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How To Invest In Gold

I recently wrote a blog post on why you might want to consider owning some gold in your investment portfolio. There are a number of ways that you can go about buying and storing gold. I’ve written about some of the best ways below.

Bullionvault Review

​One of the safest and cheapest ways to own gold is through Bullionvault. Here you can have your gold professionally stored in high-security vaults in London, Zurich or New York. Bullionvault is unique in that it has created its own gold marketplace, where gold is bought and sold between Bullionvault users.

​This allows Bullionvault to keep costs down for its massive user base, which is said to collectively own more gold than most of the world’s central banks. Costs to own gold through bullion vault are capped at 0.01% for monthly storage and a 0.50% commission on a purchase.

I’m sure you’ve gone on holiday and tried to exchange cash at a foreign exchange provider before. It’s always a wonder how they have such a large difference or spread in the price at which they buy and sell the same currency. Because Bullionvault has such a large user base, the prices at which each investor is able to buy and sell gold are fairly similar at any point in time.

Advantages of Bullionvault

  • The cheapest way to store physical gold
  • You can buy and sell gold at wholesale prices
  • Gold is professionally stored, insured and secured in high-security vaults
  • The Bullionvault platform is easy and intuitive to use
  • You can buy gold in dollars, pounds, sterling, euros or yen. So there are no currency conversion fees to buy gold in dollars for non-US customers
  • They have great customer service!​

Gold Exchange Traded Funds

Nowadays, we can have exposure to just about any asset class through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). And gold is no exception. Gold ETFs are simply funds that track the price of physical gold. You can buy and sell gold ETF units on the stock market just like shares. Each gold ETF unit is effectively an ‘IOU’ or a paper claim to a physical gramme of gold, which is stored in a high-security vault. These units can be redeemed for physical gold, though this can be quite a complicated process.

Advantages of Gold ETFs

  • A very cost efficient way to buy, sell and store gold
  • You can own gold through your ISA or SIPP as part of a diversified portfolio
  • Gold ETF units are very ‘liquid’, which means they are easy to buy and sell
  • Gold ETF units are backed by physical gold, which is safely stored in high-security vaults

If you are more interested in profiting from the change in the price of gold, rather than having access to physical gold, then gold ETFs may be for you. If you do choose to go down this route, there are three gold ETFS to consider:

  • GLD is the world’s most liquid gold ETF and trades on the NYSE Arca Exchange
  • PHAU or GBS: These ETFs are also very liquid and trade on the London Stock Exchange

I’ve written a review on Hargreaves Lansdown, which is a great place to buy gold ETF’s. If you haven’t considered why you should buy gold, check out my blog post Gold and the ‘Doom-monger’ argument.