Costco periodically offers one ounce gold bars. They sell out immediately, scarfed up by millennials. Looking for other sources? I have one. 
Gold Bars in the Shopping Cart
The Wall Street Journal comments on Gold Bars in the Costco Shopping Cart.
Costco, which started offering gold bars last year online and in a few stores, has been selling out within hours. Consumers rated gold as a better investment than stocks and mutual funds in 2023 for the first time in a decade, according to a Gallup poll. The price has been hitting record highs.
Gold buyers, especially those on the younger side, say it is a hedge against catastrophe. Even people who aren’t building bunkers and predicting doomsday are increasingly preparing for worst-case scenarios. Natural disasters, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and the Covid-19 pandemic are fresh in the minds of many. There is also fear of financial calamity.
Some millennial investors said they don’t trust the financial system, especially after a series of bank failures last year. Searching for a safe store of value some turned to gold—and Costco.
The warehouse retailer said it sold $100 million in gold bars in 2023. It later added silver coins to its inventory. Precious metal sales helped drive 18% year-over-year growth in e-commerce sales during its most recent quarter, which ended in February, Costco said.
Millennial gold bugs
Compared with older generations, millennials have a more optimistic outlook on the benefits of gold, as well as the ease of buying and selling it, according to research by financial-services company State Street. The average millennial allocates 17% of their investments to gold, including exchange-traded funds, while Gen X and baby boomers invest 10% of their portfolio in the metal.
The Journal commented on Costco gold sales in January. Here are a few snips.
Members of Facebook groups and Reddit message boards dedicated to Costco and gold post alerts when the gold bars are available. Those who miss out on the fast-moving items often grumble, while those who made purchases often report their success, sometimes including pictures and prices paid.
Because gold prices are volatile, listed prices will vary, and Costco’s price may be above or below the day’s spot gold price. On Dec. 14, for instance, a 1-ounce PAMP 2024 Azure Dragon minted gold bar was available on Costco’s site for $2,079.99, about 2.5% over spot gold prices that day. It was gone in less than two hours.
Costco shoppers also get free shipping and don’t pay credit-card-processing fees. Online gold dealers charge for secure shipping and pass on the credit-card-processing fees to customers, which may add at least 3% to the final cost. On a coin costing $2,079.99, that is an extra $62.40.
Five Reasons to Buy at Costco
- Costco is trusted
- Swiss PAMP bars are trusted by dealers and consumers alike
- Small markups, on occasion under spot
- Free shipping
- No credit card fees
Regarding points one and two:
Peter Thomas, chairman of the offshore development for Ausecure, a Chicago-based precious-metals wholesaler and retailer, thinks Costco’s decision to offer PAMP bars in particular is smart, given the high quality of the product. PAMP’s flagship Lady Fortuna bar has a proprietary QR code on the card that identifies the piece that is also embedded in the bar itself to prevent counterfeiting. The QR code includes when the bar was poured and other identifying information.
Thomas, a longtime gold dealer says that he would feel comfortable buying a PAMP bar from a noncustomer.
Gold Monthly Cup-And-Handle
I have been watching that chart for years and have commented on it many times.
Cup-and-handle formations are a very bullish, but quite unreliable, pattern. In this case, the pattern has started to play out in the expected direction.
In 2020, I would not have guessed that millennials buying at Costco would be fueling demand. But here we are.
Sign of a Top?
Some might be wondering if millennials buying at Costco is a sign of a top.
Instead, I suggest we are barely in the recognition phase that the Fed does not have things under control.
WSJ Gets the Fundamentals Wrong
Gold historically does better when the economy does worse. But gold futures rose 13% in 2023, even as the economy kept growing and inflation cooled. Bank stocks, meanwhile, fell almost 5%.
That’s an inaccurate description of when gold does best and worst.
Gold does best when trust in central banks is the lowest. Gold does worst in periods of disinflation when other assets are generally booming.
Contrary to widespread myth, the US dollar is not a factor except in the very short term.
Gold vs the US Dollar
With the US dollar Index at 90, gold has been at $380, $1000, $1130, and $1900.
And there are times when gold and the dollar rise together.
Gold vs Faith in Central Banks
Gold is best viewed as a hedge against declining faith in central banks.
March 4, 2024: The Atlanta Fed on “Pent-Up Exuberance” and Threat of More Inflation
February 29, 2024: A Severe Eurozone Recession and Debt Crisis is On the Way
February 22, 2024: Within 10 Years, Interest and Medicare Will Each Cost $1.6 Trillion a Year
September 7, 2023: Debt to GDP Alarm Bells Ring, Neither Party Will Solve This
“Neither party will fix the deficits. Neither party will do anything about mounting debt. No one will do anything about anything because the political system is totally broken.” Mish
That’s the message of gold. Bitcoin advocates would say Bitcoin as well.
Looking for another place to buy gold from a reputable dearer?
Please give Bullion Star a look. For proper disclosure, I do have an affiliate relationship. It does not affect the price you pay but it helps me a tiny bit.
The above link contains my affiliate code.
At Bullion Star, you can buy grams of gold and silver as well as ounces.
If you are interested in trading gold or energy futures, you might wish to give Phil Flynn, @EnergyPhilFlynn at the Pricegroup a call. That’s a courtesy link. I have no formal relationship, but I have known Phil for a long time.
Would You Like to Earn Interest, Paid in Gold, Not Fiat Currency?
For those interested in earning interest on gold, paid in gold, please see Would You Like to Earn Interest, Paid in Gold, Not Fiat Currency?
“The average millennial allocates 17% of their investments to gold, including exchange-traded funds, while Gen X and baby boomers invest 10% of their portfolio in the metal.”
That is unbelievable, as in ‘not to be believed’.
There is no way the average millennial has almost 1/5 of their investments in gold.
And what happens when gold is made illegal to buy or trade, like Biden’s puppet master did during his regime?
What about those of us who have no way of “investing” in regular methods, let alone gold?
I still haven’t been able to figure out how to digest the stuff if society, including gold buyers, collapses
Silver is a better value than gold at current prices, and it’s much more divisible and usable than gold in barter and trading.
I’d do the opposite of what millennials do.
Your loss
Yeah, gold has been a store of value for 5000 years, but what do those Millennials know, anyways?
If they all started living beneath their means, saving and investing, eating healthy, exercising, going to church, helping the poor, avoiding drugs and alcohol, and saving themselves for marriage, would you do the opposite there, as well?
“Thomas, a longtime gold dealer says that he would feel comfortable buying a PAMP bar from a noncustomer.”
Yeah, but at what price
At a competitive price or else he won’t get the sale unless the buyer is inexperienced.
“Gold is best viewed as a hedge against declining faith in central banks.”
If our central banks fail, there is no amount of gold that will save you. Full stop.
If you’re just looking to hedge against declining faith in banks however, you might consider a fund that shorts bank stocks instead. That did very well for me in 08.
Otherwise, there are much better hedges against inflation that don’t come with the large spread and storage costs that physical has.
“Shorts bank stocks” – yes, worked for me with options in both 2008/2009 and 2020, except could have made more had I not underestimated the speed and magnitude of the government bailouts and closed the positions earlier.
Protecting yourself against rampant fiat debasement is critical. Owning PMs is a no-brainer. Just don’t buy the miners; the endless dilution of the float is almost as big a scam as currency debasement itself.
If you have a Costco executive membership, you get an annual 2% reward on qualified purchases. And if you buy the gold with a credit card that gives cash back that lowers your cost basis.
I am ready to buy from Costco. How do you know when? I have the executive card.
Somebody usually posts the Costco sales at http://www.slickdeals.net. SlickDeals also has an app that will push notifications to your smartphone.
Given that the dollar’s strength or weakness is judged against other fiat currencies, all of which are also printing, it isn’t that surprising that gold’s price is not strongly correlated with dollar strength.
But gold’s price is 100% correlated with currency debasement ( aka counterfeiting by central banks). It may not show up right away because markets are driving by animal spirits, but in the long run the correlation holds. Given all the unfunded liabilities and America’s setting star ( due to endless neocon wars, irresponsible spending and reckless governance), gold is a no brainer.
Besides physical gold, which is a pain to deal with, gold royalty and streaming companies are a great way to have exposure in your portfolio. The three biggies seem a bit over priced but some of the mid tier royalty and streamers seem attractive.
Compared Bullion Star with JM Bullion for 1 oz Canadian coins and Bullion star beat them on price. In the past JM was my go to for best price.
SDBullion.com also has competitive pricing.
mils catching on that they need to invest some 50% free assets into gold and other hard assets that appreciate with devaluation of fiat $dollar
Gold is not an investment, gold is a form of money, Has been for 5,000 years.
Gold doesn’t compete with stocks, it competes with the hundreds of phony fiat currencies around the world, all of which are continuously debased by essentially unlimited printing by irresponsible governments.
And so there you have it. Fiat is in an expodentially faster and faster death spiral.
Gold looks extremely overbought on both the daily and weekly charts. That won’t prevent it from going higher but when the move ends and the reversal gets serious it is likely to be ugly.
Money has been following out of GLD. How can it be over bought? The buying is from central banks and East Asian countries. Which would you rather hold long term US treasuries or gold? Once investors start piling in watch out! If bitcoin (an electronic ledger saying you own this spot on the ledger but the ledger point to nothing of value) can be trading above $60k, then gold, the true historical money for all human civilization, should be way higher than what its currently trading at.
Gold for sure
Go to stockcharts and pull up the chart for $GOLD and add in the RSI, CCI and PPO,
Examine both the daily and weekly charts. It’s very overbought.
Gold is a huge market dominated by London and New York. GLD is a minor player with the gold equivalent of an average of about 650,000 ounces traded daily. It’s total holdings are a bit less than 26.6 million ounces. The Loco London Precious Metals Market alone trades over 20 million ounces per day. What happens with GLD, which has lost about 6% of its gold since the beginning of the year, is irrelevant.
Here’s the problem… without a solution…
Britain is producing the smallest amount of energy on record as a plunge in North Sea fossil fuels leaves the country more reliant than ever on imports. Read More
Mexican state energy company Pemex said its crude oil production in February hit its lowest monthly level in 45 years, as output of the key commodity remained far from the goals laid out by outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Read More
Oil production in Alaska reaches lowest level in more than 40 years
Try to get your head around the idea that by 2027, US tight oil production might be 12 MM BOPD, not the 9 MM it is now, which is what cheerleaders say it will be, and that means we’ll actually have to find and extract 12 MM BOPD… before we can ever grow the new 3 MM. Man, that is a slew of new wells! Thats gonna take like…four times the HZ wells we’ve already drilled in the US.
Where? Read More
I do not think the statement you make “Contrary to widespread myth, the US dollar is not a factor except in the very short term.” is correct. You are interchanging the US dollar with the dollar index which you clearly state in your discussion following the statement. Gold is an inert metal that does not change value; a quality suit of clothes has always been around an ounce of gold as I remember the saying. I would agree the price of gold does not relate to the dollar index but it surely relates to the dollar’s value inversely. The dollar index is nothing more than a comparison of fiat currencies, none of which are holding their value thus of dubious value for measuring the dollar’s value.
From 1980 to 2000 gold fell from $850 to $250.
Was the dollar rising in value?
Purchasing power?
Or do you stand corrected?
Animal spirits Mish. Gold was sent way above where it should have been and then corrected. Over the long run it is correlated with the dollars purchasing power. I bet if you averaged gold’s price and inflation over a 30 year window, it would be highly correlated.
Lol, 30 years is a long time. But you’d have to pick a much longer period or perhaps one that excludes the period from 1980 to 2000 to get a “high” correlation. Point is, I don’t think anyone here is arguing that gold (and virtually every other asset out here) isn’t inversely related to its price over a long enough period.
Gold is a good mean for tax evasion. Everybody can buy it with cash. You can give it to your heirs for free.
Bigger taxes, bigger gold market.
Jugs of Tide detergent walk out of Chicago convenience stores at 100% off on continuous basis, for barter purposes.
Depends on if you can find someone who wants to do a personal transaction to buy your gold with cash.
You might reasonably be able to sell a couple coins in a cash transaction with someone for $5k but I doubt you could do much more than that as not many people want to carry that kind of cash for obvious reasons related to theft.
If you tried to sell a lot of gold (10K plus) to a coin dealer they have to report the sale under the 10K money laundering act. In which case you will be on record having sold it and the IRS will be expecting you to file on your tax return.
Why convert to cash? Gold is money. Who wants to be holding US dollars in a high inflation regime? Of course governments hate gold because it reduces their opportunity to steal from you.
Presumably at some point you want or will need to exchange the gold for goods and services in your elder years.
Unless you are just accumulating gold for the sake of accumulating it and passing it on to heirs in perpetuity which is something .0001% of people would be trying to do.
“Gold is money.”
Not really. It doesn’t make for a good medium of exchange because it’s not widely accepted as a final means of payment for transactions.
Gold is signalling that something “wicked this way comes”.
It could be the imminent collapse of the entire European banking system.
It could be WWIII.
It could be hyperinflation of a widely used currency.
It could be the fiscal meltdown of any number of hopelessly over-indebted governments.
It could be all of the above.
People said the same things in 1980. And will say it many times more in the future.
Argentina says it year after year, except for the War bullet point. 🙂
Fortunately, I don’t live in Argentina.
But you do financially:
60 – 70% of Americans cannot raise 500 – 1000$ for an emergency. There’s a lot of rich Argentinans.
Culturally you are way WAY behind:
Generally Argentinians are far nicer, better read (largest book selling fair conference in the world is in Buenos Aires) Better Architecture, better food, excellent affordable health care and insurance and far greater general intelligence than the US.
US is an illiterate mogrelized slum.
Beware the “Ides of March”. Gold and silver pricing discovery portends the end of the empire.
Then you should move to Argentina. I will stay in America; the land of opportunity. Though, I certainly could visit Argentina at some point in the near future.
Yup, I agree.
I’m really starting to wonder about my fellow Americans. It seems like some sort of bizzare self hatred has crept into many of thier minds. If things are so bad here and one’s life is so miserable why aren’t tons of people leaving? Does America have problems? It absolutely does, but so do alot of other places. There are no Unicorns on this Earth. Things inevitably change for good or ill, including cultures. Assuming things will remain static forever is foolish.
If America no longer suits somone they have three and only three choices….work to change it back to thier liking; leave for what they deem to be greener pastures; or accept it and make the best of it.
Above all, stop bitching and moaning about things that are outside your control. It does you no good and just brings negativity into you life that will ensure you remain stuck in a self imposed malaise.
SMH….
No! We love our country. We just hate what the DC swamp has done to it. The first step in correcting a problem is to recognize you have a problem. If you want to mindlessly chant “USA, USA” and drive around in your beat up pickup with a US flag flapping in the wind, have at it.
The DC swamp doesn’t operate in a vacuum. It is run by people who are elected by the populace. And don’t give me this crap that it’s rigged. Third party candidates are always on the ballot and for some reason they never come close to winning in a major election.
The problem isn’t the system or the politicians. Those two things are by products on the “will of the people.”
I acknowledge you and a small number may not be that way, but most are.
There are tons of people leaving and becoming expats. Those leaving are (or were) tax payers. Those entering illegially not so much and their money leaves the US pronto. The government has started using “lawfare” to slowdown or stop people from leaving. I have had several very wealthy friends leave and get either Chilean, Uraguaian or Portuguese passports. Pocahontas has even proposed an “exit” tax for those leaving…a financial Berlin Wall as it were.
A very stupid retort.
I’m sure there are a good number of Americans who are genuinely struggling, but, in my view, alot of the struggle is self imposed (i.e. overspending on shit they simply do not need).
I interact with people daily who drive $70k pick-up trucks, and bitch about not having enough money. Frugality is a four letter word in American. You can’t invest if you don’t save.
As for millenials buying gold, I guess at least some of them aren’t as broke and miserable as we keep hearing. If some can afford to drop $2,300 on a gold bar they can’t be that broke.
Credit card prosperity: from the highest levels to the lowest.
Couldn’t agree more Fast Bear. You did leave out one thing though…the women are beautiful. The average woman in the US doesn’t stand a chance.
You live in Argentina 2.0. You are just to old and slow to understand. You drink from the MSM and believe all their BS.
And it was true every time!
“Instead, I suggest we are barely in the recognition phase that the Fed does not have things under control.”
Unprecedented behavior in the metal markets that’s likely just getting started .
Something wicked this way comes.
The Pigs suppressed the metals market every Friday for years when ever it got frothy. They can’t even dent it this time.
Meta Bubble is deflating – get your shorts on – it’s gonna be a wild ride.
Commercial Real Estate
then
Residential Real Estate
Construction wipe out
Bank resilience in the face of RE collapse
Absurd Equities pricing
1 trillion of debt every 100 days
Nothing to see here… move along.
Millennials also voted for Biden and don’t know which century the Civil War was in. Not surprised they would fall for a barbarous relic like gold
So far they are “falling up”.
Everyone knows the civil war will be fought in the 21 century.
I watched that Marvel movie way back in 2019
Barbarous relic Stupid comment of the month award goes to Dr Funky steen
They would be better off buying stock in a growing company with profits and dividends.
Timing is everything. This month, gold is ‘golden’.
Not at today’s prices. At least not for indexes. Expected total return on the S&P500 over 10 years is far below T-bill rates.
With PEs of 300!
Some folks are buying Gold because of the perceived push by America for expanded Wars. With Israel now bombing a Foreign Embassy and now America also pushing for an even quicker joining of Ukraine into NATO. All this is only adding to Global tensions towards expanding Wars. Also when people start losing confidence in their Federal Government for many Economic and Political reasons some migrate evermore to holding something solid like Gold. China and Russia and many Countries have been loading up on tons of Gold so they must see something coming.
Yep. In the next world war, a bar of gold will be more effective than a rock when throw it at your enemy.
The allocation of surplus capital to its most productive use is a grave responsibility. Gold is not a productive asset. Jesus had words to say about the man who hid his talents under a rock.
Jesus lived under a gold standard. Under fiat the rules are a bit different. Such a serious responsibility also comes with a mandate to boycott investment when potential productive uses are overpriced or not currently worthwhile for other reasons.
Given rising inflation and lack of fiscal restraint, bonds at current yields are certificates of confiscation of wealth.
Debt-ridden enterprises face substantial risk from the ongoing bull market in interest rates. This includes real estate which is either overbuilt (CRE) or in a nascent bear market (housing) due to mortgage costs.
Meanwhile, large swathes of the S&P500 are literally destroying global wealth: it’s not just the military-industrial complex, we now have the healthcare (sickness sustainment) complex, tech-censorship complex, advertising monopolies… the list goes on and on.
The oligopolies and their corporate-fascist politicians meanwhile are destroying small businesses through excessive and needless regulatory and legal complexities, so that route to wealth creation is also fraught.
Gold at least is not a counter-productive asset. You got something better to sell to us?
I think we agree … I named root cause – you name the symptoms although WMV is another root cause.
So a CD is a Certificate of Destruction?
Even a bond that maintains parity with Inflation (which of course is higher than the CPI) is 30-40% underwater due to yearly tax on dividends.
Secondary root cause:
link to youtube.com
I invest in fast growing debt free corporations with little or no competition and a large market opportunity for the coming decade. It’s called the allocation of capital to its most productive use.
I call BS. You haven’t named one. Price matters.
“Grave” wow … strong word, you should start by telling that to the Fed who has distorted the Capital marketplace since its inception. Even more so since 1971, 2008, 2019.
Gold is money.
Gold is not surplus capital until it is traded for fiat. Gold is an insurance policy.
Wrong Gold stands on its own as honest money which cannot be debased That’s why the mainstream propagandists try to demean it all the time
Does anyone one know what the inflation price adjusted high for gold is. When it exceeds that I would think it may be time to start selling.
Google says $3378, Long way to go.
That would be the January, 1980 high of $850 which only lasted for a few days.
The BLS CPI calculator goes up to February 2024, which is close enough.
$1 in January 1980 had the same buying power as $3.99 in February 2024. Call it $4.
Easy calculation: $850 x 4 = $3400.
But that move in 1979-1980. was about as extreme as it gets. It went from $473 on December 21, 1979 to the $850 top on January 21, 1980. It doesn’t follow that this will get to that point. It also won’t be driven by millennials. Retail buying of gold is microscopically small compared to trading in NY and London.
$2300 in arms/ammo would be a very rudimentary start to preparing themselves as a first step for what’s ahead. Can’t eat gold and can’t throw it at somebody
Just saying. I guess buying gold is better than YOLOing in to the shotcoins and shitstocks all the naive droolers are piling in to
I think interest in gold is reflective of faith in institutions generally, not just the Fed. Faith in the government, and in stability and in the future.
with a chimera called bitcoin bein worth 70K, gold should be worth 700K ….at least …
Buy food. Soon, there will be no electricity especially around Brussels, so bitcoin is useless. Or buy a spare keys to one of the bunkers around there, where you will be crouched together will Charles Michel, Ursula van der Layen, and Joseph Borrell. Scintilating discussions guranteed.
aint you go’ a den there for me there in Africa there ? …..I am on my way ! L B you !
My reply swallowed by a black hole.
First stared buying in 2007 when I paid $700 for an ounce. Today, well, you get the idea. I dont think I ever “made any money” on the gold when I sold some of it, but it did keep its value — and more. Stocks are still the best way to go if you are under 50. But all things considered, it was a relief when I sold a few and got my currency back (times 3).
a coin dealer of my long acquaintance told me over a year ago that he has already seen gold-covered tungsten double eagles, perfect size and weight and only detectable electronically (or, by cutting one in half).
if they want to trust Costco, well, as you said, they are millenials…..a new sucker is born every minute…..
Costco gas a great return policy if it is Tungsen?
“It came to me, my own, my love… my… preciousssss.”
Said Golum after buying Cosco’s special on One Rings.
I would like to use RE cliche and say its different this time. Gold will be pushed high before the reset.
Some folks are buying Gold because of the perceived push by America for expanded Wars. With Israel now bombing a Foreign Embassy and now America is pushing for for a speedier joining of Ukraine into NATO. This is only adding to Global tensions. Also when people start losing confidence in their Federal Government for many reasons they migrate evermore to holding something solid like Gold. China and Russia and most Countries have been loading up on tons of Gold so they must see something coming.
Thanks for the info. I have roughly 9% of assets in gold and silver… and (uh oh) even some Bitcoin.
Is PHYS the best digital representation of Gold? Or any other names as a suggestions?
Sprotts is fine. I have been playing it through GLD and SLV, but recently I have looked to OUNZ. OUNZ has a feature where you can take possession of the physical if you like.
You can take possession with OUNZ, but the fees are so high ($500 just for applying for redemption + a per ounce fee) for typical retail buyers it’s a poor way to do it. If you want physical sell the fund and buy it yourself.
… a feature which PHYS has had for like 18 years …
True, but the minimum to redeem is 400 oz.
PHYS is a close-ended fund. So it can trade at a discount or a premium to its underlying value. In theory one can redeem with PHYS but the redemption quantity must be one, or a integral multiple of one, LGD (London Good Delivery) bar. The smallest LGD bar is 350 ounces, so the absolute minimum size of a redemption is over $800,000 at the current price.
ETFs such as GLD and IAU use creation / redemption processes that keep the share price in line with the underlying. Neither allow redemption, except via Authorized Participants and one must do it in one or more “baskets.” This would be dealing in a quantity of gold much larger than PHYS. So effectively, retail cannot redeem GLD or IAU shares for gold. GLD is the oldest, but they have a higher annual fee than the newer funds, which are better for buy-and-hold. A frequent trader should use GLD because the effective bid/ask spread is better. That’s because fewer shares need to be purchased for a given desired gold quantity equivalent. The higher fee is irrelevant for short-term trades.
Agree that GLD has higher volumes and tighter bid/ask spreads and it’s better to use it for short-term trading.
If you can’t hold it in your hand, you don’t own it. Just like stock in a company, if the company goes, you have valueless paper. I found out the hard way.
Gold’s value is in its longevity, not growth or ROI. Stocks come and go but gold is forever. Gold is a bit like an insurance policy and should be treated as such. All else is speculation.
My gold goes up and down in relation to $ and is presently up more than 50%. Like an insurance policy, I won’t be selling – it will be there when I need it – which, hopefully, will be never. Unlike insurance though, my kids will inherit it and it will be tax free.
Yep, completely understand holding physical gold.
My normal plan for gold is a core position of 3% to 5%. Currently, I’m overweight the PM’s and I like using the paper because at some point I will be reducing those positions. Most likely, I will hold the excess as long as the price trends above the 10-week moving average line or sell some of the excess it if spikes (stretches) too far above the MA lines (10w/40w).
So when the sovereign debt crisis happens will Costco offer a service to convert the gold bars they sold into bitcoin?
Costco cannot process bitcoin as a payment transaction and neither do any stores that i go to. Costco may start taking gold as payment since that now are selling gold?
If I had 2300 I might want to buy one.
Just buy GOLD stock or some other related gold stock and you’ll be better off for it. Even better, buy some ARK.B and sit on it.
I’m focused on rice and beans currently in this dynamite economy
a year or so before the US provoked Ukraine war, I bought Polymetal shares, Russia’s, and one of the world’s, biggest gold miner ….should ve bought the physical stuff instead, Motley Fool however convinced me into buying the company s LSE listed shares for its dividend ….and then came outrageous fckn US/EU imposed sanctions on Russian companies in 2022… ….SO .If you want gold BUY THE REAL STUFF ! Don t tell anyone but I got quite a lot of it and it is doing better by the day …..
Physical gold and any metals fund have different advantages and disadvantages. I buy smaller gold coins and bars. There’s better funds than the gold funds. An ounce can be hard to move, even a PAMP Veriscan bar that millennials probably don’t understand anything about. And that’s at the current $2350 or thereabouts spot price. What are you going to accept in trade for your gold? And at what rate of conversion? And from whom? I don’t think that it’s going to be any safer to deal metals than drugs in a SHTF situation.
I’ve got a small amount of silver, but the moon is a harsh mistress and I don’t like the bifurcation of the silver requirements in the market. A large demand in non monetary industrial silver cripples it’s viability as a long-term asset. And it gets used up. My coin guy is having problems finding silver rounds at a price he can make any money on. I started buying 90% constitutional silver from him ten years ago, then silver Eagles, then swapped most of it back to him when he needed it for gold and slabbed Morgans and key date coins.
The real advantage of gold is that it never corrodes or otherwise disappears, requires no counter party to guarantee it’s value, and requires only a decent scale (and a Sigma machine like my coin guy has makes it field verifiable so he could buy safely from walk-ups, but it’s not necessary) to trade. Doesn’t need the full Faith and Credit of anybody. And it’s mined at an incremental rate that approximates the population growth rate on earth overall, and can’t be mined much faster no matter what miners do. And people have coveted gold for longer than recorded history.
The biggest risk to gold and silver coins is getting bitten by the numismatic bug. I have a nice collection now. I have to catalog it so maybe whoever inherits it won’t get ripped off too badly.”Please God don’t let my wife sell my coins for what I told her I paid for them”. So true.