The best way to buy Gold is to aquire it as cheap as possible. There are several factors influencing the effective price, and one of them is of overpowering importance. But the first question is, which type of physical Gold is relatively cheap to aquire?
Gold Form
In order to get as much precious metal as possible for a given amount, it is important to buy gold in a form that comes with a small premium. The goal is to minimize the expenses for manufacturing and marketing costs, in order to pay primarily for the actual gold contained in the gold item. Exclusive and rare Gold coins come with the highest premiums since they have the most intricate designs and command the greatest collector interest. Gold bullion rounds, like American Gold Eagles, South African Krugerrands or Austrian Philharmonics, have lower premiums since their primary value is in their gold content. Gold bars have the lowest premiums of all since they are simple to produce and have the largest size per piece, for example the common one kilogram bar equals some 30 coins.
But there is one factor which is much stronger than all others: (click Start)
Gold, and other precious metals, are the best performing asset class of all over the last decade and multiplied their nominal value by a factor of five. Real estate crashed, stocks are below the levels of the year 2000, and when adjusted for inflation, anything that kept a stable nominal price actually lost over 30% in real value within 10 years. The underlying reason is of course money printing, which is going on since 40 years now, but really picked up speed around 2003, and strongly accelerated again in 2008.
Same as the law of gravity cannot (yet) be neutralized, this exponential growth of money will lead to the mathmatically guaranteed destruction of all paper currencies within the next 10 years. Not everyone got the news yet, which is the main reason that Gold is still available at all. Some people already realized it 5 years ago, und multiplied their wealth by now. Point is, the earlier you exchange your paper into assets with real value, with precious metals a logical part of such a portfolio, the better. Don't wait until the only valuable remains of the U.S. dollar can be found in a museum.ReutersChecking the spot price of gold is always important to know whether you are paying a fair price. As the spot price of gold is quite volatile, it is important to look it up right before the transaction. The real-time price and charts are available on www.ibtimes.com/gold . The price of gold bars should be about the same as the spot price of gold. The price of gold bullion rounds should be no more than 5 percent over the spot price of gold.
A smart new way to stock up on gold are the newly available Gold ATMs, which are introduced by the German company Ex Oriente Lux AG in the United States right now. Each Gold ATM is online and thus features real-time gold prices. In January 2011, one gold ATM was even set up in the highest building of the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.ReutersTotal capital invested in the global hedge fund industry exceeded $2 trillion for the first time in its history, according to data released today by Hedge Fund Research, Inc. (HFR), the leading provider of hedge fund industry data. Reuters
