The Best Places to Buy Gold

 

When first deciding where the best place to buy gold is, the investor must first understand their goal behind investing in gold. Is long term appreciation the driving factor, diversification, short term trend, is it so you can bury a little in the back yard so if all hell breaks loose? Is this for a retail taxable account or a retirement tax deferred account? All these factors will affect where the best place to buy gold, and when deciding the largest concern should be to the cost of purchasing and holding the security. With any investment comes a cost which is important to consider because cost eats into your potential for returns.

 

Physical shops

First off you have local shops like a coin dealer, jewelry shop or even the pawn shop may be great place to start depending on the investors experience level and what goal behind the investment is. These institutions provide a face to face relationship and insight into the coins they broker. This is valuable because you know the quality and value of what you are getting, while the cost from your local shop may be more than a retail broker or online web site, the personal relationship from a local shop could be worth the cost difference.

There are a lot of notable local coin shops that also offer a wide range of services like insured delivery, secured vault storage, educational content, and even precious metal IRA’s. When deciding where the best place to buy gold is you will want to take into account how long the broker or shop has been in business. What are the reviews or complaints from the Better Business Bureau? It’s best to find a trustworthy dealer with a lot of reviews both positive and negative, because this gives the investor a sense of where the firm may struggle, and if every review was positive, that may be cause for hesitation in itself, with all the fake and paid reviews in market places today.

 

Online brokers

Most investors when buying precious metals will choose an online broker because their prices and services tend to be the most cost effective, but the best places to buy gold, will have high volume and low transaction costs to the retail client. They will make minimal profit of the bid/ask spread and provide quality and certified gold coins or bullion bars. If you are investing in a taxable account you will you will want to find a reputable dealer where shipping costs are not exorbitant and the shipment is 100% insured, and because storage fees will add up, it can sometimes be wiser to take position of the precious metal.

 

Storage

Depending on the size and quantity purchased, this might not be feasible, so low storage costs are important as well. If you are purchasing gold in a tax deferred account like an IRA then you are required to store the precious metal so finding a company with low costs is important.

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It’s important to note that the best place to buy gold may not be the best place to store your gold. It is important to understand that many companies offer both brokerage and storage (gold IRA companies) and while this can help streamline the transaction process, it may not always be the most cost effective. If the best and cheapest place to buy gold is company A, and the cheapest place to store my metal is company C, then I can save on the difference by storing with a different metal provider. With tax-deferred account, as long as the facility is qualified, it does not matter who stores the precious metal. This will add up to cost savings allowing for a better return on our investment.

 

Gold ETFs

While online brokers or local shops could be the best place to buy Gold there are alternatives to holding the physical version of precious metals. There are many alternative securities that benchmark or target the precious metal sector. You could get the same exposure to precious metals by investing in an ETF or mutual fund, then you may get from the physical metal itself.

The upfront cost for an ETF or mutual fund are much lower than that of the physical metal, and there is no storage or shipping costs because they trade like a normal security. With the current market volatility more investors are looking to precious metals as a way to diversify away from equities and bonds. Precious metals have always been a safe haven for assets and will retain its value in a market sell off.

 

Conclusion

The applicable use of gold is quite divers as it conducts electricity well, does not tarnish and is easily manipulated into jewelry or wire, gold allows for a variety of uses. In this case our focus was on the bars and bullion coins that can be purchased by investors for long term growth. So where is the best place to buy gold? Well that will be up to personal preference and what you are looking to achieve from the precious metal broker or the precious metal IRA’s custodian. The best places to buy gold will guarantee insured delivery or provide proof of purchase and storage in the case on retirement accounts. They will be cost effective, come with no hidden commissions or fees, and be transparent about their bid/ask spread and how they make a profit. As any smart investor should, shopping around for the best place to buy gold is important to ensure you receive the best available deal.

 

Raymond Banks Administrator
Raymond Banks is a published author in the commodity world. He has written extensively about gold and silver investments, and his work has been featured in some of the most respected financial journals in the industry. Raymond\\\'s expertise in the commodities market is highly sought-after, and he regularly delivers presentations on behalf of various investment firms. He is also a regular guest on financial news programmes, where he offers his expert insights into the latest commodity trends.

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