What is the best way to invest in Gold?

I am interested in investing in gold and considering buying gold coins since the stock market can be a real rollercoaster ride. Do you have any safe tips for buying and selling gold? Thanks

Public Comments

1. The best and safest way to invest in gold is to buy real gold wafers (usually 1 oz.) and keep them accessible to you, a safety deposit box works well. If you buy gold bonds, stocks or certificates your investment can end up as worthless as the paper it is printed on.
2. You can buy the metal and store it, but you have to buy those already assayed and stamped with the purity and serial number, otherwise you may have a hard time certifying its authenticity upon selling. While there is no doubt the metal is the "safest" way to store gold, selling it may be tough and there are usually huge fees/commissions involved. Further, during the storage, you earn zero interest, so be sure you are confident the trend is up ( Those who thought that 15 years ago lost out on 14 years of interest ). I prefer to invest in gold by buying stocks of gold producing companies like Newmont Mining. You have liquidity and can sell at any time without the hassles of a gold broker. Just my $0.02 worth
3. Two ways to invest in gold: 1) buy gold coins/bars as you mentioned, trouble is a) the mark-up on coins can be high (or premium of up to 15%-ish), depending on the types of gold coins -- South African Kruggerand or US Eagles, b) buying and selling them is a little impractical (imagine taking them in and out of bank safety deposit boxes everytime you want to buy/sell) and expensive (dealers charge commission buying and selling). c) You have to consider insuring them too if you decided to hide them under your mattress at home. 2) Buy gold ETFs, essentially investments backed by gold for a management fee like mutual funds. It eliminates the physical impracticality mentioned above but it sure loses the allure of being able to hold your investments physically in your hands. Why don't do a bit of both, put the bulk in ETF investments and collect gold coins/bars from different sovereigns on the side? Don't ever buy gold jewellery as investments (you lose money the moment you buy them). Also, read up about where gold price is likely to head in 2007.
4. When the price of gold is very low, buy gold coins and bullion. When the price is gold is very high, sell gold coins and bullion.
5. first of all, every other answerer so far has given you really bad advice... if you want to invest in gold, do NOT only consider buying physical amounts, this is much more costly than the alternative of buying gold futures... you can trade futures with many different brokers on-line just like you trade stocks, ETFs, etc... you can trade futures on margin so that you can get into a lot more positions... you should be aware that futures are more risky than holding physical gold because of the nature of the market and the margin requirements, but it might be what you're looking for
6. a safe way is to buy stock in a gold company, my favorite gold stock is (AUY) Yamana Gold Inc. it is trading around $13 a share I see it around $19-$22 next year.
7. gold even more of a roller coaster so forget this false focus on safety. Guaranteed to lose purchasing power in the bank so not safe. IAU is the gold answer if willing to stop hiding. Forget coins - high commisiions
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9. Buying metal and storing may be too risky. You will need something like what they have at Fort Knox to keep it safe from all the Beagle Boys of this universe or you should be like McDuck the billionaire Duck. Since this is next to impossible, you can try your hand with Gold Options at COMEX or Commercial Exchange in California. If you know how to trade in Options it will be worth trying this route since you don't have to take the pain to store all the Gold you buy.