Advice on buying gold needed.

[Gold Metal Flake]

I'd like to put some money into gold coin. Can anyone offer some advice on how to go about it? How does one find gold dealers? How much can you purchase at a time (any restrictions)? Anything I should know? Any preferred LA dealers?

[silverlib]

1. There's a high minimum, but I suggest...

www.tulving.com. If you can meet the minimum, he has a very fair markup. I bought silver from him on recommendation of a DUer and was highly satisfied. He's raised his minimum since I purchased. I wish I could invest more.

The yellow pages will have dealers where you can purchase any denomination you like. There markup is a higher than Tulving. As you probably already know, be very leary of investing on paper without receiving the actual coins.

Good luck!

[Hokie]

2. I own some mutual funds that trade in gold stocks

Fidelity and AIM both have mutual funds that trade in metals related stocks. These seem to follow the price of the metals fairly well. I have done well with FGLDX in an IRA. I wish I had bought more. My broker thought it was a bad idea to own gold a few years ago. Glad I did not follow his advice.

[Hokie]

3. Followup

Here is the five year price of FGLDX vs. an index of gold mining stocks:

http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/z?s=%5EGOX&t=5y&q=l&l=off&z=m&c=FGLDX&a=v&p=s

[T Roosevelt]

4. You can also invest in gold tracking stocks

One example that we are in is:

streetTRACKS Gold Shares (GLD)
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=t&s=GLD

Fund Summary:
streetTRACKS Gold Trust is an investment trust whose shares strive to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion, less the Trustee™s expenses. The Trust holds gold, and is expected to issue baskets in exchange for deposits of gold, and to distribute gold in connection with redemptions of baskets. The gold held by the trust will only be sold on an as-needed basis to pay trust expenses, in the event the Trust terminates and liquidates its assets, or as otherwise required by law or regulation. The Trust is not managed like an active investment vehicle, and it's not registered as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

[CountAllVotes]

5. a "buy" for sure coming on Thursday

June 17, 2006, 11:56PM
Golden Buffalo to Roam Again, as a Coin

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The golden buffalo, the legendary symbol of the American West, will soon roam again _ this time as the nation's first pure gold coin.

The U.S. Mint will start taking orders in the coming week for the coins. Officials believe they have found a winning combination that will appeal to nostalgia buffs and investors.

The coin will be slightly larger and thicker than a Kennedy half dollar, will contain one ounce of gold and will be designated a $50 gold piece. The actual price will depend on the market price of an ounce of gold, plus markups.

The design is a replica of the popular buffalo nickel that was minted from 1913 to 1938. The golden buffalo has a buffalo standing on a grassy mound on one side and a stern-looking Indian chief on the other side, duplicating the images created by famed artist James Earle Fraser for the 1913 nickel.



http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/3979759.html

Call the U.S. Mint to buy one on Thursday! I know I'll be trying like hell to get at least one of these! 99.99% gold too - not 91.99% like the Eagles are! :D :D :D :D

:kick:

[CountAllVotes]

6. More on this

Seems the U.S. Mint will also be striking a batch of non proof gold buffalo coins as pictured above. They will sell for a lot less than the proofs. I'd think a roll of these (10 oz. = 10 coins) would be a nice thing to have if you can afford it. I'd also think that picking up a couple of proofs of this particular coin would be an excellent investment being it is my understanding that they will not ever be struck again. :shrug:

It seems that the U.S. Mint is not the only place to buy these. This other place I know of www.golddealer.com has the lowest gold prices to be found from what I know. They also plan to sell gold proofs of the above coin in a few weeks I was advised.

More on this coin here: http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/buffalo24k/

I was told today that it is suspected that the price of gold will continue to drop over the next few weeks. I hope it does because I'll be in a position to buy by mid-July I think.

I hope this helps.

CountAllVotes

:dem:

[trof]

7. Gold ETF is cheap way to invest:

Now Barclays Global Investors is going for the gold, too.

Following in the footsteps of rival State Street (STT:NYSE - commentary - research), the leading exchange-traded fund house is rolling out a gold-linked ETF. The iShares Comex Gold Trust (IAU:Amex - commentary - research) ETF began trading on the American Stock Exchange Friday.

Each share in the iShares Comex Gold fund will correspond to one-tenth of a troy ounce of gold. The ETF's trustee, the Bank of New York, will value the trust's gold on the basis of that day's announced Comex settlement price for the spot month gold futures contract. The shares of the trust willl reflect the price of the gold owned by the trust, minus expenses and liabilities.

"Obviously the first ETF to market has a much greater advantage," says Michael Porter, ETF analyst at Lipper. "But I expect this to be a successful product for BGI due to their expertise and powerful iShares brand."

BGI is the leader in ETFs, with more than $111 billion in assets. State Street Global Advisors is second with $73 billion.

State Street's streetTracks Gold (GLD:NYSE - commentary - research) ETF started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in November. The GLD is sponsored by a unit of the World Gold Council and enables investors to participate in the gold bullion market, with each share representing one-tenth of an ounce of gold. The GLD has quickly raised more than $2 billion in assets.

Both ETFs have expense ratios of 0.4%.

Shares of the IAU last traded at $42.67.

http://www.thestreet.com/etf/etf/10206106.html