If the US experiences hyperinflation in the future, the price of gold will skyrocket (I don't want to argue this). Would it be best to invest in a gold ETF (like GLD) or buy physical gold (bullion, bar, etc)? The only difference I see is that with ETFs, you are liable to paying capital gains taxes and it might be easier to liquidate.
what do you mean by larger spread on physical? like when it comes time to sell it, i can sell it as premium? where as with the ETF, i sell it at market price?
When you buy physical you go somewhere they will sell it to you. usually they make a spread on both the buying and the selling. On coins it can be a large spread, unless you are buyin a lot. We are talking dollars on the ounce, not pennies like with ETFs. Look at Kitco for 1 oz Maple Olympic Coin; (looks like there is nothing else available, lol) Friday spot 782.90$ You can buy at 838.56 You can sell at 780.40$ https://online.kitco.com/selling/index.html Obviously the prices are not under normal cuz everyone wants to buy and they want to buy high and sell higher. For a good intro to physical I recomend The ABC's of Gold Investing, see amazon.
Why dont you ask the forum members at goldismoney.info your question. Ask the bullion stacking/ doomers/ peakoilers/ survivalists there what will happen if the US experiences hyperinflation. Ask them how the people who bought gold etfs will fare when there is massive full scale SHTF resultant from hyperinflation.