NoDrama, you aren't buying coins are you? I heard it's harder to get full value out of coins? Is this correct? I'm not an investor so I haven't really done the research but I believe Anthony Wiener was accusing a gold coin company of misleading advertising due to something along these lines. I hear investing in gold mining companies has better returns as well. I dont see an advantage to buying physical gold over the gold ETF... if the financial system collapses neither would be worth much anyway and you have to pay shipping fees and shit on physical gold... plus the chance it's stolen (even with a safe).. This can be mitigated I guess by paying for it to be stored, but then that cuts into your returns as well.
I DO NOT buy collectible
numismatic gold and silver coins, thats a huge ripoff. You pay a hefty premium for a high grade coin, not a good investment unless you have a good eye and know how to play that market.
I buy Bullion in the form of Gold eagles, Canadian Maples. They cost about 10% over the Paper price due to the added premium of getting physical. Physical always costs more than the listed price. About 10% more. Please note that a 1 ounce gold coin is ounce troy so 31.1 grams per troy ounce, 12 ounces to the troy pound.
Investing in Mining companies is USUALLY a great call, but this time around the stocks have not really taken off, except for a few that made me a shitload. Silver Wheaton was a great pick.
Gold ETFs are great if you are an institutional investor and can afford to buy 700 contracts (400 gold ounces per so almost 450 Million$) then you can demand physical delivery, the Custodian being unable to provide will offer a premium of up to 80% (In silvers case) in cash incentive for you to take the cash instead of the physical. Why? because they have no physical and if they were ever forced to concede that point they would be perpetrating fraud and the entire system would crash when everyone runs for the exits. If the Economy Crashes your ETF will not be worth anything, you will lose it all. They will just declare force majeur and walk away, leaving YOU holding the bag.
If the economy collapses gold and silver will be worth much MORE than they are now. You will see people selling food, but only if you have gold or silver to pay for it. Read about Zimbabwe, you can't buy food with Zimbabwean Dollars, nope, they only take gold.
I store my own gold. Unless you actually have gold in your hand you don't actually own any gold.