only idiots buy gold ETF for their longterm holding. i'm not joking. You'd better get some physicals and hide it somewhere. Pay cash. Get off margin. There will be more regulation coming. They've already clamped down on DBA, DBC, DBO, USO, UNG. There's a bunch of other issues too with GLD and SLV ETF. Duplicate serials, noone knows exactly the condition of the physicals. These are being sold by the same group of people who sold the mortgage crap. Check who's the custodian. Forget about these commodity ETFs, imho.
Just buy the GC. If you want to buy bullion, they charge 5%+ plus bis/ask markup. If you want to buy GLD or SLV, you have the bad tax rate compared to the futures. I own SI and paid $4.15 per contract to own $80,000 worth. Do the math, just don't leverage up. Bullion brokers will screw u. Why do u think ever other commercial on CNBC/FOX is a bullion broker yelling at you to own gold/silver (i/b all those extend commercials;-))? They make tons! And they are not regulated. It's the boiler room of metals. Do u really want to store it at home or pay the fee's to store it? If you think the world will come down to dragging around bullion bars to buy food, then we ALL have more to worry about. i.e. all HELL breaking loose.
unsure. Google on "ebay gold ripoff" and learn how ripoffs occur. One of the early examples, were ebay sellers of gold/silver coins, misrepresenting the quality of the coin (like calling it proof instead of a lower grade). Other things including very high commissions on gold bullion/coins
Do you know any? I do not. The only ones who get ripped off on ebay are morons who buy what they think are amazing deals from overseas. Any serious seller is too concerned about his rating to rip you off, as well as Paypal account. Also, Paypal has buyer & seller protection. Ebay is the largest marketplace for physical bullion & coins. It's called looking at the photos and using your brain. You obviously have little experience with Ebay or bullion or coins, so I suggest you stop talking about what you do not know. If you buy a coin graded by some unknown grader, you're an idiot. Any credible grader has a tracking number which you can check versus their databases. If you buy a coin expecting it to be mint just because the seller said so, you're an idiot. This goes for any product As for high commissions, what are you talking about? Do you even know how Ebay fees are structured?
Unfortunately for your wild guesses, I have a lot of experience on ebay. And you make a lot of assumptions that is contrary to a lot of people's own experiences with previous metals and ebay.
Leveraged etf option is UGL. tracks very well as compared to other levered etf's. unlevered etf, i prefer IAU from i-shares. Very low fee's and doesn't use futures, like GLD does (on occasion). Just wanted to comment on holding the physical gold vs the ETF. Obviously, owning the physical gold is the cheapest but without insurance ect. you have the risk of theft and also liquidity issues. ETF's are obviously extremely liquid. hope this helps.
Well if you are such an experienced user, why don't you mention some real cases of Ebay rip-offs in bullion & coins, rather than punching up old stories via a google search? Oh yeah, cause you really just do not know.
Physical is actually the most expensive in more ways than one versus the ETF. It's question of real versus paper gold. There is a premium on physical for a reason.
Buy the exchange traded commodity and have enough $$ in the account so that you are not sold out. Roll it over as it expires. Be careful of out months, particularly far out months with tiny open interest and volume -- they can gyrate. The further out you go the more cash you need in the account to be POSITIVE you are not sold out at midnight. If, as and when you see real signs of social disintegration buy the physical (coins or small ingots of 5 or 10 oz.) for cash some miles from home (forget ETF's or storage deals). Make sure you are not followed on the drive back and stop at Home Depot and buy a shovel. Pick a few good (VERY GOOD) places to dig and split your hoard into thirds or quarters and spread it among three or four holes. Tell no one. Close out your futures position and go about your life. I would be very surprised if you ever need the physical or the shovel.
I hate to post....but yes, as a buyer of bullion on ebay, you can get ripped off easily...while as a seller, you can control who you sell to, to some degree, and set the terms. I bought from a fellow who had hundreds+ of transactions and a 98-99% positive feedback rating. This was late 2004-maybe 2005. After paying, the seller declared bankruptcy for his"online biz"--with no intention of fullfilling the auctions, as the bankruptcy, should take hold between the listing , payment, and ship times. It was only 3 ozs., but my final straw with ebay. They did nothing & it would have to be worked out in bankruptcy. This isn't my first experience along these lines...but certainly my last. I've been a savvy trader of the markets and metals for over a decade, so I've done everything as best possible to insure that I have a competent counterparty. Buy from a proper mainstream bullion house, not ebay.