The Gold price is due to China and oil, money has fled equities to safe haven's of the dollar and gold, however while part of the depression of the pound is due to the fluctuation in the stock market, this was experienced by everyone else too, recent movements in GBP are specifically due to bets about the future of the UK.
The thought had crossed my mind and I think I posted something when Dave suggested gold, I would if I had the money but of course the time to buy was at £740
Physical gold has the plus point that it stands a reasonable chance of being a puddle of bullion in a steel box if the house burns down, on the down side there could be some very rich firemen in that event It also has the plus point of being concentrated money, of possibly quite variable value of course. On the down side if you actually have it at home it takes time to sell it you can lose a fortune in a sudden gold market price crash, you can't eat it when you're skint and burglars can steal it Personally I would like to own a little bit of real gold as I have never owned any, not even gold fillings
There are a few problems with physical delivery of gold in small quantities. 1. There is a large spread trading it (that will lose you money). 2. You have to store it. 3, You have to worry about its authenticity. 4. It is not a very liquid market (few buyers and sellers). A gold backed security avoids all the above problems. a) If your house burns down, your investment is still safe. It is electronically recorded. b) You are able to buy and sell electronically in a liquid market and the spreads are smaller. c) The security will be guaranteed against a certain quantity of physical gold held in a vault. You don't have to worry about storage. d) The minimum trade denomination is smaller. You are not limited to buying a whole gold bar. If you just want to own gold... Buy a ring.
A ring that works in Thai or China but not in the UK lol coins work I prefer 1oz bars all sealed and with a serial number that can be sol;d where bought for 98% of the spot price securities are little better than a belief system
I wasn't suggesting buying a ring for an investment. My point is that physical delivery small quantity gold that you describe is a poor investment which of course you are free to make. )
1. Yeah I know about the spread (that makes it a long hold). 2. It has the advantage of being very compact 3. Displacement gives you it's volume take that and the weight and you have it's density nothing else has the same physical properties, we are talking 24 caret 99.x percent pure here, and even at lower purity the numbers are still easily calculated 4. True, I did say it would take time to sell it And you are right about a to d as well, but in the custody of someone else as a security it can be confiscated in exceptional economic circumstances, like a national emergency of some kind
10oz bars are pretty big. I was originally looking at buying troy oz coins as they are the easiest to shift but they are normally priced well above spot market value if buying in small numbers. The best deal I saw when I looked into it for buying 1-3 coins was on average £70 each above spot market. Buying small amounts of small size coins / bars isn't worth it IMO. I was told once its good to aim for approx 10% of your investments to held in physical gold as it will be the most fluid.