Buying in to Gold

MissDeeMeanour

Thanks for your opinions.

I did pop over to the Royal Mint and had a bit of a giggle! I am also looking at perhaps silver too but haven't ventured towards other commodities as yet. I do like silver and have a soft spot for it but sentimentality cannot get me over paying VAT on it.

But coins it is. I have seen that the gold price has dropped a little in the last day or so will wait another few and jump in. I have to at some point.

Anyway - I will be keeping an eye on the threads to, to further my understanding. Thanks.

sabretoothtigger

Telegraph has made a whole section on gold which could be good to read.
Kitco has good general stories to read, like stories of Indian buying as they are the biggest buyers in the world for cultural reasons


Also if gold is a currency it works like an exchange rate, theres two sides to every story.
Its cheap for us right now partially because sterling has been stronger, so to buy gold it has to pay best to know the other side of the story and why is sterling rising, etc I cant say I really know why personally

I spammed up some charts here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=22472231#post22472231

DiggerUK

MDM,
I've never heard of anybody doing anything other than laugh at the silly prices the Mint asks, having a giggle is a new one on me. Did you go to the Mint or just visit their site.

VAT kept us away from silver as well.

Apart from the net sites you should check out coin and medal shops, independent jewellers, second hand shops and pawn brokers. Use the web as a guide for what you should pay (don't forget p&p charges). They don't haggle. You pay what they ask, or just say not today. Don't forget you may go back one day and be given a good price, be nice. Look out for signs that say they buy old or scrap gold. It means they will be happy to sell you the coin out of a mount because they can instantly sell the scrap mount on.

CGT only kicks in on profits in any one tax year at over 9000 odd pounds. Check here for any budget changes.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/index.htm

It means you can mix and match UK coins with any bargain coins or small bars you get offered. Don't forget it's the gold content you want. What you need to figure out is how to stay under your CGT allowance in the tax year you sell.

Prices in UK are best in a long time. May even go lower. It's up to you to judge when to pull the trigger.

Have fun, or die giggling.

Door_knockers_will_die

Just seen this topic and would like to add a few comments. Three or four years ago I put a few thousand £££ in gold coins, and I should have made a good profit if I were to sell now.... but the problem is, who do you trust ? Who would you tell that you have gold stashed away. E.Bay is probably best bet, but are you going to get your money OK. However safe things are, there is a risk of getting ripped off.

Now... CHARD, tax free gold etc etc. Many names, based at Blackpool.
I bought one gold coin from these people. Admittedly it was cheap. But it was advertised on their web site as coming with the usual Royal Mint certification, and it was delivered without this. I rang, spoke to a charming lady who agreed that I was right, she said she would arrange a certificate, but rang back to say that Mr. Chard wanted £20 extra for this.
Over the course of a year I went through Consumer Direct, Trading Standards, and every other organisation I could think of, including the trade body that Chard belong to (BNTA ?). Everyone agreed that I was totally in the right, except Mr. Chard who wouldn't budge, even when threatened with expulsion. I have never come across a more arrogant man in my life !
The BNTA finally found a dealer who was willing to give me a certificate just to stop the whole industry falling into disrepute.
It begs the question that when the Royal Mint produce a certain number of Gold coins all with certificates, why does one trader want to separate the two and hang on to certificates.

MissDeeMeanour

So are certificates important then? Why would I need one to re-sell? I haven't thought about certification at all as I am just planning on taking my gold coins to a gold merchant (london or similar) when I chose to sell them. Am I correct in assuming that just collectables would need certificates to prove authentication? Am I going to get certificates from CID when I buy from there?

jon3001

MissDeeMeanour wrote: »

So are certificates important then? Why would I need one to re-sell? I haven't thought about certification at all as I am just planning on taking my gold coins to a gold merchant (london or similar) when I chose to sell them. Am I correct in assuming that just collectables would need certificates to prove authentication? Am I going to get certificates from CID when I buy from there?

I think the certificates are just for proof coins or other limited-edition collectable coins. You shouldn't need one if you're after bullion coins such as those from CID.

DiggerUK

MDM,
Jon is right. The certificates are something nobody bothers with unless they are an avid collector. All I have are receipts, which you should keep safe. Might need them for tax office, or, heaven forbid, insurance claims.

MissDeeMeanour

Well, over a month later but I dipped my toe in. Used CoinInvestDirect and very happy with them. Only spent £300 as my first order but bought a couple of sovereigns and shiny silver Aus Dollars. Still keeping a close eye on these boards.

Thanks

sabretoothtigger

Owning commoditys is extreme business I think but I guess that can mean big money either way so good luck

I prefer shares something that pays dividends or even a related industry like that famous phrase, the best business to have in the gold rush was the store selling the shovels


Fresnillo, biggest silver mine in the world and mexican ipo as of last year at 530 rose back 60p or 13% today, closing at 533

It was looking pretty cheap to me, now its back to fair value I guess. Apparently its down to china demanding commoditys still thanks to its continued growth despite western problems

India is another growing country and the worlds biggest gold consumers so maybe they'll be a similar sentiment change for gold

tradetime

Prefer silver to gold myself and have been buying a little recently via ETF, would consider gold bullion if we got any significant pullback in price.