Gold can come in small packages too
By numerous estimates, the wealth of King Solomon exceeded $2 trillion. His estimated gold reserve was almost 1,000 tonnes. For perspective, only seven countries today have gold reserves above 1,000 tonnes. United States 8,133.5 [highly questionable] Germany 3,366.8 Italy 2,451.8. France 2,436.1 Russia 2,219.2 China 1,936.5 [highly underestimated] Switzerland 1,040.0 South Africa, once the largest gold mining nation on the planet, has 125 tonnes of gold in reserves. Risking asking the idiotically obvious, why was King Solomon wealthy? Was it because of all the promissory tablets that he kept in his safe? Was it perhaps all the ancient IOUs that he had collected from surrounding nations? Even if we answer perhaps and consider all the surrounding nations gifting him yearly as some form of a promissory note, there is an important qualifier. King Solomon took delivery of his silver and gold. Why? Because if you don’t hold it, you don’t own it! He was wealthy not on paper, not in currency, not in derivatives and policies, but in all things money. An important lesson from the time before the Roman Empire existed. Lessons about real money are common throughout history for anyone willing to look a little closer. If you do not own any gold in your personal reserves, you are in the same boat as Canada (officially). Own a single 1 gram gold bar, and your gold reserves surpass that of Canada! Article courtesy of Silver-Sphere
The Most Important Reason Why Everyone Should Own Gold
Before I got involved in the gold business, I had a special relationship with gold that stretched back through my family for over a 100 years. I received my first gold from the estate of my father, who passed away when I was just 11 years old. He left me 5 shiny gold sovereign coins and a lot of great memories. The coins had been given to my father by his father. I was told that they were precious and to take great care of them. We had been a wealthy trading family from the village of Terenure in Dublin, since the 1800s. Our family ran the biggest village pub, a chemist, and a grocer. The family even paid for water to be piped to the village and built the first local cinema alongside other businesspeople. Unfortunately, like so many others we lost most of our wealth in the hard recessions of the 1980s. But the family gold endured. From the age of 11, I knew the power and endurance that gold represented and that it had stayed within my family for generations. It had survived when everything else was lost to time. I still have those gold coins today and I am always amazed at the weight of them, so heavy for their size and with that un-explainable attractive quality of its deep rich golden glow. I will be passing them on to my three sons in time. As the years passed, I have invested in stocks, property, currencies, established and sold businesses, but my mind would always go back to my father’s gold coins. Whenever I held them in my hand, I knew I could quickly find a buyer for them, should the need ever arise. I knew that the price would be fair, and I wouldn’t be ripped off. I knew that I could take my gold with me wherever I went and I knew that if I was in Ireland, England the US, or anywhere else, it would be recognized and I could realize its value in cash if needed. I knew that it could not be destroyed by fire or flood. Most importantly I knew that should bankers or politicians misbehave, as they often do, more gold would be bought by those in the know, the price would increase and the value of mine would increase too. But what about my property or equity investments, I could say the same about that too, or could I? While most equities are easily sold, the process of selling a property can be slow even at the best of times. I could never guarantee a fair price for my property and I would pay thousands in commissions for the privilege of someone finding me a buyer. My property wasn’t portable in the same way that gold was, and it required ongoing management and needed to be protected from flood and fire. …and should bankers, company management, or politicians misbehave it could have a negative impact on the value of either my property or equities or both! Neither, property nor equities were at the same time liquid, portable, and protected me from someone not doing their job effectively and negatively impacting my portfolio! I needed and valued that certainty and peace of mind that I got from owning gold in my portfolio. It endures. It is financial insurance. Your decision today to invest in gold may well be spoken about in generations to come and just as I speak to you about my father’s gold coins, I hope my descendants will speak of me and our ancestors and our family gold. Gold has been an education for me, but as I went out into the world as a young man, I was to learn far more about gold and its important role in everyone’s portfolio. Article courtesy of Stephen Flood from GoldCore
Investing in physical gold – Part 2
Gold Accumulation PlansRecently, gold-based savings products have been introduced to meet the investment needs of people internationally who want to hold physical gold in their investment portfolios or wish to diversify their savings. Gold Accumulation Plans (GAPs) are similar to conventional savings plans in that they are based on the principle of putting aside a fixed sum of money every month. The fixed sum then buys gold every trading day in that month. The fixed monthly sums can be small, and purchases are not subject to the premium normally charged on small bars or coins. Because small amounts of gold are bought over a long period of time, exposure to short-term variations in price is contained reducing risk for buyers. GAPs offer customers the unique opportunity to start accumulating physical gold using a daily average pricing methodology. This helps eliminate the risk of buying into a speculative bubble. At any time during the contract term (usually a minimum of a year), or when the account is closed, investors can get their gold in the form of bullion bars or coins. Should they choose to sell their gold they can also get cash. Allocated AccountsAllocated gold accounts allow an investor to buy gold coins and bars from a bullion brokerage which will transfer or ship the bullion to an individual’s account in a depository or bank. Allocated accounts involve ownership of specific gold and the owner has title to the individual coins or bars. Due diligence should be done on allocated gold account providers and the history, financial standing, credit rating and security of the provider is of vital importance. Digital Gold Currency or E-goldDigital Gold Currency, goldgrammes or e-gold are also increasingly popular. There are no specific financial regulations governing DGC providers, so they operate under self-regulation. DGC providers are not banks and therefore do not need to comply with bank regulations and there are concerns that there are unscrupulous operators operating in this emerging sector Gold Bullion in PensionsMost progressive jurisdictions internationally now allow their citizens to own gold bullion in a pension. The poor performance of equity markets in recent years, the poor performance of investment managers and the high costs of pensions means that returns in many pension funds internationally have been very poor. Having an allocation to gold in a portfolio has been shown to both reduce the volatility of the entire portfolio and also to enhance returns. Article courtesy of A comprehensive guide to Investing in Gold by GoldCore
Investing in physical gold – Part 1
Physical gold should form a part of every properly diversified portfolio. Gold remains a universal finite currency, held by every central bank of note in the world. And central banks have become net buyers of gold in recent years and look set to remain net buyers for the foreseeable future due to their massive foreign exchange reserves and concerns about the dollar, euro, pound and all fiat currencies. As JP Morgan famously said, “Gold is money. Everything else is credit.” In the same way that the family home should not be regarded as an investment, gold bullion is not an investment per se, rather it is money and it is a form of ‘saving for a rainy day’ or of financial insurance. It is to be taken possession of or stored with a secure third party and should not be traded. One does not trade an insurance policy and thus as a form of savings and financial insurance, physical gold should not be traded. Gold is money and is the ultimate safe haven asset and a great way, if not the best way, of ensuring wealth preservation and for passing wealth from one generation to the next. Modern Bullion CoinsModern bullion coins allow investors and store of value buyers to own physical gold bullion. Bullion is precious metal in its purest form and gold bullion coins are investment grade (between 0.90 and 0.9999 fineness) legal tender coins. The value of bullion coins and bars is determined almost solely by the price of gold and thus closely matches the spot price of gold as quoted on international markets. Gold Bullion BarsGold bullion bars allow investors and store of value buyers to own physical bullion. Bullion is investment grade gold and gold bars are normally of 0.9999 fineness or 24 karat pure and trade at a small premium to the quoted spot price of gold. There is little difference between owning gold bullion coins and smaller gold bullion bars and it is often a matter of individual preference. It is important to ensure that you own gold coins or gold bars from a well-known and trusted mint or refinery Semi-Numismatic and Numismatic Gold CoinsNumismatic or older and rare coins are bought not solely for their precious metal content but also for their rarity and their historical, aesthetic appeal. Sometimes, they are leveraged to the gold price which means that the price of these coins may surpass and increase faster than the gold price in a bull market – due to their historical and aesthetic value and to their rarity. Conversely, they may decrease by more when gold is in a bear market or is falling in value. Numismatics and semi numismatics can be bought from numismatic dealers and some bullion dealers with the requisite expertise. One should always work with established and trusted counter parties. Compare prices and make sure you are getting value for money. Article courtesy of A comprehensive guide to Investing in Gold by GoldCore
