Best way to buy Gold bars or coins?

Hanks6

well i'm acting on somebody elses behalf sorting out all this $$ stuff.

ironically enough, if your lucky enough to have enough savings to buy lots of gold, your also in the group of people who may need to own some the most. everyone stands to lose a lot of purchasing power by being in cash/paper too heavily.

i think anywhere between 20-40% of your total savings is a good amount to get into precious metals this year as things unfold. the government will undoubtedly print more and more money for bailout and 'stimulus' packages and continue to inflate our currency.

if you don't have any outstanding debt and have savings then this newly printed money is clearly not for your benifit, quite the opposite. this much is extremely obvious. even if !!!! doesn't hit then fan quite yet, it's still gotta be the best insurance policy going.

anyone see how sharply the price of high-end pc parts has gone up recently? when i talk about inflation and currencies to normal people they have no chance of understanding the bigger picture until all consumer prices start getting hit. if a loaf of bread is the same price then the economic downturn is not really a part of their reality yet.

thanks for the heads up on the UK gold cgt exemption sabre. not that it would apply if everything fell apart and we were doing medieval style bartering with the coins, lol. myself i'm gonna be out of the uk long term ;]

william_G_4

Hope I can be some help her although I doubt if I can shed any further light to what has been said before.

first question - do you want to hold physical gold at home?

If yes then IMHO you will struggle to beat Chard. They've been around for ever and are listed as one of the 4 or 5 sanctioned bullion dealers in the UK.

You could use ATS if you're in London although their premiums - i.e. the price over spot you pay is less competitive than Chard on the investment level you quote.

Coins or bars?

Well, coins have the chance of aquiring what is known as 'numismatic' value i.e. this is a value over and above the raw content in troy and is dependent on a secondary market based on minted scarecity - think stamp collecting.

Strict 'bullion' coins start with the Krugerrand and was quickly copied by amongst other by the Americans with their gold eagle and perhaps most famously the Canadian Maple which I believe is the purest gold coin available. Britain offers the Britannia but in the primary market this 1oz troy coin is only available from the Royal Mint as part of a set of Oz. denominations. You can of course buy them but the split price of just the 1oz. coin is reflected in the premium

I personally would not get too hung up on purity provided you buy what is known as 'investment grade' or roughly 22 ct/91.(something % pure)-sorry to be vague.

Buying a Panda, a Maple or another bullion in fairly academic as they all contain 1 oz. troy and it's just the density and therefore weight that marginally varies.

For raw gold, cast(ingot) or more commonly pressed bars offer the lowest cost over spot to acquire but of course A) have no intrinsic 'numismatic' value to a collector and B)do not carry the 'gilt' quality of a sovereign minted coin.

A fairly new version of gold is the Kinebar which has a holographic cover (and at least in theory) helps to prove it's provenance- something that may influence the ability to shift bars and are therefore less 'liquid' under certain circumstances.

If you actually don't need the gold at home in a safe then you could go for a holding account which buys gold in a way similar to being a nominee or crest account holder in equities and securities.
These are known as allocated or non-allocated accounts. Non- allocated is like being a nominee share holder and for the sake of analogy allocated is like being a crest account holder.

A non-allocated gold holding has you as a value holder in a large 'pot' of gold which has the advantage of being cheaper to administer but is slightly more risky if your bullion holder folds.

An allocated account has you linked directly to a specific holding and is more expensive to manage(which can mitigate your gains somewhat) but gives you direct connection with the underlying commodity if there is a problem with the vendor.

What you want to know is 'the spread' i.e the buy/sell differential over spot value. The lowest spread at any give moment is the cheapest to aquire but spreads change based on demand and supply.

As said before the taxfreegold website will tell you all of the above and much more. I've spoken to Chard and they're a really decent bunch- give them a call and see what they say.

A few months ago I thought the same about buying gold but while I'm sure it will continue to acquire value for as long as inflation looms you have to bear in mind that the dash to gold has been going on for quite some time which is reflected in the ever increased price. Ten years ago gold was trading at around $300 per troy and at $800-900 now it looks less attractive despite the crash IMHO.

You could of course try platinum or another precious metal but you can forgot the tax free status that gold currently enjoys. Like any other investment it's a balancing act that only you can decide upon.

Gold ingots and coins are very nice things to hold and pass on in the future and there is without a doubt a certain tangible sense of physical 'wealth' about them that a certificate or a print out from your dealer can't emulate but it is this romance as much as it's scarcity which contributes towards it's perceived value - real or imagined.

Are they an effective investment vehicle on £2000?

That's your call

good luck

Will

nrsql

Hanks6 wrote: »

minimum is £2500 for free shipping. its only about £8-£10 anyway but if you ultimately want the gold then why not cut as many costs as possible.

last few days of trading the coins came down a bit, surprisingly. more to do with sterling picking up a bit i think as gold hasn't stopped its charge against the dollar.

my own pick right now would be the '09 maple leafs @ £668. this represents great value and you'll be getting shiny new coins

If you get a login then you can add to your basket and get a totalincluding postage.

3 Brittanias + 1 Elisabeth (sic) total £2194.44 gives free postage.

nrsql

>>
first question - do you want to hold physical gold at home?

If yes then IMHO you will struggle to beat Chard. They've been around for ever and are listed as one of the 4 or 5 sanctioned bullion dealers in the UK.
>>

Are they cheaper than coininvestdirect?

Hanks6

i contacted ATS originally but found their availability of bullion coins to be very low and their prices to be very expensive compared to coininvestdirect.

i'd be interested to know Chard's prices although I can't imagine them being much cheaper than coininvestdirect. you can currently get an ounce maple leaf for £662 - easily within 10% of the spot price. very good if you ask me.

coininvest were excellent at handling my enquirues and their website shows current stock availability and live prices - very handy for when you actually want to make your order.

10/10 from me so far and i will certainly be ordering more from them when my first order arrives and all is good.

nrsql

Has anyone received their order from coininvestdirect? There were a few people here who said they'd ordered but no one with a completion recently.

Oops - there was one saying he ordered on a Monday and got UPS tracking ref the same day with delivery on the Thursday.

Hanks6

yup shaun said all was good. personally i'm still waiting on it to be dispatched. paid last friday and acknowledged and said would be sent out with 4 working days. i assume i'll get a tracking reference when it is.

understandable it hasn't been as quick as shaun's order though - the weather conditions have really grinded everything to a halt. royal mail is SERIOUSLY behind with stuff right now :mad:

Asheron

When the Big Sting Two is set into motion, gold and silver will then go on a moon-shot, and if you don't own any, you will be financially vaporized, and join the ranks of the other crispy critters who were too dumb to recognize that gold and silver are the only real money in this world.

Stavros_3

Asheron wrote: »

When the Big Sting Two is set into motion, gold and silver will then go on a moon-shot, and if you don't own any, you will be financially vaporized, and join the ranks of the other crispy critters who were too dumb to recognize that gold and silver are the only real money in this world.

Have you ever visited the planet earth?. All you keep harping on about is Gold, gold, oil or gold. If its that a good punt, go and put all your brass into it.

Hanks6

UPS man came with my gold from coininvest today. perfect :cool: