Is buying gold a good idea?

ripplyuk

I know absolutely nothing about this apart from reading a little on google. My partner wants to buy some gold and I want to find out some opinions before he does that. It isn't so much for the investment value as this isn't a huge amount of money but I don't want him to lose money either. He says he wants something 'physical' rather than investing in stocks/shares etc.

Is this a good idea? Could anyone recommend somewhere reputable to buy this? I've looked at the Royal mint but then I read it's overpriced there. I'm worried he'll buy from somewhere dodgy and get ripped off. He is talking about krugerrands. Are they the best way to have gold, or is bullion/other coins better?

Also, would antiques be more worthwhile to spend to the money on?

Drp8713

He would be better off learning about investing in equity funds. They are diversified so not as risky as he thinks, and over time, the companies the funds hold will make profits, which they will invest some of to grow the business and pay some to your fund as dividends. Whereas your coin will still be a coin, and ita value will be whatever someone wants to pay for it.

That being said I would rather hold gold than cash. If he insists on gold, try Hatton Garden Metals, they usually sell at a few percent above spot. He might want to look at UK coins as they are CGT free.

Elijah_Bailey

The only reason to buy gold is when you are apologizing to her for what you said about her mum.

Zanderman

ripplyuk wrote: »

Also, would antiques be more worthwhile to spend to the money on?

As an investment? Not unless you're an expert.

And bear in mind antiques have fashions and trends - things that are sought after and valued now may not be so sought-after in, say, 10 years time and so may lose value not gain it. My late father bought lots of antiques and collectibles as 'investments' in his day - and most of those are virtually unsaleable without loss now.

atush

A very small amount of gold as part of your overall portfolio would be fine.

But that doesnt sound the case here.

No 1, he wants to buy it and keep it. What if your house burns down and you cant find it? What if it gets stolen?

No2, buy when the price is low. IMHO it isnt low.

I hold gold, I bought years back when about half the price it is now. I sold half when it got up to $1400/ounce.

cloud_dog

Additionally the £ has taken a significant hit over the past 12 months (due to Brexit concerns) which makes buying gold in £ more expensive that it previously would (based on the $ cost).

I have no crystal ball but, going forward you could find the price of gold increases, in $ terms, but the £/$ exchange rate also increases in £ favour to make no increase in the value of the gold you hold in £. Of course the complete opposite could be true.

Karmo

As you say he may not have been an expert . Antiques do have trend but real quality never goes out of style .

Morphoton

There are big arguments for and against gold as an investment and some people take strong views either way.
If you are buying physical gold the best way to see if it is good value is to calculate how much you would lose if you buy the amount of gold you are interested in and then sell it back immediately. This would include all the costs plus the spread between the buying and selling price.
You also need to consider how you will store it with regard to safety.
There is a company called bullion by post which may be of interest.
https://www.bullionbypost.co.uk/
I have no experience of them and no idea if they are good value. I have no connection to them (They just have a good website for graphs of the gold price) !! So please do your own research.
With regard to costs if you are looking at gold as purely an investment and do not mind NOT holding the physical metal you can invest in an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) such as iShares Physical Gold SGLN. This has an annual cost of 0.25% and a very small difference between buying and selling. However if you are new to share dealing you would have to go through a stockbroker. Note that SGLN is priced in pounds as they are variants priced in € & $.
For the record I hold 2.5% of my portfolio in SGLN.
See:
https://www.ishares.com/uk/individual/en/products/258441/ishares-physical-gold-etc-fund
http://m.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/mobile/etps/summary/IE00B4ND3602ZZGBXETC2.html?lang=en

Zanderman

Karmo wrote: »

As you say he may not have been an expert . Antiques do have trend but real quality never goes out of style .

I don't think I said he wasn't an expert. The additional point I was making was that, even for experts, antiques have fashions. 'Real quality' isn't a measure of value or style - value and perception of style depends on whether that particular type of antique is trendy now, or not.

Malthusian

Karmo wrote: »

Antiques do have trend but real quality never goes out of style .

There is a yawning chasm between "won't go out of style" and "will increase in value over the long term by more than a diversified stockmarket portfolio with dividends reinvested".

DigForVictory

I don't think a few of Krugerrands from Chard are a bad idea but then I wouldn't put money into gold exclusively.

I'd want to have as diverse a portfolio as my funds permitted & if that meant selling gold to put myself through higher education, that might well pay more long term than anything "the markets" offer as I could be doing a job I love & getting paid for it.

By all means buy a Krug or two, and a case of Krug or two & look after them - but don't be hung up on either as investments, just things to enjoy time future, whether you sell them, wear them, drink them - whatever.

My take on antiques is that they may well be expensive, they may or may not hold their value, but so long as they're of use to me, then I'm getting some moneys worth out of them. If Himself were to eye the gold market, I'd be researching precious stones, too. Within reason the largest we could afford, as they can always be cut down...