suesk

If you don't mind me asking who do you use to buy your gold bullion.

freebo

There are many ways to do it, personally I use an online broker, Bullionvault, they hold the gold in an "allocated account" and thefore I own a certain number of ounces in one of the three vaults they they use (London, NY or Zurich). Its one of the cheapest ways to buy & store Gold and won the Queens Award for Industry, even if they go bust I still own the metal and its independantly audited every day.

Other options are an exchange traded fund, GLD but many are wary of the risk that they don't physically have the metal to back the investment. Others argue that the only way to own gold is physically in your posetion via coins & bars which can be bought from the various mints and dealers, but to me there seems to be quite a high premium and obviosly there is the risk of keeping it safe.

I started buying a small amount of gold 18 months ago at less than £500/oz, today its over #830/oz (wish I had bought more then).

Some people feel gold is risky and of course any investement carries risk, I actually think that owning paper currency is risky, particularly given the amount of the stuff various govts have been printing lately.

A good gold investemnt forum (with some of the tin-hat brigade thrown in) https://www.kitcomm.com/forumdisplay.php?f=7

Hope this helps & feel free to ask if you need any more info.

Finally, this is a chart of the price of gold in the last 10 years in USD, bear in mind over the same timeframe the stock market (e.g. the Dow) has essentially not made any gain at all.



All just my opinion though, DYODD.

Wol

You didn't take advice from Gordon Brown then? <g>.

Swerv-o

Sell off low you mean?


S

renth

Nice one. Don't let us forget about Gold's little brother, Silver which I've been into for a few years. Here's the Kitco forum about silver which I frequent:

https://www.kitcomm.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8

Perth Mint is a good place to buy Gold and Silver either over the counter or as part of their certificate program or allocated/unallocated storage.

Swerv-o

Do you pay GST on the silver that you purchase?


S

Wol

Yes - but first make sure you tell the world that you are about to dump hundreds of millions of ££ worth onto the market, just to make sure the price is rock bottom.

I see he is in the running for the World Bank or the IMF. Nice one!

Swerv-o

The only running he should be doing is from a pack of rabid dogs...


S

renth

No, not bullion bars or coins from the Mint. If you buy it further down the chain you have to (I think).

Swerv-o

That is what always put me off of gold and silver in the UK - Paying VAT on the purchase, and then possible CGT on the disposal later on. Seemed like an awful lot of tax to me.


S

renth

Still have to pay CGT on disposal, but there is a 50% discount if you hold the asset for over 12 months.

Swerv-o

Yes, though with no VAT/GST to pay on the initial purchase, it suddenly becomes a much more attractive investment.

I may have to start investigating this myself, particularly as my super keeps losing money hand over fist. Maybe I should swap my asset mix to include some heavy metals...


S

freebo

Yes, good point, silver too!

renth

Good idea to have at least 20% of portfolio in shiny stuff. Possibly more in these troubled times.

freebo

Of course many people don't seem to know how troubled these times are...