Is gold the best option?

poledancer49

May be a silly option but would they consider a Post Office account? Banks and building societies may be off putting but in the old days a post office account seemed less formal???

zippy1969

gadgetmind wrote: »

I'm sure that will become clear if he comes home to find his front door kicked in and his precious cash gone.

Or more likely, when he discovers a decade hence that what was once a decent wodge of cash now won't buy so much as a pint of milk.

The person concerned is quite vulnerable and their money is precious to them. I shouldn't have to mention anything about the person's vulnerability in the initial post in order to prevent garnering these types of replies.

And why assume it's a 'he' as I don't think I've specified the gender of the person concerned?

antrobus

poledancer49 wrote: »

May be a silly option but would they consider a Post Office account? Banks and building societies may be off putting but in the old days a post office account seemed less formal???

Post Office accounts are run by the Bank of Ireland these days.

zippy1969

poledancer49 wrote: »

May be a silly option but would they consider a Post Office account? Banks and building societies may be off putting but in the old days a post office account seemed less formal???

Yes, that has been suggested but the person won't consider putting their money anywhere.

We've had to work hard to get them to even consider the option of buying gold or something similar. We're just trying to help a vulnerable person and protect them and their finances to some degree at least. Luckily somebody alerted us to this situation before the person got to a point where they might have saved a large sum of cash in their home and risked losing it through theft, fire or flood.

Thank you for the suggestion though.

UsernameAlreadyExists

I think the "he" was me being too lazy to write he/she or him/her.
With regard to your actual questions, gold is certainly an option but nobody really has a clue where the price is going. If you do go down that route, are you going to be able to persuade him/her to actually purchase it ... and then would you then take responsibility when the price crashes? I fear you're doing the right thing, but at the end of the day it's not your problem ... and in trying to help, you might make things worse

antrobus

zippy1969 wrote: »

So the questions are:

1. Is gold the best option with regard to buying something that will hold or increase in value?
2. Where can you buy and sell gold and not get ripped off?
3. Will gold be covered by home contents insurance?

Only the existing insurance company can answer the question of what is covered. You could, of course speak to an insurance broker, who could tell you what levels of cover are available.

Google will tell you the price of gold and where you can buy it. Of course, that will only provide some help, as your friend will be buying gold for cash, and thus will have to deal face to face. Bear in mind that, due to money laundering regulations, there might be certain questions asked if they turn up at the local bullion dealer bearing a suitacase full of tenners.

Buying gold is like buying anything else; the price might go up, or it might go down. Who knows? It does however have the advantage of being more or less liquid (i.e. easy to sell) and as long as you stick to investment gold, it's VAT free. Which is quite important, as lots of other 'alternative' type investments carry VAT, which is a 20% hit before you've even started.

shaun_from_Africa

Another important thing to consider with gold is capital gains tax.

If your friend is considering buying a sizable quantity of gold then this could well be an issue in the future, in which case the best form of gold to buy would be either Sovereigns or britannia coins.
These are both classed as UK legal tender and as such are exempt from CGT.

gadgetmind

Life doesn't generally let you pick and choose which lessons it teaches you, but I guess we need to move on.

atush

The person is not a friend but someone I've come across in my work. The person concerned has 'problems' regarding mental health but not severe enough that they are deemed incapable of managing their monetary affairs. However, they are receiving support and guidance.

regardless of what you think of me, or my advice, it stands. Insult me all you like, my best advice/thoughts are for this vulnerable person.

You admit this person has mental health issues (which I deduced from what you said), so helping them save their money in this way is enabling them.

To be robbed/burgled/lose everything. Enabling someone to do something not in their best interest is NOT helping them.

A POA is in order here.

Aegis

zippy1969 wrote: »

Yes, that has been suggested but the person won't consider putting their money anywhere.

We've had to work hard to get them to even consider the option of buying gold or something similar. We're just trying to help a vulnerable person and protect them and their finances to some degree at least. Luckily somebody alerted us to this situation before the person got to a point where they might have saved a large sum of cash in their home and risked losing it through theft, fire or flood.

Thank you for the suggestion though.

Be VERY careful here. Gold is an extremely volatile commodity which is not suitable as a cash substitute. If you are recommending it in a professional capacity (i.e. as someone that works for or with this individual), your persuasion could very easily be construed as giving unauthorised financial advice to invest into such a commodity.

If banks and building societies can't be trusted, then how about National Savings? Premium Bonds would be better than cash left in the home and would be fully protected by HM Treasury.