Investing In Gold Bullion

by G Smith 
Today I am 100% invested in Gold.........in a practice investment account, my position is $998,000 in GOLD!  In a few hours I'll see how I did. (BentnWasted)
 
For thousands of years Gold has been used as currency and been
a highly prized precious metal. Gold has always been a favored
investment to hedge your portfolio against inflation. Gold
prices in the international gold market can remain fairly
stable through times of instability, recession and currency
fluctuations.

The ways of investing in gold can be via purchasing physical
gold bullion in the form of gold bars or gold rounds, minted
gold coins. Gold shares in gold mining companies are also
available and various types of gold funds or mutuals that are
managed by professional investors.

Holding at least a small percentage of your stock portfolio in
gold bullion is always a good idea. The relatively stable price
of gold can help insure your investment portfolio against
economic instability. Gold bullion prices may fluctuate over
the years but gold investments are highly unlikely to get
devalued and have performed well over recent years.

Gold coins have a legal tender face value in the countries
currency that they were minted, and can be easier to dispose of
if you need to liquidate your gold assets. Many types of gold
bullion rounds or gold coins are available, such as American
Eagles, Krugerrands, Sovereigns, Canadian Maples, Australian
Gold Nuggets, Chinese Gold Pandas and many more. Gold bullion
bars are available in many different sizes upto 400 ounce size.
The 400 oz bullion gold bar is the London Good Delivery bar
size. Good delivery bars must meet certain specifications, they
must weigh between 350oz - 430oz and be of a minimum purity of
99.5% pure Gold. These London Good Delivery bullion bars are
normally held by central banks and not usually held by smaller
private investors.

Mining shares can be lucrative but their performance depends on
the success of the mine and the general standing of the mining
company you are investing in. Therefore mining stocks may not
follow the general trend of the gold fix market, but can
outperform the market if the mining company is particularly
successful.

A precious metals gold managed fund can provide a more diverse
gold stocks portfolio. The funds manger may invest in various
precious metals and gold shares spreading any risk between a
selection of stocks. Precious metals mutuals are available that
also invest in other metals such as Silver, Platinum and
Palladium as well as gold stocks.

The most cost effective way to invest in physical gold is to
buy larger bullion bars. Gold bullion in bar form offers the
lowest gold dealers percentage over the gold market price,
depending on the bars size the dealers premium over fix can be
as low as 2% - 5%. Compared to the premium on various gold
coins of between 7% - 20% or more gold bullion bars appear much
more attractive financially. Although the fact that gold bullion
rounds or coins are much more liquid than bars may sway your
decision to purchase bars. Gold coins can be disposed of on the
open market fairly easily and quickly in comparison to large
gold bars. Coins are also much easier for the smaller investor
or private individual to obtain and to store. There is also the
collectable and historical value that gold coins have against
gold bullion bars.

About The Author: Gold bullion investment tips and live gold
fix market price charts visit http://www.gold-fix.co.uk For
silver,gold and platinum live price quotes and information
visit http://www.goldfix.net