I have been hearing alot about investing in Gold recently and have been reading the posts here to help me understand where to start from. I do realise now that paper money is not realiable in the long run and need to invest my spare savings into Gold and Sliver.

I have £150k in spare cash that I do not need to use to buy anything with as I have a place to live and a car to drive.

I really need help to from you guys as to the following:

1. How much of Gold and silver coins do I need to buy. Can I go ahead and buy 150K worth of Gold and sliver. Is this how I will preserve the value of alll of my savings? or should do I buy in some 30% of savings in Gold/Sliver? What is the best precentage do I need to invest?

2. I do not understand how only 5% of Gold investment as I have been reading here acts as insurance for the rest of my paper money saving??

3. Is it too late to invest in Gold now and have I missed the boat altoghether as the value of Gold has peaked??

4. Which coins do I need to buy. Reading here some suggest krungers* or Nuggets*. Should I just go for Soverigen*?

5. Which source is the best source to buy my Gold from?? I really need one place that is realiable and good value for money?

6. Can you suggest other websites or forums that explaing the whole business of investing in Gold and Silver?

I do apologies for asking too many questions but I do not have anyone else that can explain to me this.

Thanks alot

I don't either: personally I have about 10%, and if I was really concerned about inflation I'd probably go for more like 20-30%.

However, I'm not convinced that gold is undervalued anymore. It obviously was when I started buying it years ago at $250-ish, but that's not so clear right now.

You might want to look at one of the online gold sites like goldmoney.com: I haven't used them and can't vouch for them, but it will be easier to deposit money there than buy thousands and thousands of pounds of gold coins.

I'd still get some physical gold though: if nothing else, it's nice to have around as an 'insurance policy' for desperate situations.

Not being funny but if you've got 150K just kicking around maybe you should consider spending a fraction of it on a decent IFA.

Never put all your eggs in one basket, if you've 150K to invest you ought to spread it about with a maximum of 20% exposure in any one market (all IMHO of course)
I think theChuz has it right, you need a decent IFA

Thanks for all your replies and much need advice.

What is an IFA by the way??? some info guys or website link? Thanks again

What does IMHO means?

I guess you didn't get £150k for your knowledge of acronyms!

Independent Financial Advisor
In My Humble Opinion

IFA = Independent Financial Advisor
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

IFAs tend to just sell you products that earn them commission in a way that is supposed to diversify you, but tends to leave you with a rag bag of investments that rise and fall together. If you want one, best to get an IFA locally through recommendation (of someone who is rich, and didn't get that way purely through their property).

But better yet read "Conquer the Crash" by Robert Prechter and take some personal responsibility for your future.

I would agree with the comments about IFAs.......I have come across many and most (but not all) were crap and just tried to sell me a product not in my best financial interest.

As for Gold........go for it!

I have got about 10% of my total wealth in Gold bullion coins, and also a small fraction in Silver bullion coins too.

Buying Gold coins in Hong Kong (where I live) is very easy.......you just pop into any Hang Seng Bank branch and buy what you want, (US Eagles, Australian Nuggets etc), and pay the spot price (pus a little bit for the bank's profit).

I know of a company in Dublin who also trades in Gold bullion, I think you could easily find them through Google or Yahoo.

It looks like Gold prices will continue to rise in the long term and I am confortable with 10% in Gold coins.

Cheers.

Shall I go for a 3 bars each at approx 8k or just by coins. Is there any difference between the two? With coins have to keep paying pp costs, storing, etc?

Is GOLDline.com charging fair prices or is there another Aladin's Cave that I might have missed somewhere?

I am thinking of going to GOLDline offices in stratford and pay cash and collect myself.

Thanks.

The trouble with the bars is when you sell you have to sell the whole bar whereas the coins can be sold just one at a time if necessary.

I got my coins from Goldline in Statford and just walked in with the cash. They also do a good postal service.

How long does goldline take to post the gold when the payment clears?

They post the gold by parcel post ten business days after they recieve the cheque.

[quote=theChuz,Sep 2 2005, 04:58 PM]
Not being funny but if you've got 150K just kicking around maybe you should consider spending a fraction of it on a decent IFA.

[/quote

I was just about to suggest the same thing!

thanks sine



i am no economist. But it took 4-5 years from point No. 1 on the graph for gold to catch up with oil - we are in for a little more waiting if history is to repeat itself.

i dont see panic on the streets - so i cant see gold rising enormously just yet.

Forget silver ... it's too common and storing thousands of rounds is a pain.

As for gold, I'd suggest no more than 50 ounces. In a major currency collapse, 50 ounces would instantly make you one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.

Where abouts in straford are they sine ? Had a quick look on their site and could only find a couple of London addresses and a Glasgow address..

Baird & Co.
137 High St.,
London E15 2RB.
Tel: 0208 555 5217
Fax: 0208 534 3583

That is their Stratford address

whats the best way to sell gold ?

how much would a pawn broker give you?

Probably the best way is to sell it back to a bullion dealer. Phone round a few bullion merchants to check prices beforehand of course.
I wouldn't expect a good deal from a pawnbroker.

That's funny......50 Oz was exactly the amount I am looking to guy!

So far I've got 24 Oz in Gold bullion coins, so still some saving to be done until I reach target!

50 oz is about 11,700 Quid in 'todays' money, I wonder what it will be worth in say 3-5 years time?

Cheers.

Value and price are two different things.

If inflation becomes rampant, the price of gold goes up by hundreds of times. But that is because currency devalues quickly.

The increase of value would be less. Consider that since 1970 one ounce of gold has bought on average about 17 barrels of oil, with standard deviation of about +/-7 barrels, a maximum of 45 barrels in 1973 (a very short lived spike, quickly corrected by a sudden increase in oil prices in January 1974) and a minimum of about 6 barrels today.

Gold is today selling at the unbelievable bargain basement discount of 60% compared to oil. Buy, buy, buy. In the not so distant future you will wish you had bought more.

I'm off to buy some coins tomorrow, probably half a dozen Krugerrands from ATS, and maybe a Britannia if Bairds have any in stock.

Seems like as good a time as any to start my collection

Its a plain old building no indication of whats inside, its opposite a porsche dealer on the side going towards london, park on the kerb and look for a big strong gate, best to call before.

Or try Goldmoney if you don't want the hassle of buying/selling/storing physical gold. This way you can buy and sell very quickly like equities. An account takes about 3 days to set up.

Thank you cgnao for this advice

Personally I can't imagine travelling from Stratford to Woolwich carrying gold around. OMG imagine walking through the Woolwich foot tunnel.

I think that central banks have done an excellent job of hiding inflation over the last few years. Oil has slowly been creeping around the Greenspan "Curtain of Deceit" and gold will follow once more people see what's behind the curtain.