Many of us have some unused gold lying around the house. In many cases, its jewellery belonging to grandparents that are old and unused and have lost its lustre through the years. Although the gold may look tarnished, it’s still gold and does have a market value. Then we spot dealers posting ads on television offering cash for all that scrap gold, and it tempts us to pull out that unused old gold lying around the house, never to be used to again. Why not put it all in an envelope and post it off to that scrap gold buying service and hope for some cold hard cash?
Well, the idea seems to be a practical one, but let’s run through the steps you need to follow to ensure that some rogue or slick conman doesn’t get your gold off you for peanuts.
1. Understanding market prices
Gold is always sold everywhere at spot prices. This is the value of gold per troy ounce at a particular point in time. A troy ounce is different from a standard ounce, and it’s important to know the difference before walking into a high street gold shop. A little online research will get you up to speed on prices, so you won’t get fooled by a dealer attempting to short change you.
It’s important to evaluate your scrap gold before selling
2. Get your gold valued
You can go to a reliable gold dealer to get your gold valued. It’s important to figure out whether your gold items are worth more in their current form or as scrap gold. For example, you may have a coin that’s worth much more than its weight in gold on account of its numismatic value. Sometimes, your gold jewellery may be worth more than simply selling it as scrap. These are important considerations before you get around to selling your gold.
Knowing when to sell is critical when selling gold. Of course, many people may require emergency cash and may make a distress sale. But ideally, it’s best to look at price trends and sell when the price of gold is up.
4. Determine the purity
Knowing the purity of the gold you possess is an essential step you will need to undertake before selling. For example, 18 karat gold has 75% purity, while 10 karat is only 42% pure. You will only get a price based on purity as no one will pay for the base metal component of your scrap gold. It is possible to get an acid test kit in the market to measure the purity of your gold. If the gold dealer insights on grading all the gold together, you could be cheated as they may give you the price for the lowest karat of the lot. Always insist on having the individual pieces evaluated separately.
5. Weigh your gold
Before heading out to sell your gold, it’s important to first weight it. Gold is measured in troy ounces. Again, there are kits available in the market to help you accurately weigh your gold.
6. Clean your gold
Gold may tarnish over time. Cleaning your gold is yet another important step prior to selling. Some warm water, dish soap and a soft toothbrush should do the trick. Just let it dry at room temperature and then wipe it before selling.
7. Identify a reputable gold dealer
Settling for a price given by your nearest gold dealer isn’t a smart idea. Shop around to see the best price you can get. Postal gold buyers are popular these days. When sending any gold to a dealer, keep a record of what you’re sending by clicking a few images. Always send your gold via insured delivery and fully understand the terms and conditions of the sale. Selling to a rogue buyer could mean that you stand to lose your money. Reputed buyers will always insist on checking your photo ID before closing a deal.
Talk to our gold experts before closing a deal
Our precious metals advisory team is best placed to evaluate your gold before you sell and will let you know the price you can expect. Call us now on 020 7060 9992 or drop us a line and a member of our team will be in touch with you at the earliest.
Diamonds are forever, goes the old song by Shirley Bassey. But which is the better asset class of choice for long-term wealth building? Gold or diamonds? Of course, much like gold, silver or any other precious metal, a diamond is a great store of value and is a desirable and investable asset class. However, in order for us to unlock this value, we have to find a buyer who will be willing to buy it at a higher price than we bought it in the first place. In order to find the answers to this all-important debate for investors, we need to first understand the pros and cons of investing in each.
Once polished and cut, diamonds have an irresistible charm
Diamond investment – pros
Innate beauty and appeal
Like gold, diamonds too are mined from underground and a rough diamond, much like a gold nugget isn’t much to look at. It needs to be polished and cut by skilled artisans before it can attain its true beauty. Like gold, diamonds also have transferable beauty and adds this to the person wearing them.
Power
Diamonds are a symbol of power and are worn by members of the higher echelons of society to establish this. Diamonds enjoy considerable demand globally as a status symbol.
Diamonds have an important place in our society to mark important occasions like weddings, engagements and anniversaries. The marketing machine of the diamond manufacturers have, in fact, picked up on this and emotional marketing of diamonds has raked in millions of dollars.
A safe haven for investors
Just like gold, investors often invest in diamonds to steer clear of economic turmoil and crisis in the global capital markets. Diamonds are used as a hedge against forces of inflation and uncertainty in the global forex markets. So, similar to gold, it may be used as a type of insurance against tough times.
Cons
One of the biggest issues with purchasing diamonds is that it generates no yield. So, unlike gold, there is no steady return on the investment.
The diamond trade has historically suffered from a bad reputation through the use of child labour and this has caused huge restrictions on the supply of African diamonds into Europe.
Selling diamonds is not easy and usually, auction houses take their cut during a sale, thereby reducing the return on investment
The diamond market has a steep learning curve and investors need to spend considerable time buying and selling diamonds before they learn the ropes of the industry. Similarly, novice investors can be cheated due to the intricacies involved in the identification and knowledge of good diamonds.
Gold investments are less risky and generate steady returns over the long term
The gold advantage
Gold, on the other hand, is also used as a hedge against inflation as well as disaster insurance. Diversification is a strong factor for investors to invest in gold. But perhaps the most important advantage of buying and selling gold lies in its simplicity. Online gold broking has today revolutionised the gold market. When buying gold from Physical Gold, for example, all one has to do is to register for a free account, select the gold products and add it to the online basket, checkout and pay. Storage solutions are also available if required and if the buyer is taking delivery, the gold is sent via insured post.
Learn about “Gold investment as part of a balanced investment portfolio” in this Physical Gold Ltd. YouTube video.
Call us now to discuss your gold investments
Call our expert investment advisory team on 020 7060 9992 or reach us online and a member of the team will be in touch with you shortly. If you’re thinking of investing in gold, look no further. All the products on our website are 100% genuine and come with a buyback guarantee. What’s more, our team are always happy to offer no strings attached advice on how to invest in gold and help you choose the right products to meet your investment goals.
Finding images on the internet has now become quite easy thanks to the popularity of social media. User-generated content (UGC) is now king, and millions of high-quality videos and images are posted every day by users, who simply want to share their content for free. Much of this content is covered by the creative commons license, which allows other users to simply download these images or videos for free, without having to pay any royalty or fees. Of course, there are certain conditions that need to be fulfilled. For example, some users insist that their work is attributed to them when it is used for any purpose, be it commercial or non-commercial. Still, others want that none of the original content, in this case, the images, should be modified in any way whatsoever.
Exclusivity versus cost
In some cases, links to the photographer’s own website need to be displayed. Many others, however, are quite happy to give it all up for free and take nothing in return and may at best request that you pay them a small fee via PayPal, as a token payment for their efforts, due to which your hassle of sourcing an image has now been reduced. One thing to bear in mind though is that, when you are sourcing images from a shared, social media-driven image bank or site, you cannot expect exclusivity. Others may also download those images for free and use them on their websites or brochures, and chances are that a reader browsing through the internet could well see the same images on someone else’s site. So, if its exclusivity that you want, be prepared to fork out some of your hard-earned cash in return for that assurance that the image you’re buying will not be available to others.
Of course, searching for free images can be tedious, as social media sites like Flickr, don’t always have images you like. There could be other challenges, like resolution, size in pixels, etc. But, most importantly, you may not always get enough free images relating to the subject you’re looking for. Gold, however, is one very popular theme for which there are plenty of images on sites like Flickr. In this article, we will point out 10 of the best images for gold on Flickr, and share the links with you.
1. Gold and silver bars
This soothing image of gold and silver bars weighing 10 ounces of pure gold with a purity of 999.9 has been posted by Mark Herpel. The image shows the bars displayed against a lustrous dark grey background along with a diffused white light that brings out the contrast of the bars against the backdrop. The image was taken on 4th April 2008.
2. Gold Bars from Toolstotal
This exquisite image of gold bars with 999.9 purity from toolstotal.com was uploaded by Flickr user John Jones on 3rd April 2018. The image features 8 different sizes of gold bars and the red velvety backdrop is a marvellous image for any gold-related content. The image is covered by a creative commons 2.0 attribution license. This means any user can use the image, transform, modify it, etc. as long as the source is mentioned.
3. Gold bullion coins
Contributed to Flickr by Mick Baker, this image features ¼ oz gold bullion coins. In the picture, we can see certain well-known ones like the Vienna Philharmonic and the Canadian Maple Leaf, to name a few. The image is a great representation of some of the world’s finest gold coins.
4. Gold bars – city museum of Melbourne
This image features a number of gold bars on display in the basement of the city museum of Melbourne. The image is a great one and has been uploaded on Flickr by Brian Giesen in 2009. The image is an imposing one, showing all the bars in a shiny glow.
5. Real pure gold bar
This Flickr image features a one-kilo gold bar of 999.9 purity. The image was uploaded by JC Awe in 2012 and has a unique background and lighting effect that makes it stand out among the many images of gold bars on Flickr.
6. Gold coin of the emperor Valentinianus
Carlo Raso’s image of a rare gold coin is an award-winning Flickr image that features the gold coin of emperor Valentinianus, showing a profile of the king and a commemoration of one of his victories. The original coin is part of the numismatic collection at the archaeological museum in Naples, Italy.
7. US gold five dollars 1987
Kevin Dooley’s image of an American 1987 gold five-dollar coin is a great image on Flickr due to its detail of the obverse of the coin. The coin is a US gold eagle coin with the eagle portrayed on the reverse, which is available from Physical Gold.
8. Pouring liquid gold
Dan Brown uploaded this amazing image in 2006 of liquid gold being poured into a crucible to form a gold bar. A truly brilliant image.
9. Gold bullion pyramid
This image of a pyramid of gold bars is presented from the collection of the National Bank of Ukraine on Flickr in 2017. It is a great image that conveys the splendour and lure of gold bars.
Call our experts to know more about gold investment
If you liked these images of gold on Flickr, and are seriously interested in building your own gold portfolio, do call our gold investment team on 020 7060 9992 or drop us a line via our website. Who knows? Maybe someday you could end up with some great treasures like these as part of your personal wealth portfolio.
Comparing gold investment to stock funds is a common choice many invetsors debate. Where would your money work best and which will provide highe returns?
Capital markets have generated good returns during upswings in the stock markets around the world. However, investing in company stocks is a risky business. Capital markets were initially isolated and rose and fell based on market forces and investor sentiment within regional economies. But with the advent of globalisation, it all changed. In today’s day and age, events in one part of the world create ripple effects across the important global stock exchanges like the London stock exchange (LSE), New York stock exchange (NYSE), the Hang Seng of Hong Kong and the Bombay stock exchange (BSE) in India. Numerous forces are at work, including interest rates, fiscal measures implemented by countries, the forces of inflation and geopolitical scenarios across regions.
Forces at work
It’s not just macro-economic forces that are at work; the economics of supply and demand within industry sectors, competitor action and drivers within each industrial segment are all responsible for the rise and fall in stock prices. In order to analyse all this information and derive a successful investment strategy is a full-time job. In addition to this, picking the right stocks that are likely to generate the desired level of returns within your investment horizon requires special skills.
Investments in physical gold are more stable than equity mutual funds
Equity research
Due to this, thousands of retail investors invest their money in mutual funds and rely on the fund managers to make the investment decisions. Being an institutional investment house, mutual fund companies employ teams of research analysts who conduct research on companies based on industry sectors. This involves assessing the fundamentals of the companies, financials, the quality of the company management and their performance in the market. Key performance indicators (KPIs) like total shareholder returns (TSR), price earnings ratio and returns on capital employed (ROCE) are also taken into account.
In spite of all the science behind investments, it is virtually impossible to predict global events that lead to boom and bust cycles in the stock markets. For example, no one could have predicted 9/11 and the impact it would have on the global economy. If you were the greatest fund manager with an unerring ability to pick winning stocks each and every time, you would still have been caught unawares. Mutual fund investments, therefore are fraught with markets risks, no matter the quality of fund management or NAV (Net Asset Value) performance.
Mutual funds are subject to the inherent risks of the capital markets
Mutual funds vs gold
Apart from market risks, let’s explore some of the other drawbacks of mutual fund investments. Gold, on the other hand, is an asset class that’s simpler, more robust, steady and delivers sustainable value over a period of time. To start with, there’s less volatility within the class itself. As discussed earlier, mutual fund performance is dependent on the state of the stock markets. Even diversified equity funds that spread their risks by allocating investments over a range of industry sectors are sometimes overweight in a certain sector, making it vulnerable to sectoral risks.
High fees – Well managed funds need to pay high salaries to investment professionals and run a well-oiled team. Needless to say, these costs are passed on to the investor, i.e. you. Buying gold from a reputed online broker is simpler, more transparent and incurs lower costs.
Selling price – You can’t sell your mutual fund investments like you sell shares. Since funds operate on the principle of a daily NAV, when you issue an instruction to sell, the price isn’t fixed until the trading day ends. Physical gold, on the other hand, is sold as per the spot price per troy ounce and the selling price is decided at the time of the sale.
Capital gains tax conundrum – Mutual funds charge their capital gains tax bills back to the investors simply by distributing them regardless of how long you’ve been invested. If you were invested in direct equity, on the other hand, your CGT bill would have been lower, if you had held your positions for the long term. Of course, long-term capital gains taxes are lower.
Also, the fund may have sold some profitable equities and amassed a capital gains tax bill that they would distribute across the fund holders. But, if those profitable investments weren’t part of the scheme you invested in, and your scheme ended up posting losses, you’d still be paying a tax bill although you didn’t rake in any profits. However, investments in gold in the UK are capital gains tax-free. Now that’s a compelling reason to invest in gold from a tax point of view.
Call our gold investment experts to know more about how gold investments can benefit you
At Physical Gold, our investment advisors can help you make the right investment choices and help you select asset classes based on your investment goals. Call us on 020 7060 9992 or email us and a member of the investment team will get in touch with you right away.
François-Marie Arouet, the classical French philosopher and writer commonly known as Voltaire (1694-1778) once said: “Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero.” One of the earliest uses of fiat currencies is recorded in China in the year 1000 AD. Since then, modern global economics has successfully managed to keep the solvency of fiat currencies alive. Its intrinsic value was kept alive by linking it to gold so that businesses and tradesmen would honour paper notes and coins made of base metals as having an accepted representative value. This was popularly known as the gold standard and the practice ended at the end of the two world wars, as gold reserves eventually thinned out.
Do your research to really unlock the potential of gold and silver
Rising inflation has been eating into the value of fiat currencies over the last 20 years, and global economic turmoil has left few options to generate good returns for investors. Therefore, anyone looking for a sustainable, stable store of value with strong fundamentals in order to hedge against currency debasement and market risks would seriously consider gold and silver. With the prices of precious metals slated to go up in the near future, it is important to conduct your own research into gold and silver. In this article, we’ll run through the best blogs for you to read.
Investor research is an essential step before investing in gold bars
1. The World Gold Council blog
The World Gold Council focuses on developing the gold industry by creating awareness among investors, ensuring a steady demand for gold and establishing themselves as a market authority for gold. Their blog provides insights into the gold market and helps investors understand the drivers for supply and demand in the market. The blog also provides market commentary and tracks price trends for precious metal. Through its members, the World Gold Council seeks to be a collective voice in the gold industry. Several articles on the blog are available for free download and provide investors with effective guidance on how to invest in gold.
The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) is a regulatory body that sets standards for the precious metals market. The association has a footprint across 30 countries, with more than 140 members. The LBMA sets trading standards for the industry in a number of areas including purity and form. As a regulatory body, the organisation value adds to the industry by ensuring that service providers adhere to the highest standards at all times. Their blog is essentially a collection of news articles, press releases and publications relating to the precious metals industry.
3. Gold trading experts
Based in Birmingham, Gold Trading Experts is a gold industry training services provider for investors. They provide online tutorials, training materials and information designed to assist their users in understanding the dynamics of the gold market. Regular video overviews of the market are regularly uploaded on their website. In order to gain full access to their services, users need to purchase a paid subscription. The gold blog provides market updates and price trends.
Coin buyers use blogs to do their research before buying coins made out of precious metals
4. The Royal Mint bullion blog
The Royal Mint has a long history that dates back to 886 AD, during the time of Alfred the Great. Since then, the Royal Mint has been the official flag bearer for British coinage. After centuries of existence as a mint owned by the British government, it is now a limited company, wholly owned by Her Majesty’s Treasury. The mint is the official manufacturer tasked with creating the nation’s coinage. The bullion blog published by the Royal Mint is a great repository of information about the London bullion market, price information, coin reviews and articles about important coins in the history of British coinage.
5. Mint news blog
The Mint News Blog provides market watch articles and commentary on the products released by the United States Mint. The information contained in the blog is of great interest to numismatists and bullion investors alike. The blog was originally published by Michael Zielinski back in 2009 and is now managed by a publishing firm called Whitman Publishing LLC.
6. PNG news and events blog
The Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) is one of the best-known certification agencies in the world for gold and silver coins. Their website features a blog page under the title ‘news and events’, which serves as a library of information for investors who wish to buy gold and silver coins. Set up in 1955, PNG is an industry regulator of repute, whose coin grading service is trusted all over the world.
7. The artisanal gold council blog
The artisanal gold council caters to the mining industry and champions the sustainable development of small-scale gold mining companies. The artisanal gold council blog publishes information, articles and news related to the gold mining industry and can be an interesting read for investors who wish to know about the sources of the gold they’re buying.
8. The silver institute blog
The Silver Institute is a non-profit organisation that acts as an industry body for the global silver industry. The institute’s website is essentially a blog aimed at educating silver investors across the world. It features industry news, the uses of silver, silver price charts and links to other online resources about silver investing.
Call the precious metals team at Physical Gold to know more
A lot of investors educate themselves these days through YouTube videos. Indeed, visual is the way to go as it engages more than one set of senses – auditory and visual. However, videos like the ones on YouTube do a lot more. As the videos are available on a social media platform, it helps you connect with a community of people who are interested in the same things as you. You can also interact with them and become a part of the community and enhance your own learning experience through collective knowledge sharing. More importantly, you can watch these videos through the internet when you’re on the move.
Imagine being on the London tube from Newbury Park to Notting Hill Gate, a journey that will probably take you an hour. Apart from taking a nap or gaping at your fellow passengers, there’s little else you can do. But, we find that more and more people use this time to watch learning videos to enrich their own knowledge about a certain subject. So, YouTube is great for enabling mobile learning. It’s also great as a micro-learning tool since the medium allows you to assimilate learning in bite-sized chunks, as opposed to trying to digest everything in one go.
So, now that we have established that online videos can promote learning, we also believe that gold investors can learn quite a bit from watching these videos. In this article, we’ll discover more about five such videos that can be a great learning opportunity. The selection of these videos has been made based on viewership.
Gold bars are a popular investment option and often discussed on social media
1) How to invest in gold for beginners
This video was uploaded on 11th April 2014 and features a beginner’s guide to gold investment, published by MoneyWeek. The video has enjoyed a viewership of 103,635, which is considered high for a video in the non-fiction genre. The highlight of the video was the recording of an interview with Warren Buffet, the great investment guru, talking about gold investments. In this video, he makes the infamous statement that if we took all the gold in the world, it would fill a 67-foot cube that would cost $7trn and would be sitting at one end of the room, doing nothing. Buffet argues that for the same amount of money one could buy a large stock portfolio of US-based equities, which would generate a much greater return. Viewer comments state that Buffet is not entirely justified in his comments because gold provides insurance against times of turmoil in the international stock markets.
2) Investing in GOLD – How to invest in Gold for Beginners
3) Kevin O’Leary’s ‘Cold, Hard, Truth’ on Gold Investing
This video is published on YouTube by Kevin O’Leary, Chairman of the O’Leary fund. Kevin is a highly successful American entrepreneur and an expert in the science of investing. The video has a viewership of 716,127. The long 19-minute video has great information about investing and O’Leary discusses the pros and cons related to investing in physical gold. The video provides useful information for novice and expert investors alike.
Social media is a popular medium of information for investment advice, but not everything you see there is genuine advice
4) Getting rich with gold investment – documentary
The education channel is an online e-learning channel that publishes useful videos on science, commerce and investing. Their 40-minute documentary, titled ‘getting rich with gold investment’, explores the history of gold, the growth of its demand as a precious metal and considering gold as part of the asset allocation for your investment portfolio. The video also talks about the percentage of your investment portfolio that needs to be invested in gold. The video packs in a lot of useful information for investors.
5) Ron Paul on gold: no one knows value; I’m buying
Dr. Ron Paul talks about why investing in gold currently is a great idea, with the increased volatility in the US dollar and inflation creeping up. Ron Paul is a physician, writer, retired politician and gold investment expert. In this video, he debunks many myths about the behaviour of the US dollar and the inflation index. He also explains why to invest in gold right now and why, like him, a lot of people are buying.
Call Physical Gold to know more about gold investments
Whilst YouTube is a great platform for investor information, everything you see and hear on social media cannot necessarily be trusted as genuine information For the most accurate and authentic information on how to invest in gold, call our investment advisory team on 020 7060 9992. You can also reach out to them by contacting them via our website. They are best placed to guide you through the ins and outs and gold investing and will give you the information you can rely on. Call now!
A lot of investors educate themselves these days through YouTube videos. Indeed, visual is the way to go as it engages more than one set of senses auditory and visual. However, videos like the ones on YouTube do a lot more. As the videos are available on a social media platform, it helps you connect with a community of people who are interested in the same things as you. You can also interact with them and become a part of the community and enhance your own learning experience through collective knowledge sharing. More importantly, you can watch these videos through the internet when you’re on the move.
Imagine being on the London tube from Newbury Park to Notting Hill Gate, a journey that will probably take you an hour. Apart from taking a nap or gaping at your fellow passengers, there s little else you can do. But, we find that more and more people use this time to watch learning videos to enrich their own knowledge about a certain subject. So, YouTube is great for enabling mobile learning. It s also great as a micro-learning tool since the medium allows you to assimilate learning in bite-sized chunks, as opposed to trying to digest everything in one go.
So, now that we have established that online videos can promote learning, we also believe that gold investors can learn quite a bit from watching these videos. In this article, we’ll discover more about five such videos that can be a great learning opportunity. The selection of these videos has been made based on viewership.
Gold bars are a popular investment option and often discussed on social media
1) How to invest in gold for beginners
This video was uploaded on 11th April 2014 and features a beginner s guide to gold investment, published by MoneyWeek. The video has enjoyed a viewership of 103,635, which is considered high for a video in the non-fiction genre. The highlight of the video was the recording of an interview with Warren Buffet, the great investment guru, talking about gold investments. In this video, he makes the infamous statement that if we took all the gold in the world, it would fill a 67-foot cube that would cost $7trn and would be sitting at one end of the room, doing nothing. Buffet argues that for the same amount of money one could buy a large stock portfolio of US-based equities, which would generate a much greater return. Viewer comments state that Buffet is not entirely justified in his comments because gold provides insurance against times of turmoil in the international stock markets.
2) Investing in GOLD – How to invest in Gold for Beginners
3) Kevin O’Leary’s ‘Cold, Hard, Truth’ on Gold Investing
This video is published on YouTube by Kevin O Leary, Chairman of the O Leary fund. Kevin is a highly successful American entrepreneur and an expert in the science of investing. The video has a viewership of 716,127. The long 19-minute video has great information about investing and O Leary discusses the pros and cons related to investing in physical gold. The video provides useful information for novice and expert investors alike.
Social media is a popular medium of information for investment advice, but not everything you see there is genuine advice
4) Getting rich with gold investment documentary
The education channel is an online e-learning
channel that publishes useful videos on science, commerce and investing. Their 40-minute documentary, titled getting rich with gold investment , explores the history of gold, the growth of its demand as a precious metal and considering gold as part of the asset allocation for your investment portfolio. The video also talks about the percentage of your investment portfolio that needs to be invested in gold. The video packs in a lot of useful information for investors.
5) Ron Paul on gold: no one knows value; I’m buying
Dr. Ron Paul talks about why investing in gold currently is a great idea, with the increased volatility in the US dollar and inflation creeping up. Ron Paul is a physician, writer, retired politician and gold investment expert. In this video, he debunks many myths about the behaviour of the US dollar and the inflation index. He also explains why to invest in gold right now and why, like him, a lot of people are buying.
Call Physical Gold to know more about gold investments
Whilst YouTube is a great platform for investor information, everything you see and hear on social media cannot necessarily be trusted as genuine information For the most accurate and authentic information on how to invest in gold, call our investment advisory team on 020 7060 9992. You can also reach out to them by contacting them via our website. They are best placed to guide you through the ins and outs and gold investing and will give you the information you can rely on. Call now!
Gold, as an asset class has consistently been a stable investment vehicle. While there have been fluctuations in the spot prices of gold at times, these have been temporary periods. Gold has always recovered from these aberrations and emerged strong. A bird’s eye view of gold prices from 1996 to 2016 shows price drops in only 5 of those 20 years. On the other hand, we can see steep rises in spot prices during seven instances, with the precious metal remaining stable in the other years. 2002 and 2003 for example, registered significant increases of 23.96% and 21.74% respectively. 2007 saw gold prices rising by 31.59% and closing at $836.50 per troy ounce. In 2010 there was a similar response with prices rising by 30.60% to $1420.25.
Steady returns
Investment pundits say that these rises can be attributed to scared investors pulling out of global capital markets, due to turmoil and turning to gold as a safe haven. However, a closer look at gold shows us that the precious metal is not just a safe house during times of distress.
From a price of $369 in 1996, gold has steadily climbed up the ladder to a high of $1,664 in 2012. So, basically gold has risen more than four times in value in almost 20 years. Of course, when compared to direct equity or the highly speculative cryptocurrencies, gold does not shine as a shooting star. These investment vehicles can deliver spectacular returns over the short term, and that’s what makes it so attractive to investors, looking to maximise their returns in a short span of time. Now, that’s what speculation is really about. On the other hand, gold investors have a long-term vision and a timeline where they buy gold to strengthen the foundation of their portfolio, not make a quick buck.
Physical gold investments can beat the forces of inflation
Infact, looking at the price behaviour of gold, we can surmise that it isn’t really possible to speculate on gold prices and get quick returns. It’s just not that kind of investment vehicle. Professor Aswath Damodaran, professor of finance at the Stern School of Business says that the long-standing purpose of gold is to be a ‘store of value’. He opines that it is more a currency than a commodity.
When investors subscribe to that point of view, it becomes clear that gold investment is really a hedge against global economic forces, namely, inflation, market turmoil and real interest rates. While hard currencies like the USD, GBP and the Euro are all impacted adversely by these forces, gold provides a safe exit route. In that respect, gold is really more of an insurance against disaster scenarios. It is a real asset that delivers value slowly, but steadily in the long-term, while insulating investors from market crashes.
The company is publicly listed on the NYSE. So, in a nutshell, he takes decisions to invest in companies that he believes in with the objective of maximising value for his shareholders. Therefore, he would expect his investments to grow strongly in order to generate good returns within a reasonable time frame. In this itself, his investment objectives are different from that of a gold investor. He is not an individual investor, building a strong diversified portfolio that he can depend upon as a nest egg. Also, insurance against times of turmoil may not mean much to him, as the returns his investments make in a bull market would offset those losses.
Gold has delivered steady returns over the years
In summary
As an investor, gold can, therefore, be a great long-term assetthat delivers steady returns over time. Another factor about the precious metal is that there is no counterparty risk unless you’re buying paper gold or ETFs. Counterparty risk is the risk of the other party not fulfilling their contractual obligations, which is always a possibility when you’ve invested your money in an equity or debt fund, or in other investment vehicles in the capital markets. Gold is definitely a hedge against inflation, the forces of which erode the real value of your investments over time.
Call our expert investment team
At Physical Gold, our team of investment advisors have years of experience advising clients just like you. They can deliver impartial advice on the best way to build your portfolio and how to invest in gold. If you choose to invest in gold products from Physical gold, rest assured that most of our products come with a certificate of authenticity as well as a buyback guarantee. Call us now on 020 7060 9992 or email us to speak to a member of our team.
Here at Physical Gold, we have been looking at where the biggest gold mines are in the world which in turn led us to create or latest infographic ‘Where in the World is the Gold?’.
We looked at how much gold is produced in mines across the world and ranked the 10 largest producing mines worldwide. With anything, you like to know where your product was originally sourced, therefore we thought we would do the same for physical gold investors much a like yourself.
The craze for gold mining has been around for thousands of years. Archaeologists have found gold artefacts in Eastern Europe dating back to somewhere around 4700 BC. This would indicate that the practice of gold mining has been around for almost 7,000 years. Infact, gold was mined across the world. Gold mining sites have been found across Europe, North Africa, and even India. In India, gold was mined as early as the 2nd century AD and gold artefacts found in the ancient Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro civilizations, now part of modern-day Pakistan, have been traced back to the minefields in Kolar, in Southern India. The size of these operations grew during the reign of the Chola kings a few centuries later.
Roman miners used two different methods to mine gold. One was called hushing, which meant that a flood of water was released to expose the gold hidden below the silt and the soil. The other was called ground sluicing, which was essentially an open pit method. In the 19th century, there were a series of gold rushes all over the world, which led to the discovery of gold mining sites across the world.
At the mining stage, the gold is buried inside the rock, fused with other materials
How much gold is there anyway?
So far, the amount of gold that has been mined is approximately 171,300 tonnes. While that may seem large a large amount, it is important to know that gold is one of the rarest elements. In comparison to the entire volume of the Earth’s crust, the precious metal is only 0.003 parts per million of the entire crust. In fact, the scarcity of gold is one of the factors that makes it so precious.
Gold supply running out?
It is widely believed that global gold production peaked in 2015 and since 2013, the output from almost all mines has slowed considerably. Some analysts have predicted that we have another 20 years or so of gold mining left. Of course, needless to say, once that happened it would dramatically spike the spot prices of gold.
However, new explorations continue to take place, as several countries continue to fund searches for new gold. China, the world’s largest consumer of gold is one such country. China recently discovered new precious metals deposits, valued at nearly $60bn near the shared border with its neighbour, India. However, China’s mining operations in the region could create border tensions between the two countries. On the other hand, mining company Polyus, from Russia claims that their 2018 output is likely to be at the topmost range.
Call our experts to know more about gold production
In this infographic, we have covered some of the significant gold mining projects across the world. China and Australia are the largest producers in the world, followed by the US, Russia, and Canada. Our team of experts can guide you on gold investing, how to generate good returns by investing in gold and when to buy and sell. For expert advice on gold investing, call 020 7060 9992 and speak to a member of our team, or drop us an email through the ‘contact’ section of our website.
It would be a huge mistake to presume that it’s only women who love gifts made of gold. While the average male may not stroll about, resplendent in gold jewellery, there are still plenty of gold accessories that are stylish, loved by men across the world and distinctly male. Father’s Day is fast approaching, as in the United States it’s always held on the third Sunday in June, which means this year it will be on 16th June 2019.
The time is right to start making a decision on the best gift to give dad this year. For heaven’s sake, please don’t get him a paisley tie from M&S, or a bottle of the best from Oddbins. Why not make this year special by buying a gold gift for your father?
Giving gold is a tradition
The tradition of gifting gold to loved ones is common across cultures across the world and has been carried down through the generations. Indeed, gold is a valued gift appreciated by men and women alike. It is also timeless as gold continues to appreciate in value and does not tarnish or depreciate like other gift items. However, buying a gift for your dad will require some thought and you need to evaluate gifting options available to you in order to purchase a gift according to his taste, personality and style. To buy a gift of value, one needs to be generous, understand the person’s preferences and consider making an emotional connection when purchasing the gift.
In our view, when you buy gold for your dad, it symbolises appreciation of a parent who has helped you become who you are. It’s a gift that will appreciate over the years and makes a much better gift than consumer goods available in the market. Of course, it would be a unique gift for your dad that he would least expect and on that count, it would be a great surprise. So, gold wins hands down over other gift items that you may be considering this year.
A set of gold coins could make an excellent Father’s Day gift
Buying gold for Father’s Day
This year, 16th June is Father’s Day, when sons and daughters all over will take their dads out to lunch and celebrate the day in style. Most restaurants have deals that will offer dads a free lunch. A great idea to buy your beloved dad a gift for that day is to select something in gold. Buy a gift, which is literally worth its weight in gold! The options are many, from gold sovereign coins to 100g gold bars . It will be a gift he will cherish over the years to come and would appreciate in value as the years go by, in the same way, that your relationship with your dad will through the passage of time.
UK tax-efficient investments
We know you don’t often talk about tax-efficiency and Father’s Day presents together, but it certainly makes sense too where gold investments are concerned! Investments in gold bars and UK gold coins are usually free of both VAT and Capital Gains Tax (CGT). This can get quite technical, so it’s worth calling us to discuss. Essentially, by investing in tax-free gold products, you will get “more gold for your money” and be able to give Dad an ever better present on Father’s Day! Visit our buying tax free gold page for further information.
If your dad is a numismatist, we have some great accessories that he would want to have in addition to the coins. Whether you want to make a small or large investment for your dad, call us today on 020 7060 9992 or contact us online to speak to a member of the team. Remember, Father’s Day isn’t far away. Make it one to remember for your old man by giving a smashing gift – in gold.
Live Gold Spot Price in Sterling.
Gold is one of the densest of all metals. It is a good conductor of heat and electricity. It is also soft and the most malleable and ductile of the elements; an ounce (31.1 grams; gold is weighed in troy ounces) can be beaten out to 187 square feet (about 17 square metres) in extremely thin sheets called gold leaf.
Silver Information
Live Silver Spot Price in Sterling.
Silver (Ag), chemical element, a white lustrous metal valued for its decorative beauty and electrical conductivity. Silver is located in Group 11 (Ib) and Period 5 of the periodic table, between copper (Period 4) and gold (Period 6), and its physical and chemical properties are intermediate between those two metals.
Mick Baker, 
all over will take their dads out to lunch and celebrate the day in style. Most restaurants have deals that will offer dads a free lunch. A great idea to buy your beloved dad a gift for that day is to select something in gold. Buy a gift, which is literally worth its weight in gold! The options are many, from gold sovereign coins to 100g gold bars . It will be a gift he will cherish over the years to come and would appreciate in value as the years go by, in the same way, that your relationship with your dad will through the passage of time.