Need the forums advice on a gold matter. Got a nice stash of silver and now moving into gold. Long term plan is to have a stash to sell small amounts as I require to compliment my pension. With silver I have always gone down the route silver is silver and I want it at the best price close to spot. I don't buy fancy silver, but cheap silver so I can get my cost average close to spot. I am looking at small gold so I can shift easily when I need to and get 200-300 . Again I am of the same philosophy gold is gold and buy closest to spot as I can for the product I require. I was advised to go with sovereigns and understand their universal appeal, but premiums are high. Closest I have got is Atkinson jewellers here in the UK to anything sensible. My choice would be small 10-20 gram bars as there are some good buys on these against spot. One of the problems I do have in trying to compare like for like cost per gram is sovereigns are 22k and bars are 24k. I know there will be a variety of opinions given, but some issues maybe raised I have not thought about. Thanks
A full sovereign contains 7.3217 grams of fine gold, so just take the price you find and divide by seven point three...two...one... Other than that, buy something that is recognisable and liquid in your local market. There's nothing worse than being stuck with some weird-arse junk that nobody else wants, even if you were able to buy it cheaply - it was cheap for a reason.
If I were in the UK I probably would have only bought gold. From what I can see, in UK, sovereigns conform to 'investment gold' and are exempt of VAT. Seem like a good option for you. I'd suggest that you reconsider the reluctance to pay a premium, as say a sovereign is easy to sell and you will get your premium back plus. Probably the premium will increase to reflect the increase in gold. Plus buying a sovereign you might luck out and get a numismatic. Or research could increase your odds of that event. Opinion is divided on plain brute bullion or premium product. You could use the calculator here and convert AUD to pounds? http://www.silverstackers.com/calculators/index.php?page=8 2.1 What is investment gold? Investment gold is: (a) gold of a purity not less than 995 thousandths that is in the form of a bar, or a wafer, of a weight accepted by the bullion markets; (b) a gold coin minted after 1800 that: is of a purity of not less than 900 thousandths; is, or has been, legal tender in its country of origin; and is of a description of coin that is normally sold at a price that does not exceed 180% of the open market value of the gold contained in the coin; or (c) an investment gold coin as specified in Notice 701/21A Investment gold coins. http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...HMCE_CL_000104&propertyType=document#P53_2139
the lowest premium gold is the go. forget coins unless you can get the same premium as bars. 10g gold Perth Mint in certicards is a nice fractional size. roughly 1/3 an ounce so around $A550 at present.
Gary, a few personal thoughts from me here. Mind, this is only my own opinion, but I will say at the outset, like you, I started with silver, and bought a reasonable amount. Whilst I'm still not happy with my overall silver holdings (I would like to stack more), I also came to the conclusion that even with PM's, putting "all the eggs in one basket" was not something I was comfortable with, and started buying some gold in the last 12 months. Personally, I am buying these at the moment: http://www.perthmintbullion.com/au/Buy-Gold-Bars/5g--Minted.aspx?productId=98 Reasons: They are affordable, and being 5g each, they represent a small unit of gold. They come in a Certicard, which helps to preserve authenticity. And, for the amount of gold, the premium on them is reasonable. Also, something I consider - as I am in Australia, I feel it is wise to hold the precious metal from ones own local producer, as it is more easily recognised. You may find something similar from a local mint, if not, you might check these out - several of the sponsors of this site sell them, including Ben's own store. Considering the point on recognition - for myself, I feel that Perth Minth, PAMP, US Mint (Eagle), Canadian Mint (Maple) would be among the top 4 most easily recognised (and thus, potentially accepted) products in precious metals, but bear in mind, my knowledge of things in the UK is nowhere near as great as local or US markets, thus there may be better recognised and accepted makers that would apply for you. Like you, as you can see, one of the things I am looking for in gold is small amount/divisibility, and the Valcambi Combibar is also great for this purpose - the premium on it is larger than the 5g bars though - but you get the beauty of 50g of gold that can be divided up into 1g lots very easily (roughly - at current fiat prices, AUD$52.00 per gram).
Sovereigns in the UK have several very real advantages: they are free of VAT and they are free of CGT. It is also possible to pick them up around 2.5% premium as bullion, and there is always the possibility of Numi value. Atkinsons and Bairds are easy to deal with, there is also Elm, on a cost basis, but I found it more difficult to set up an account from over here in Oz. Keep an eye on this: http://goldprice.org/gold-prices/uk-small-gold-coins.htm and this http://goldprice.org/gold-prices/uk-gold-coins.htm and the premiums - there are occasional offers that put half-Sov premiums down to full Sov levels. It looks as though you can currently get half-Sovs at spot plus 3%; now check the online sites and factor in postage. If you keep your purchases below GBP5k and less than GBP10k a year they are not reportable (a lot of people don't particularly want to appear on lists) - the other option is to check out http://www.coininvestdirect.com/en/gold_coins/?change=1&curRate=pound_rate - German supplier, will accept UK pound transfers to a UK account, which means a free EFT rather than an expensive overseas transfer. Oh - Atkinsons have a Baird 1 oz bar on offer at GBP 1,039.73 - thirty quid cheaper than Bairds. That appears to be spot plus sod-all, so if you have some spare cash I'd back up the truck. http://atkinsonsthejewellers.com/shop.php?sec=prod&prod=1598
What about granules? You'd be able to cash out however much you want at a time and if gold ever flat-lines they'd be great in a sling shot / bb gun
I have a bit of experience here so happy to pass on a few comments. With gold coins that are 22 carat they are 22/24 pure gold. Some coins are however pure gold. When a seller quotes a price of spot + 3% that relates to the gold content so it doesn't matter if you are buying a sovereign or a Maple because you are paying the same price for the fine gold content. Traditionally the best prices are for boring one ounce Krugerrands followed by sovereigns or bars weighing 50g or higher. A buy price below spot + 2.5% will be difficult to find but 3% is readily found. Other than Krugs and sovs, most others will cost a bit more ranging from 4% to much higher and this is also typical for small bars of a few grams, premiums tend to be high. Be careful looking at a price on a website like Atkinsons which is one of the cheapest because they quote a price daily and the price will change with fluctuations on spot on the day but will not be updated on the web. There are bullion dealers that use the London a.m. fix to set their price for the full day. Some dealers will buy back coins at around 98% of spot but often buy full sovereigns and one oz Krugerrands at full spot. These guys have to make a living so seeing a spread of around 5% is reasonable. As you know in the UK there is no VAT on gold so you cannot beat home prices especially when factoring shipping. Pity the same cannot be said for silver though !
Living in the UK; I agree with most that has been said above, for me the proof is in the pudding and I have put some money into sovereigns and a couple of Britannia's. UK currency = no VAT and no CGT, premiums are only really an issue in the short term.
Well a lot of common sense said. I think my plan will be to buy the cheapest gold I can given the small lots I want it in. I think it makes sense to mix between bars and sovereigns if I can get them at the right price. I find part of the addiction to PM's is the many hours I put in trawling the net to find that bargain. Unless they have the bug they just don't understand.
