For hundreds of years, gold has been the favorite precious metal for both making beautiful and valuable jewellery and also as a store of value for the investor. While gold jewellery remains popular as a decorative art, it fails as an investment for the most part due to the large markup buyers pay. There are exceptions, but those are mostly limited to those people who can afford to have unique gold jewellery pieces designed and made, rather than the mass produced items usually seen.
If you want to invest in gold, there are many other possibilities available. Some people like the feel of the gold in their hands, while others want to own it, but not have to worry about storing it safely.
If you want to hold your gold in your hands, then you have a couple of choices. First, rare gold coins have value not only as gold, but also as a collectible. You can expect to pay much more than bullion value for scarce gold coins, but you should also be able to find a cash for gold dealer who will buy your gold at a premium price. There are a couple of things to take into consideration here. Counterfeit coins are common. If you are going to be purchasing rare gold coins, make sure to buy only coins that have been certified by an independent grading company.
Last and most popular is physical gold. Many countries and companies produce and sell gold bullion bars and coins. These are usually priced to sell at a small (1-5%) markup over the bullion value. Depending on your budget, you can buy from one gram to a kilogram. The most popular sizes are the 1/10th ounce up to the one ounce coins/bars. The smaller the weight, the larger the percentage markup, so you may pay 2-3% on a one ounce coin, but up to 10% one a 1/10th ounce coin. You will certainly save money by purchasing a larger size.
Most financial advisors recommend placing 5-10% of your investments into precious metals like gold. Just make certain you are aware of the issues before committing your cash.
Trading in Gold coins and gold bars has been going on since ancient times. One can almost say that cash for gold dealers have been around forever. Gold ingots were gold bars and coins were produced and issued as currency by governments until the beginning of the 20th century and then governments stopped instead introduced a convertible fiat currency system. After that, the gold price is not stable all over the world and differs with each different currencies. Now gold bars can be more valuable than fiat currencies and have a universal value. Gold coins and bars are used more as an investment asset rather than as currency. Gold bars and coins have diverse qualities. Gold bullion bars and coins are used widely by investors to preserve their wealth. Gold has been regarded as a good instrument and a great asset to have in times of high inflation.
