New). Altho I think PM had reached a higher level of frenzy at the top in early 1980. So G&S probably have more room to run this time. I just get the impression that most of the people claiming that G&S are a "can't lose" investment are relative newbies to G&S...... I have to go to HD & buy some more Tulip Bulbs......
