Gold Bullion – an Honest Way to Make Money

By: pintoo

Of all the different ways that we choose to buy gold, gold bullion is probably the best of the lot. You can also buy gold online either in the form of gold coins or gold bars or even purchase your share from a pool of people purchasing gold. Buying from the Mint or dealers is an easy option, provided you know the people who are genuine. Purchasing gold has its pros and cons as you can see.

Why Gold bullion
Purchasing gold coins and bars does attract a premium and this generally depends on the amount you want to purchase. The smaller the quantity the higher the premium per troy ounce is the tip for all who wish to make their purchases. Of course, the premium is one criterion that remains stable in most cases.

Gold bullion in general terms is an honest way to make money, perhaps the best form of money known to man. Because gold is rare and durable, it does not wear out at the same rate as other metals do. Thus buying and selling of gold is truly a profitable venture. Gold bullion is available through various means.

Taking a 10-ounce gold bullion bar of.995 fine purity as the standard, gold bars can be used for trading and storage, as well as for personal usage. With each gold bar hallmarked by leading refiners, manufacturers can easily use this as bullion after imprinting their own significant hallmark or stamp.

Benefits
Similar to stocks, gold bullion can be en-cashed at the prevailing market rates. Besides this, gold bullion bars are tangible assets, and have been the ideal investment in terms of value, security against inflation and in times of political uncertainty. They are superlative liquid investments with respect to financial security. Gold is easy to store and transport and is a good way to preserve one’s private wealth. As an investor, you need to be well versed with the bullion market trends so that you can get the added advantage of the best pricing. Experts observe that you should consider gold or gold-related investments as portfolio diversifiers for a rainy day. Placing hard-earned money in a fund that invests in gold directly allows you to be away from fluctuations in gold prices. You have a right to choose from several gold options for trading as regards monetary transactions and yet maximize profits.

So why gold bullion? That’s because cheap money and inflation makes gold bullion an attractive asset. Gold futures give you the leverage to the gold price, super-charging you with gains if you can call the short-term direction accurately. Think about it, your thought may be worth its weight in gold after all!

You can buy gold bullion coins at Capita Gold Group. Pintoo Albert is a writer for finance industry and writes articles for blogs, and magazines.

About the Author

pintoo

pintoo.albert@gmail.com

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Swine Flu and Gold Fever – a Double Outbreak?

By: Justice Litle

After a period of dormancy, could it be gold’s time to shine once again? The market is flashing some fairly clear signs, as Justice explores…

Last week we talked about China’s stealth abandonment of the dollar, and the quiet strategic moves being employed against the United States. We also mentioned “Go,” an ancient game played on a 19×19 board with black and white stones.

In that regard, Taipan Daily reader LBT writes,

Dear Justice:

Superb, as I generally say when writing to you.

I have a question for you: have you ever played “go,” as we call it, or seen it played?

On the surface Go/Wei Chi is a child’s game that can be explained in a couple of minutes. Once you understand how to construct a formation with two eyes that cannot be captured you know enough to dive right in and play.

Beginners almost always scrunch themselves up in a corner and waste enormous points (which are given for territory – empty points – which the other player does not wish to contest OR for men actually captured, usually a far lesser number.) Those of us who’ve been around the board a time or two get aggressive with our outposts on the other side of the board early and fight such small battles as look profitable to us…

Beginners sit there delicately filling in valuable real estate in their attempts to ensure safety, while good players know to spread around counters so that they can guide a small battle for territory over to an area they have staked out in advance.

The real point here is that this can be a very subtle game and the most important thing to look for is patterns. I’m a pretty good player, and I relax my eyes deliberately from time to time and let the board go out of focus. In a sense it is the “forest vs. the trees” thing (usually useless) where what you have to see is that there is an ornamental garden if you have the wit to see it. You cannot concentrate all of the time on individual points or you miss big opportunities.

I suspect that the Chinese are way, way ahead of us in thinking out all of the possibilities and ramifications, and that they will not attack the dollar “for real” until they expect to come out well ahead.

LBT

To answer your question LBT, I have seen the game played but not explored it personally (yet). So many riches in life yet to sample…

You make a great point, too, about the value of relaxing one’s eyes and not getting caught up in the small things. More to say on that, particularly as it relates to trading, in a future Taipan Daily.

China Ups the Ante

In regards to the “great game” that revolves around global currency markets, China unveiled a surprise not-so-subtle move on Friday.

Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, revealed to the world that China holds 76% more gold reserves than previously disclosed. As it turns out, China is sitting on closer to 1,054 tons than 600 tons. This is still a drop in the bucket compared to some $2 trillion worth of total reserves, but the needle is ticking in the right direction.

As I wrote to Safe Haven Investor readers on Friday, “the timing of the disclosure is curious,” further adding the following:

Does China want a higher gold price? In the short run, that’s hard to say. Sometimes a big buyer prefers a temporary lower price, which enables them to get better value on their additional buys.

Clearly, though, this move was intended to boost gold (which it succeeded in doing) and spook the dollar a bit more.

It may be that China was worried about all the loose talk of IMF sales having too much of a negative effect on the yellow metal, and so they wanted to say “Hey, guess what. There’s plenty more buying power in the wings here. Don’t forget that…”

In some ways, “surprise” developments like these aren’t all that surprising. We can’t know the timing in advance of when a secretive government agency will make an announcement, of course. But we can (and do) recognize that the US dollar has a terminal long-term prognosis.

Whatever China’s hidden intentions in talking up their buys, prospects for a fresh outbreak of “gold fever” look strong here.

As stocks went on a tear in recent weeks, with the junkiest, lowest quality names leading the pack (particularly in the battered and beleaguered financial sector), gold did not break down, instead holding ground at 200-day moving average support.

Also note that GLD – which is big enough now to perhaps be an even more important barometer than gold futures contracts – managed to recently retake the levels above its 50-day EMA, and that all three key moving average levels (the 200, the 100 and the 50) have banded together as support here.

India Lends a Hand

We can further note that key negative factors for gold are easing a bit.

A few weeks ago, in a piece title “What’s Driving Gold and Gold Stocks (Part One),” we said the following in these pages:

India, the “world’s largest gold buyer by a wide margin,” has even stopped importing “for the first time in 10 years,” the Financial Times reports. In February and March India saw zero gold imports, while January imports came in light. Vietnam and Thailand, normally reliable buyers of gold, have also been selling. Stepped-up scrap sales have even put Asia scrap sales at a discount to the standard London quote.

As the seasons change – and festival season picks up – India is returning to its old habits. After virtually “zero” gold imports in February and March, provisional statistics from the Bombay Bullion Association suggest India has imported as much as 30 tons of gold and 60 tons of silver for the month of April thus far.

Spec Rally Running on Fumes?

Another factor weighing in gold’s favor is the real possibility that this speculative rally in “junk” stocks is running on fumes – and that the whole thing could end in tears.

While it’s good to see a number of quality names lifted higher by positive market sentiment, it’s distressing to see so many turkeys flying high too – a sign that the windstorm probably won’t last. What’s more, we are now seeing a rapid unloading of insider shares according to Bloomberg:

Executives and insiders at U.S. companies are taking advantage of the steepest stock market gains since 1938 to unload shares at the fastest pace since the start of the bear market…

While the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 28 percent from a 12-year low on March 9, CEOs, directors and senior officers at U.S. companies sold $353 million of equities this month, or 8.3 times more than they bought, data compiled by Washington Service, a Bethesda, Maryland-based research firm, show.

Not exactly a shining vote of confidence, that. To the degree that this rally has been fueled by a combination of short squeeze, bogus bank earnings and balance sheet hocus-pocus, the risk of a big downside whoosh is heightened – which further improves the outlook for gold.

And Last but Not Least, Swine Flu

And then, of course, we have the global outbreak of swine flu. If you’ve been scanning the headlines, this is pretty scary stuff.

Here is a list of countries either dealing with confirmed cases of swine flu, testing potential cases, or setting up active quarantine measures thus far: Australia, New Zealand, Israel, France, Spain, the United States (at least 11 confirmed cases), Canada (six cases), of course Mexico (the epicenter), Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Russia. I’ve probably missed a few.

“It’s a bit movie-like, it doesn’t feel real,” an unnamed New Zealand student said, in reference to the quarantine process after getting sick in Mexico.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t get even more “movie-like.” Outbreak and Twelve Monkeys come to mind…

Putting Hollywood aside, it’s too early to panic – but it isn’t too early to start thinking about consequences. We are already getting word that this new swine flu is a sort of hybrid not really seen before. And we know an event like this is potentially far more serious in economic terms than, say, an isolated terrorist attack, because of the degree of global “shutdown” that can occur.

Taking a grimly opportunistic view of things, the threat of escalation on the swine flu front bolsters the gold case in two areas. First as a form of “crisis insurance” – a place to hide when things start looking ugly again – and a second as a doubly renewed form of “printing press insurance,” given the fact that global slowdown brought about by swine flu might give the powers that be even more excuse to pump trillions of paper dollars into the system.

Got gold?

About the Author

Justice Litle is Editorial Director for Taipan Publishing Group. He is also a regular contributor to Taipan Daily, a free investing and trading e-letter, and Editor of Taipan’s Safe Haven Investor and newly introduced service Macro Trader.
Justice has worked with hedge funds, traded equities for a private partnership, written multiple articles for Futures Magazine, been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, sought for market commentary by the likes of Reuters and Dow Jones, made contributions to the book, Trend Following: How Traders Make Millions in Up or Down Markets, and also filled the lead editor of Outstanding Investments, a popular natural resource newsletter.

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Michael Phelps Olympic Medals – the Real Value of His Eight Gold Medals

By: Christina Goldman

Michael Phelps has accomplished a seemingly impossible feat, winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympic games. That is the most gold medals ever won by an athlete in a single Olympic games!

As a gold investor like myself, you’ve probably wondered what the value of Michael Phelps Olympic medals are.

Let’s see if we can figure it out.

First, let’s determine what the gold portion of the medal would be worth.

According to the Olympic Charter, the silver and gold medals must contain 92.5 percent pure silver. The gold medal must be coated with at least six grams of gold.

* In the futures market, a tradable unit of gold is one hundred troy ounces.

* One troy ounce is equal to 31.1 grams.

For illustrative purposes, let’s assume there is six grams of gold in each gold medal.

Friday’s closing gold futures (for December delivery) price was $792.00.

To figure out the price of one gram, we would divide the gold price of $792.00 per troy ounce by 31.1. Then we would multiply that figure by six, to arrive at the price for six grams.

So using the current price of gold per ounce, the value of the gold contained in an Olympic medal would be worth around $153.00.

Now let’s figure out how much the silver portion of the medal would be worth.

We’ll also use Friday’s closing silver futures price.

At $12.82 a troy ounce, the silver portion (41 cents times 92.5 grams) of the Olympic medal would be worth $38.13.

That all adds up to an estimated value of about $191.00. The price of silver and gold varies on a daily basis, of course. So the value of the medal itself will depend upon how the metals markets are performing at the time of the calculation.

Let’s not forget that this year’s Olympic medals also include an inlaid ring of Jade. The inclusion of that precious gem will also impact the value.

The true value of an Olympic gold medal is more than just the composition of the raw materials, however.

Think about just what Michael Phelps has accomplished:

* He became the the first athlete to win 8 gold medals in an Olympic Games

* He swam 17 times in 9 days.

* He swam against 239 opponents in individual events, alone!

* He smashed 7 world records!

* He set 4 world records in individual events.

* He swam most of the 200 meter butterfly race unable to see, when his goggles filled with water. Despite this, he broke the world record!

* In the 100 meter fly, he won the race by a mere 1/100th of a second!

When you factor in all of the above, a conservative estimate for the value of those Michael Phelps Olympic gold medals are:

Priceless.

About the Author

Relive the memorable the Beijing Olympics for years to come with gorgeous, affordable gold and silver Beijing Olympic Coin sets. You’ll find these Olympic coins and other affordable Asian gold coins at: =>
http://BullionBargains.us

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Gold investments demystified

By: rupeetalk

One of the most profitable investments during these tough economic conditions across the world has been gold. There has been a sharp rise in the price of gold over the last one year, which has led to increasing investor interest in the yellow metal. Today, one of the most popular routes to invest in this precious metal has been the exchange traded fund (ETF). Using ETFs enables investors to get an exposure to gold in their portfolio. While looking at this route there are also some other details that have to be considered for the purpose of ensuring that all angles related to the investment are covered.

Gold ETF

There are several gold ETFs that have been launched by mutual funds in the country. These are mutual fund schemes that are listed on the stock exchanges and an investor can buy and sell the units in the scheme just like he/she trades a stock. The transactions in an ETF can be done at any time during the day when the stock exchange is open for business, and hence it provides an element of flexibility for the investor. The best part of the investment is that the investor does not have to wait till the end of the day for the value to be known and he/she can make use of the price change that takes place during the day to benefit from the changing situation.

Linked to Gold

The main theme of the entire investment is that the price of the ETF is linked to the price of gold. This means that when an investor is buying an ETF, he/she has a direct exposure to the price of gold. Whenever the investor feels that the price of gold is going to rise and he/she would like to benefit from the move then he/she can buy the gold ETF and then gain from the rise when it occurs. The other point is also that transacting in this route is cheap because the cost for the investor is just the brokerage fee that he/she will pay for the transaction. In addition, there is the management expense of the fund, but this is low and is directly adjusted in the net asset value, so the investor does not have to pay this separately.

Limitation

The benefit that is witnessed in the form of gold ETF also represents a sort of limitation for the investor. This is because the instrument is appropriate in order to gain from the rise in the value but at the same time this cannot help an investor profit in case there is going to be a fall in the value of gold.

There are times when the investor might also have a view that the price of gold may fall and in several cases he/she might be correct in such an assessment too. In such a situation, the investor would like to ensure that he/she gains from the knowledge of this expected price movement. If investors want to ensure that they make use of only the gold ETF then there is nothing that they can do in terms of gaining from such a view because in case of a price fall the gold ETF will also come down. Investors cannot sell such units without having them in their portfolios. This is different from the use of gold futures where these can be sold to gain from a fall in price.

However, investors can try and ensure that they do not end up losing when the price of gold actually falls. This can be done by selling off the existing gold ETF holding before the expected price reduction. In case the price actually falls as per the expectation then the investors can buy the units again and gain when the price rises in the future. However, it is not necessary that the prices have to rise after a certain fall and it can be quite some time before there is actually another rise in the price of the metal. In such a situation, this route is inadequate for the investor who would have no option but to turn to the futures market.

At the same time, even though there are liquidity features in the gold ETF, investors have to understand that there has to be significant price movements to justify regular trading in such units. In that sense, for a normal small investor the gold ETF is a medium- to long-term investment.

About the Author

Rupeetalk is the one stop solution for all personal finance products. We provide detailed analysis on all personal finance products in India.
For any information on personal finance product , visit
http://www.rupeetalk.com

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