Trading Precious Metals from Home

Retired investors interested in fixed asset investments will love the rewarding experience of trading precious metals from home. Investors seeking the opportunity to buy gold bullion or buy silver bullion will find that the online trading environment is optimum for purchasing precious metals.

The Investment Potential in Precious Metals Assets

Traditional rationale for investing in gold or silver has always been that precious metals provide a safe haven. The most traded fixed asset, precious metals have been important to both domestic and foreign investment in the past several years. When markets are volatile due to the economy or government policy decision, safe haven assets buffer a portfolio from exposure and fluctuations in currency value.

Diversification in precious metals investments can now be found in the online trading environment. Competition has promoted the establishment of a number of reputable, online exchanges trading both safe haven fixed assets, securities, and secondary market contracts Investors buy and sell precious metals via digital exchange. Physical gold and certificates are vital financial instruments that retain value long-term. Gold prices dictate the precious metals trade. Calculation of silver price to gold has much to do with global demand for physical silver bullion. 

Buying and Selling Gold and Silver Bullion

The demand for physical silver internationally has also advanced recently in response to its use in manufacturing. The lower price than gold has also made silver a favorite safe haven investment in emerging markets, where at least part of investor liquidity is invested in precious metals. Although precious metals prices are expected in drop in the near term, continued demand in China and India in 2014, makes silver a viable investment choice. It is a great time to buy safe haven investments, and it can be done online.

Storage is a consideration when investing in physical gold. When trading precious metals online, research criteria to purchase of gold or silver bullion or coins. Reputable online traders will be expert numismatists, and licensed dealers of precious metals bullion and other physical assets such as coins. The best part about physical precious metals is that they are not subject to capital gains tax by the Internal Revenue Service. This presents a good reason to transfer other more risky investments to precious metals assets. 

The Primary and Secondary Precious Metals Markets

Securitized exchange traded funds (ETFs) and exchange traded commodities (ETC) offer investors another version of precious metals asset. Widely traded across global exchanges online, ETF and ETC valuation is only partly affected by the price of physical gold. More responsive to upward swings in market activity, secondary market funds are set to outperform physical precious metals in the near future. This offers investors an opportunity to transfer safe haven assets to higher earning ETFs and ETCs. Shares and investment funds established by mining corporations are another form of precious metals asset. 

Trading Precious Metals Assets Online

A licensed financial advisor specializing in precious metals trading can provide more information about gold and silver investment. Gold and silver have traditionally been long-term return assets, yet the expansion of the ETF and ETC market, as well as the securitization of mining has created new investment opportunities in precious metals. Online trading platforms offer a range of asset listings, volume of assets available for trade, and tools for analysis of markets, price changes and up-to-the-minute tips for making the right precious metals investment decision.

Retired investors can substantially improve their retirement investment portfolio with precious metals assets. Digital trading environments offering retired investors real time reporting of global precious metals markets, research, tools and trade exchange are one of the fastest growing segments in the financial sector. If you are an investor looking to buy gold bullion or buy silver bullion, you can now buy gold online and buy silver online. Invest in precious metals safe haven physical assets, or secondary market exchange to add stability and growth to your retirement income.

Why Business Is Booming In The Gold Industry

You are probably wondering how any industry is going to do well with the current economic hardship that we, the United Kingdom, and many other countries all other the world are facing at the moment.However, there is one industry that is booming in this time of economic crisis, and that is the gold industry, especially many metal commodity specialists that are providing their customers with tax free gold, such as Physical Gold.

What is tax free gold?

The clue is in the name, you do not pay tax when investing in this type of gold.
There are also a large amount of benefits that come attached with investing in tax free gold, for example, these gold coins are low gold price with a high buyback price. The small coins also allow for easy, cheap and secure storage. This is a main concern of many gold investors, as there are storage options available but they do some at a price.

Uncertain times

In this climate, no one knows what is coming around the corner. This is where gold comes in as a sensible option for many who are looking to keep their money safe and secure. This is why gold is often referred to as an insurance policy in terms of money as well as protection for your wealth.

This uncertainty refers to governmental uncertainty, financial uncertainty and foreign issues / war uncertainty. When your money is invested in tax free gold, it is essentially locked and therefore no one a part from you can touch it.

Future proof

Gold is seen as a future proof investment. This is because the demand for gold is always going to be there. Gold is so widely used within many industries at this current time, including technology, space exploration, medicine and dentistry.

With growing technological and medical advances, the need and demand for gold will only go up and will not diminish.

This is why gold is doing so well in terms of an investment choice, as the demand will always be there and so it will be hard to lose any more, providing you do everything correctly of course.

Great for pension security

Pension gold is doing great at the moment. This is mainly due to the fact that prices are so low for pension gold at the moment that many people are choosing to put their money into gold to secure it for the future.

Coupled with the fact that gold is now considered a SIPP (Self Invested Pension Plan), many are now turning to this means of making sure they can enjoy retirement with no worry about financial hardship.
Altogether, the gold industry is doing so well at the moment due to a number of factors which make gold a desirable investment choice for many. The fact that tax free gold has a high buyback rate, it is future proof and it is great for pension schemes makes it a favourite commodity to invest in.

Diversifying Your Precious Metal Portfolio

Investors have been diversifying their investment portfolios with precious metals like gold, silver, platinum and palladium for some time now, but how many are aware that it’s actually beneficial to also diversify their precious metal portfolios? Too many eggs in the one basket is what investors are trying to avoid when they diversify their precious metal portfolios, which is exactly what diversification is all about. 

Investing in precious metals

Precious metals, particularly gold, have proven to be an excellent investment choice historically and will always continue to be, as is the consensus amongst industry experts. However, gold isn’t the only precious metal investors have been adding to their investment portfolios and when experienced investors show investment trends like this it pays to sit up and pay attention.

Gold is used in a variety of industrial applications in addition to the production of jewellery, and that’s also the case with the other precious metals investors are increasing opting for – silver, platinum and palladium. Gold is, however, still the most popular precious metal investment at the present point in time and will likely always be – hence it’s known as ‘the king of metals’ – plus its long term correlation with the price of crude oil will always make it a popular investment amongst savvy investors. 

Silver

After gold, silver is the next most commonly invested in precious metal and it’s commonly invested in by shrewd investors to offset risks in other investments. At the moment, investment experts are advocating investing in silver in order to offset such risks. Historically, the correlation between gold and silver is somewhat skewed, though it averages out at about 1:15 – 1:20. At the moment it’s at 1:50, which means silver has the potential to surge higher and back to the historical average without representing abnormal market behaviour. Silver therefore boasts a much higher growth potential than gold. 

Platinum

Platinum hasn’t had the lengthy history that gold and silver have because in comparison it’s a rather recent addition to the list of precious metals. Often known as ‘rich man’s gold’, it’s a relatively scarce metal and at this point in time it’s in high demand due to supply problems in South Africa, one of the most prominent sources of platinum, plus it has, in recent times, further endeared itself to investors because of rising demand amongst the automotive sector. 

Palladium

Palladium is even rarer than gold or platinum, though like the better known precious metals it too has a wealth of applications including catalytic converters in vehicles, electronics, fine jewellery and medical instruments. Like platinum, investment interest in palladium is on the rise due to the number of applications it can be used for and its scarce supply.

Market volatility

Volatility in precious metal markets is one of the most prominent reasons for diversifying investment portfolios. For example, when the price of one precious metal drops, it can be buffered by another. This is the intention behind investment diversification, and not only diversification of precious metal investment portfolios either, but all investment portfolios. 

How to invest in precious metals

Investing in precious metals is very straightforward and you can take care of the entire process online. If you want to buy silver, platinum or palladium, you can do so through the same channels as you would when buying gold, since most gold brokers also deal in other precious metals and they can arrange the same secure storage options as would be used to store gold; essentially a secure vault in a country of your choosing overseen by one of the leading names in security, like Brink’s, Rhenus and G4S.

About the Author:
GoldMoney is a UK company offering solutions to those who are interested to buy silver, gold, palladium, and platinum. They also have services for the safe storage and delivery of such precious metals.

Top 4 Tips on Buying Gold Jewelry as an Investment

A couple of 14-carat gold wedding rings. Picture taken in Brazil, where 14-carat is the most common kind of gold used in jewelry. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While gold coins may look better on paper, for those who want an investment that they can actively enjoy, gold jewelry is an excellent choice. Many people choose gold for women’s and men’s wedding bands, but you don’t need to stop there; gold jewelry can easily supplant the bulk of your costume jewelry as well. Here are four tips on buying gold jewelry as an investment.

Choose a higher karat grade. Gold is a naturally soft metal, and as such it must be alloyed with a harder metal if its intended use is as jewelry that will be worn on a regular basis, such as wedding rings for men or women. Pure gold is 24K, but the most common karat purities seen in gold jewelry are 10K, 14K and 18K; the higher the karat grade, the more pure gold used. To quickly calculate how much pure gold is in a particular karat purity, simply divide the karat grade by 24. For example, 18K gold is 18/24, or 75% pure gold. Needless to say, higher karat grades are more expensive due to the presence of more pure gold.

For gold jewelry that you intend on wearing frequently, 18K is your best bet for both investment and durability purposes. While 10K and 14K gold jewelry may be harder and somewhat more durable due to the increased presence of alloying material, both of these karat purities are significantly less valuable. If purchasing gold jewelry that you intend to wear less frequently, or jewelry that is less likely to acquire any damage through wear (such as earrings or a necklace), you might also consider 22K gold, which is fairly soft but very valuable.

Be discriminating when it comes to alloying material. Not all alloying materials are created equal when it comes to gold jewelry. Higher karat purities of gold like 18K and 22K tend to use higher quality alloys, but you will still want to find out exactly which alloy or alloys was used prior to making a gold jewelry purchase. Alloying material will to some degree depend on the color of gold that you are purchasing; gold is naturally yellow, but other common colors found in gold jewelry include white gold and rose gold. For white gold in particular, the quality of alloying material can vary greatly, from less expensive nickel to high quality precious platinum group metals (PGMs) like platinum and palladium. The quality of the alloying material should ultimately factor into the price that you pay for your gold jewelry.

Buy wholesale. When purchasing gold jewelry as an investment, the last thing you’ll want to do is to pay full price at a high end jewelry store. While some designer brands like Tiffany or Cartier are considered to hold a certain value that is completely independent from the material used, the higher cost of these items may start to detract from the overall investment value.

To get a sense of how much you’re paying for a particular piece of jewelry versus the actual value of the gold that it contains, use the weight of the item and current gold prices to calculate worth versus cost, taking into account that lower karat purities will not have the same value as pure gold. If you are buying an item that you have no immediate intention of selling (such as women’s or men’s wedding bands), do some comparison shopping online to make sure that you are getting the best price for your desired item. 

Watch the market. Part of what makes gold jewelry such a good investment is its consistency in the market, especially when compared to more volatile precious metal commodities like platinum. Nonetheless, gold prices still experience normal market fluctuations, so try to buy gold jewelry whenever there is a dip in gold prices. On the flip side, if you are thinking of selling your gold jewelry, make sure the market favors you before unloading it. In an ideal world, you will be buying wholesale during a dip in the market, and selling retail when the market is high.

Tanya Naouri writes articles on gold men’s wedding rings for men for JustMensRings.com.