long term saving

robster1664

hi there im thinking of investing in gold and wondered if anyone knew any companies to buy from who hold the gold for you.

oldtoolie

Money Week magazine is a gold bug. See here for a guide
http://www.moneyweek.com/investments/precious-metals-and-gems/a-beginners-guide-to-investing-in-gold

Reaper

If you go for an ETF the ticker they give for the only UK based one in that article seems to be wrong, and anyway sounds like a less desirable synthetic fund rather than holding physical gold. You could try PHAU (Physical Gold) instead if you decide to go that route.

gozomark

buying gold isn't saving, its investing/speculating

gadgetmind

The closest I get to holding gold is a fair chunk of Personal Assets Trust.

jimjames

gadgetmind wrote: »

The closest I get to holding gold is a fair chunk of Personal Assets Trust.

I hold shares in gold producers via S&W Gold & Resources unit trust.

As above buying gold itself isn't investing, you get no income and have no guarantee of value. It might be worth considering as a small part of a portfolio but certainly not as an only investment.

Nicholas-bloody-Parsons

So why do you want to buy Gold exactly?

Golds a bit speculative, it has little intrinsic value, and just like dot com shares relies on people believing that its going up and selling it to a bigger fool.

Unless you think the Euro is going to collapse, which it is not, then i wouldnt bother.

atush

I hold some physical gold thru my brokerage acct, but as said ETFs and shares in gold producers is another way.

But I am not buying gold now, I bought it years ago when no one else was much bothered at much much lower prices. I would NOT buy gold now and in fact have sold half. It is specualtive, produces no income and not very liquid unless you hold shares you can sell easily online.

Long term saving should include emergency cash of 3-12 months spending (isa or not), pension, and other market based investments from equities to bonds etc (either held in an ISA or not), and property. Gold can play a part in this, but I would never recommend having more than 10% in any such commodity (and in fact think 2-5% is more likely).

jimjames

atush wrote: »

But I am not buying gold now, I bought it years ago when no one else was much bothered at much much lower prices. I would NOT buy gold now and in fact have sold half.

The mantra "Buy low, sell high" seems to get rather lost when bubbles occur!

Reaper

I wouldn't write off gold completely. Although I don't like it I bought a little recently, and by "a little" I mean about 2% of my savings & investments.

The reason being I hold a lot of fixed income products - bonds preference shares etc.

They have done pretty well as the economy has been veering towards recession and deflation, but I am a bit worried about all the money printing and recent signs that the government might start to monetarise the QE money instead of withdrawing it later.

I worry we might lurch very suddenly into high inflation with little warning. If that happens the income from my fixed income products would start to look feeble and their capital value would plummet, so my recent gold purchase is a small hedge against that. If I see any early signs it might go that way I will be buying a lot more.

atush

jimjames wrote: »

The mantra "Buy low, sell high" seems to get rather lost when bubbles occur!

I try to live by this lol.