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Gold has always been a great commodity to invest in, so long as it is done properly. While there are ways to invest less, and therefore suffer less risk (such as futures trading on paper gold), these methods often don’t give the returns expected by their investors, and sometimes can be shady at best. No, the best way to go about it is to get yourself something tangible, something you can hold and keep and know its value just by looking at it. But, for investment purposes, not just any gold will do (you won’t see much of a return on cheap jewellery), you need something pure; you need to get yourself some bullion.
What is gold bullion?
Bullion can come in the form of ingot bars or coins. The characterising feature of every piece is determined by its precious metal content. For instance, when concerning the ingots, the precious metal content needs to be at a ratio of 99.5% for it to be considered bullion. With regards to coins, this number is a little lower, sitting at around 90%. Buying gold bullion bars needs to be done with care to make sure that the dealer is giving you what they say they are, and so even if you are working with a reputable dealer, you should test the content of the so-called bullion thoroughly before buying.
When should you be buying?
Common sense would normally tell you that the best time to buy would be when the gold price is low, as it would be with an investment into any other commodity; but this isn’t necessarily the case. The first question you should ask yourself is ‘when do I need it?’ Timing is not exactly an issue with gold since its price only fluctuates moderately. As opposed to a simple investment, the real goal here is to diversify your wealth so that you are not badly affected by any financial turmoil that may come round in the economy. You are merely diversifying your investment, so how you distribute your investments is more important than when you make them. Take a look at the Gold Buyers in Melbourne website for more information in this regard.
Gold as insurance
The thing about gold is that it is a primary asset that is not someone else’s liability, such as is the case with bonds and other means of capital investments. Having gold in storage means that when the chips are down, or you need a fast injection of cash, your hoard can be sold off as a commodity that always retains some level of value, unaffected by the larger scheme of the financial market and economy. For this reason, gold bullion is considered a great investment for insurance purposes, since there will always be someone who is happy to take it off of your hands.
Hopefully this has given you a better understanding of how and why one should invest in bullion. Remember that bullion is (in any form) a safer and more valuable investment than jewellery, futures and paper-gold which are largely dependent on the current state of the global economy for their value. Investing in bullion today is a great way to retain some sense of security, and the more you can (affordably) invest in, the better.