Stephanie Fan's Blog

Who doesn’t love gold?  Gold has always been fairly strong in the market and so I definitely agree on investing in this.  Currently, it’s priced at $1,300 US an ounce and is expected to keep crawling up.

David Parkinson describes in his article the 3 F’s (Fear, Facts, Flaws) when investing in the different paths of gold.  A strength of the bullion funds is that they can be bought or sold easily however the downside is that the fund or fund provider can go under and there goes your money and gold!  Gold certificates, on the other hand, is nice because you won’t be charged any taxes and storage or insurance fees for your gold but if the banks fail, then you may not be able to redeem the money written on the paper.  Physical gold bars and coins feel a lot more reliable since you are in possession of them however storing the gold can be very risky and expensive.  Another alternative are gold futures and it’s quite safe because if you are able to sell it before the contract expires, you’ll never have to deal with the actual delivery of the gold.  Unfortunately, investors like your mother and father would not be able to participate.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/the-fears-facts-and-flaws-of-buying-gold/article1735855/