Posted 01 Jan 2005
HOW TO BUY GOLD OR BUY SILVER
How to buy gold, silver or platinum? This is becoming an uncharacteristically common question. Not all too surprisingly I receive this question all the time. I buy gold and silver. I do not sell gold professionally. Through some trial and error along with a lot of research I hope to be able to provide you with a very helpful answer to this question and teach you where to buy gold. You likely found this page as a top result in a search engine. But do not trust any entity just because they are at the top of the search engine.
BEWARE OF SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS
Buying silver or buying gold coins online can be very simple but if done incorrectly then the results can be financially devastating. It is extremely important to learn how and where to buy gold or silver from trusted and reputable sources in safe and secure transactions and not through companies which have issues.
At all times and in all circumstances gold and silver remains money. Therefore, both gold and silver belongs in your portfolio at all times and in all circumstances. For reasons I provide below for (1) buying gold, silver or platinum coins, bars, etc. for your personal possession I recommend GoldSilver because they have extremely competitive prices and an A BBB rating and for (2) buying gold, silver or platinum to be stored with a third party I only recommend GoldMoney.
DAUNTING QUESTIONS WHEN CONSIDERING BUYING GOLD OR SILVER
But there is a plethora of options in determining how to buy gold, where to buy silver, when to buy platinum or what kind of gold to buy? Some questions you may begin to ask yourself is do you buy rounds, gold ingots, a gold coin, an American Silver Eagle coin, a gold Krugerrand from South Africa, a gold maple leaf coin from Canada, a gold British sovereign coin, an Engelhard silver bar. Do you buy silver directly from a mint, producer or dealer or do you use a 'pool account' or some other form of unsegregated storage? Do you buy a silver gram or a kilogram of gold and do you buy gold as an investment or merely to preserve your wealth? How do you determine the price you are willing to pay for the gold or silver? Do you use the gold spot price or silver spot price or live gold prices from a gold exchange, gold dealer or the prevailing gold rates? Should a premium be paid for gold or silver jewelry?
In this article you will only learn about investing in gold or silver bullion in allocated storage through your own personal possession or with a trusted-third party storage service. This is the only type of gold ownership method I recommend. Additionally, I am not very interested in numismatic gold or silver coins and think that a gold confiscation is highly unlikely. I like investment grade gold coins for sale and silver bars, such as those from the London Bullion Market Association, which have a chain of integrity and chain of custody. Then you know that the gold or silver is real and not a lead bar painted gold.
While gold and silver are tangible assets and physical elements, making them extremely transparent, the gold and silver markets are particularly murky with many shady characters lurking around like those that buy scrap gold and beware of the We Buy Gold locations. Thus, when looking at howto buy gold or silver you have two primary methods: (1) gold and silver in your own physical possession or (2) third-party storage.
GOLD OR SILVER IN YOUR OWN PHYSICAL POSSESSION
Personal physical possession can be accomplished by buying gold coins, buying gold bars, buying silver coins or buying silver bars and immediately taking physical delivery. The ideal way to purchase with the greatest privacy is in person with cash regardless of bullion type such as silver versus gold or platinum and I do not think there is a best gold shop.
There are many reputable gold and silver bullion dealers throughout the world and can be one of the safest way to buy gold. You can open up the phone book or go down to the local pawnshop. This is an easy way to find a place to buy gold, buy platinum or buy silver. Unfortunately, because this article is directed generally it cannot really give recommendations on specific local bullion dealers. Additionally, there is typically a significant premium is charged for this exchange.
I recommend everyone have at least some physical gold or silver bullion in their immediate possession. Like extra food you never know when it may come in handy but will be extremely grateful should you need the gold or silver. Often being prepared helps calm the conscience. Do not keep gold or silver in a safety deposit box, or anything else of value for that matter, as it may end up on Ebay.
[leadplayer_vid id="504C479301B59"]
Storing silver or gold bullion yourself will not cost anything. But you may misplace it, have it stolen, etc. Therefore, many of my readers want to know where to buy gold or buy silver in amounts of $50,000 or more where they do not take personal physical possession but try to find the cheapest place to buy gold bullion.
I take all of my readers time, attention and trust extremely seriously. I feel a poignant heightened sense of trust when some of my readers want to allocate several millions dollars to buy silver or buy gold and so answering their questions of how to buy gold or buy sliver bears down with a weighty responsibility.
WHERE TO BUY GOLD OR SILVER: THIRD-PARTY STORAGE
Another way you can buy silver or buygold is by having a third party store the bullion after taking physical delivery. Where to buy silver or gold is extremely important to you because of governmental restrictions, customs, etc. However, this can be a very tricky area and you may unwittingly subject your valuable assets to unnecessary risks if you are naive.
If a third party takes delivery then the silver or gold is either encumbered or unencumbered. If the gold or silver is encumbered then the silver or gold is subject to counter-party risk and I highly recommend avoiding counter-party risk with your precious gold, silver or platinum. If the gold or silver bullion is unencumbered, meaning subject to physical delivery at any time and not subject to the financial ability of the storage entity, then it is subject only to performance risk.
You will also want to consider insurance, corporate governance, audits, compliance with applicable regulations or laws and the firm's reputation.
GOLDMONEY - A TRUSTED AGENT
A trusted third party, like GoldMoney, is a viable option when you delve into answering the question of how to buy gold or how to buy silver or how to buy platinum. GoldMoney is the only firm I have thoroughly researched.
The gold, silver and platinum is insured, there are polices in place and enforced for strong corporate governance, external audits take place on a regular basis, rigorous compliance with applicable law and GoldMoney has a sterling reputation in the industry with LBMA vaults in London and Switzerland with insurance covering your bullion.
Additionally, investors can redeem and take physical delivery of their gold at any time in convenient units of 100 gram, 1,000 gram or 400 ounce gold bars.
Many reputable financial professionals recommend GoldMoney including billionaire Eric Sprott, John Embry, Mike 'Mish' Shedlock, Doug Casey, Peter Schiff, Michael Maloney and myself.
Even the extremely outspoken critic of 'paper gold' Adrian Douglas of GATA warned, "What should investors do? Investors need to do their due diligence. They need to determine if they are actually holding a 100-percent precious-metal-backed investment. There are some unallocated investment vehicles that are entirely honest where all the gold and silver sold is actually purchased and held on behalf of the customers. One such example is GoldMoney.com, which conducts and publicizes third-party audits to verify 100-percent backing."
There are many reasons in the fine print for this consensus from respected experts and I have detailed in the GoldMoney reviews and also in the following video:
[leadplayer_vid id="504C47835AE27"]
The only other third-party storage service I am aware of with similar proficiency is BullionVault but I have neither thoroughly researched their various legal documents nor can I recommend them. But not all third-party storage services are created equal and there is ample reason to be cautious.
BEWARE OF SHADY CHARACTERS
There are many untrustworthy agents which purport to help you answer the questions of how to buy gold or how to buy silver but really attempt to sell you paper silver and paper gold which is merely a form of fool's silver or fool's gold facts.
There are many unscrupulous rogues attempting to answer your query about how to buy gold or how to buy silver in a way that will unjustly enrich themselves at your expense. For example, in TheStreet.tv video in the upper left the host recommends using the GLD ETF.
I have thoroughly reviewed the prospectus and found problems with the GLD and SLV ETFs. If you desire to own physical gold or physical silver, which I recommend, then I WARN YOU NOT TO BUY THE GLD ETF.
[leadplayer_vid id="504C4774967F5"]
There are other third-party storage services such as E-gold or the Perth Mint in Australia. But in July 2008 E-Gold pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in US federal court. In 2009 the nation of Canada's Royal Canadian Mint withheld employee bonuses and sent in external auditors to determine the cause of a multi-million dollar 'unreconciled difference' between the financial accounting and the physical bullion.
I recommend staying away from unnecessarily complex instruments even if issued through perceived reputable firms. For example, in June 2007 Morgan Stanley & Co. settled a class action lawsuit for $4.4 million where the complaint alleged
that Morgan Stanley told clients it was selling them precious metals that they would own in full and that the company would store. But Morgan Stanley either made no investment specifically on behalf of those clients, or it made entirely different investments of lesser value and security.
While the efficacy of the claim may still be at issue the Better Business Bureau-like complaint from unsatisfied customers who initiated litigation does not inspire confidence for those seeking to reduce risk.
There are other more complicated ways regarding how to buy gold or how to buy silver. Many of these options include some type of paper instrument such as a futures contract, warehouse receipt, etc. If you are new to buying gold or buying silver then I would recommend you avoid these complex instruments.
One reason is because when you buy gold, buy silver or buy platinum through shady customers or 'paper gold' instruments then counter-party risk may be present along with restrictions on demanding delivery of bullion. For example, the NYMEX has significant restrictions which can significantly delay delivery and the TOCOM now allows 'paper gold' to settle futures contracts on physical gold contracts.
You neither want to get involved with an asset that you do not understand nor do you not want to get taken in a scam, Ponzi scheme or other type of fraud or theft. Keep the process of buying gold, buying silver or buying platinum simple by exchanging your cash for the bullion.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
For over 3,000 years now gold has been used to store wealth and the reason for this is because gold is very rare. In this day and age gold is turning out to be an incredibly difficult thing to find and mine as well. Platinum isn't even as rare as gold and this is one of the main reasons why gold is so valuable. It is also nearly impossible to destroy and is completely unaffected by decay, tarnish, hydrogen sulfide and oxygen, and gold doesn't rust either.
Even at 1,063 degrees Celsius gold will not melt at any temperature below that and the only thing that is able to dissolve gold is cyanide, there is no other material or chemical that has the ability to dissolve gold. Over the centuries new deposits of gold have become incredibly difficult to find, and South Africa, which is the world's largest nation that produces gold, has had gold output cut down to half in the last decade. Because this fall in gold has taken place the cost of mining just one ounce of gold has doubled. Therefore, gold is incredibly valuable in today's society and is worth a lot of money.
When it comes to buying gold it is important to understand how to buy it safely. Gold is worth holding and is commonly held by almost all central banks. Trading your gold is not a very good idea, you wouldn't trade any of your insurance policies, and therefore, you shouldn't trade any gold that you may possess. It is a very good way to hang on to the wealth that you have and also beneficial when it comes to passing on this wealth from one generation to the next.
When determining the exact price of gold it all depends on the gold bars or the gold bullion coins and it will then go for the bullion price. For individuals who stockpile gold, this activity is a great investment for many wealthy individuals throughout much of history. Of all the precious metals it is the most popular investment. There are several different ways that you can purchase gold and all of them are wonderful buying methods.
Risks
A very popular way to turn scrap gold in to an investment strategy is to collect it and store it. As you are probably already aware gold prices are steadily rising and so deciding to purchase scrap gold is a very low-risk way for you to invest in this resource.
- Terms of investment - varies
- Nature of investment - low-risk
- Profile of investor - ideal for a first time investor in gold
Family
Another way to get gold is to ask the members in your family if they have any that they are looking to get rid of that they could give to you or for you to buy from them. Just about every single woman has broken necklaces, mismatched earrings, damaged rings and any other types of scrap gold that you are able to turn into cash. Make sure that you work out a price that they are happy with but do it in a way so that you can profit from it as well.
News
A good way to find the gold you want is to place an ad in your local newspaper. You can place your ad either in the classified section or in the help wanted ads. The reason for this is because the customers who read the paper might be in some sort of financial distress and need help. Placing your ad that offers to help them by making money they need through selling their gold can work wonders for those individuals. Another way to get your news out there is to post it onto a website because it is 100% free and you can reach more people this way.
Auctions
There are many auctions that sell off pieces of gold and also online auctions. It is easier to do it this way because scrap gold is often sold at a lower price than they are worth making scrap gold a really beneficial investment tool. These auctions have many individuals who are looking to make money off of the gold that they have and are willing to take offers to try and sell.
This is a beneficial way for you to be able to find gold and not having to spend a ton of money. Along with auctions, there are also local pawnshops that are willing to buy and sell gold pieces. Developing a strong relationship with your local pawn shops is a wonderful way to find the gold that you desire. It is important to leave them your number and have them call you if any gold item is sold to them that they are willing to sell back to you.
In conclusion, buying and investing gold is a long process, however, it is worth it and the gold is incredibly valuable today. Gold is a very precious metal that is extremely valuable, and if you are looking to purchase, it can be very difficult to locate. The value of gold has gone up because there isn't enough gold left in the world to purchase. It has slowly depleted, therefore, making it an incredibly worthy material to have.
Whether you are wanting it to pass down to the next generation or if you are just wanting to hold onto it and wait for gold to become even more valuable to make money off of, it is a beneficial item to have in your possession. Miners have had to raise the prices of gold very high because as they are mining and searching for gold they are finding less and less of it. With all of their hard work to search for gold and since gold is running out quickly around the world you can't blame them for raising the price. It is very rare and the value of it will continue to rise with each passing year.
CONCLUSION
For you to learn how and where to buy gold or how to buy silver I recommend keeping it simple. Engage in buying silver coins, buying silver bars, buying gold coins or buying gold bars and taking physical delivery. For larger amounts consider trusted and secure third-party firms like GoldMoney. Avoid shady characters, like the GLD or SLV ETFs, NYMEX, TOCOM, etc. where the contracts are complex and difficult to understand and may result in your gold or silver actually being paper silver or paper gold and may be impreganted with counter-party risk.
As you decide on how to buy gold, buy silver or buy platinum I hope these suggestions are valuable. Buy a gold coin or silver bar that you can hold in the palm of your hand as it ignites a deep-seated gold lust that has lain dormant in most of humanity for almost 80 years. If you want only a few coins for your personal possession then I recommend GoldSilver because of the low premiums and A from the BBB. If you consider a much larger purchase and do not want to store the metal then using a third party storage service, like GoldMoney, to vault your gold, silver or platinum is wise so long as they are trusted. I hope these suggestions assist you in safely, securely and confidently taking physical possession of the 'sweat of the sun' and 'tears of the moon'.
If you have any other questions about how to buy gold, buy silver or buy platinum then please contact me.
