Investing in gold stocks, ETFs, or mutual funds is often the best way to gain exposure to gold in your portfolio. To buy a gold stock or fund, you'll need a brokerage account, which you can open with an online broker (here's a step-by-step guide to opening a brokerage account). Buying physical gold bars online is a fairly simple process. A common way to buy gold bars is through authorized online retailers.
Prospective buyers can search for gold bullion products on reputable retail websites, such as the American Precious Metals Exchange (APMEX), JM Bullion, and Wholesale Coins Direct. You can choose gold by weight, quantity and price. Gold bars are often the most cost-effective way to buy physical gold. They are marketed all over the world in major centers such as London and Hong Kong.
Bullion are classified as bullion as long as they are approximately 99.5% pure gold or more. You can read more in our Gold Bullion Buyer's Guide. There are a multitude of ways to invest in gold. You can buy physical gold in the form of jewelry, bars, and coins; buy shares in a gold mining company or other gold-related investment; or buy something that gets its value from gold.
Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. That can make it overwhelming for novice investors to know how best to gain exposure to this precious metal. You might be familiar with the popularity of gold coins from infomercials and other advertisements. This way of buying and selling gold is well known and often more convenient than gold bars because of their smaller size.
Investors can buy gold coins from collectors or private traders and eventually sell them for profit. Dealers are located in most cities, making it easy to get gold coins. To make buying easier, gold coins are one of the best ways to invest in gold for beginners.
