There’s a reason why gold investors prefer gold bars when buying physical gold; gold bars offer the lowest feasible price per ounce. While gold coins might seem more attractive, the manufacturing and packaging process adds to the cost. In contrast, central banks to regular investors, everyone counts on gold bars to buy and store. It makes for a safe and sound physical gold investment, given you follow some steps to safeguard your investment.
So, how do you purchase physical gold bars?
Before that, here are some advantages of buying gold bars.
Advantages of Gold bar purchase
Investors count on the gold bar for physical gold investment because they are cheaper than gold coins. Gold bars incur a lower premium than coins as coins require a complex design that adds to the labour and machining charges. Coins do look better than bars, but you’re paying extra just for the looks. Another advantage gold bars offer easy storage. Your single gold bar will occupy less space than your gold coins of equal ounces. You won’t believe this, but they specifically designed gold bars for storage ease.
Gold bars still offer the same advantages of buying physical gold; private ownership, portability, liquid, and will last a lifetime.
What gold bar brand to pick?
When buying gold bars, make sure the hallmark is recognised with genuine stamping. When the gold bar has genuine stamping with a recognised hallmark, it means you’re buying a creditable gold bar. You can even find gold bars that private mints make, but they usually lack clear-cut information. That should mean that either the bar is not pure gold or made from low-quality gold. This is where you need to do your research to ensure the gold is real.
What is stamping?
A respected gold mint will stamp the gold bar’s weight, refiner, registration number, and purity on it. Buying a gold bar with stampings ensures you get gold worth your investment, and you can easily resell it.
What is a creditable hallmark?
A hallmark is the refiner or manufacturer’s name on the bar. When you buy a gold bar with a recognised hallmark, it means you’re getting a high-quality bar. And you won’t face much difficulty reselling it in the future, anywhere in the world.
Some of the world’s finest refiners are:
- Royal Canadian Mint
- PAMP Suisse
- Argor-Heraeus
- Johnson Matthey
Where should you buy gold bars?
The simple answer is that you should buy it from a reputable dealer. A dealer with a reputation will have a buyback policy, good customer reviews, and minus pushy salespeople. On top of it, a reputable dealer will even assist you with your buy by offering sound advice, answer your doubts, and show the best products according to your needs.
How do you find a reputable dealer?
These tips should help you!
Buyback policy; If you buy a gold bar from a particular dealer today, will they buy it from you tomorrow? If not, then you should look for some other dealer. The buyback policy ensures the dealer is still present when you need to sell. It will also act as a guarantee if you don’t have a ready buyer.
Multiple payment modes; Since a reputable dealer will receive several clients, they will have more than one payment mode. It is a good sign to buy a product from them.
Big dealers; Big dealers mean they have substantial volumes and can offer greater flexibility on your buy. Also, ask about the delivery time as anything above 2-4 business days’ raises questions.
Concluding note
Gold bars are the perfect investment when it comes to buying physical gold. They give you the best value for money plus offer better storage ease. However, while buying a physical gold bar is one thing, you need to think about storing them. Also, make sure you go for a reputable dealer like RPS Gold in London.
