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Go to any coin shop in town - stay under $10K in cash to avoid federal interest in the transaction

Any recommended coin shops? What sort of fees should I expect? How close should I expect to get to the actual price of gold?

I would think that as a commodity there would be little or no variance. To verify this just google gold shops in your area and give them a call. You might also go to the Better Business Bureau and use that as a starting point.

BullionDirect.com is cool... you can buy and sell coins/bullion there. They will hold them in there vault insured... but if you ever feel paranoid, just go online and with a few clicks, your gold will be overnighted to you.

If you are worried about storing gold in the US, the Perth mint does something similar to bullion direct, ie, storing your gold, but i'm not sure if they offer physical delivery.

Expect 5-10% over spot price of gold. Depends on the shop and the particular form of gold. Krugerrands are cheaper, American Eagles are more expensive, other foreign coins can come with high premiums.

I had positive experience with onlygold.com, you basically send them a check or a wire and a week later you get a package with coins via U.S. mail. Their prices are pretty good. I'm not sure if they have a brick-and-mortar store so you can have a cash transaction (they are located near Phoenix AZ), you might want to call them and ask.

A few suggestions if you are looking at bullion coins:

* Get the red book (RS Yeoman). Tons of good information, though the prices are completely out of whack (book prices are too low)
* Get a digital coin scale. Sure, you don't have to do this but the weights of the coins are well known AND hard to fudge because gold is so dense.
* Don't overlook ebay -- but be very diligent. High NGC/PCGS scores probably won't be very useful to you.

The Perth Mint is worth looking into. You can buy gold there through Peter Schiff's firm Euro Pacific Cap. That way if the dollar collapses and the gov't moves to seize all gold, they can't touch yours because it is overseas. Also it is not a bank account so it does not need to be reported to any gov't agency, it is just a vault they hold for you. I think Euro Pac charges 2%, and the storage in Perth in free.

You guys surprise me in that you would be paranoid (me too) and yet trusting (not me) at the same time. How about you send me a check, I will acquire the gold bullion for you and store it in my closet. I'll even insure it for you. You'll have my cell number - just call me anytime. Ha!

Locally here in LA, I use these guys: http://www.golddealer.com/bullionpage.html
They have been around a long time and their premiums are reasonable.

Can someone tell me if it is worth investing through Peter schiff's Firm "Euro Pacific Cap"? to include gold? and how do you go through doing it?
Thanks

How about xau or gld?

SD Realtor

"worth investing in Euro Pacific Capital"

Euro Pacific is one of the few US dealers of the Perth Mint Certificate Program (PMCP) - I assume this is the gold that you would be buying from them

I like the PMCP - you get a certificate showing that you hold a certain number of ounces of metal at the Perth Mint - they offer allocated and unallocated storage programs - no storage fee for the unallocated program

Some analysts advise against unallocated programs because there is no specific metal set aside for you (as opposed to an allocated program which sets aside specific bullion coins and bars but you pay for storage) - I think the unallocated program at the Perth Mint is safer than at other depositories because they are a Mint - they are handling bullion everyday as part of their main line of business (Western Australia produces lots of precious metals) and the metal held in their unallocated programs is a minor percentage of their regular bullion trade - I may reconsider the allocated vs unallocated question again as the price of the metals continues to rise

You can get more info on the PMCP here - $10K min to start: http://www.perthmint.com.au/certificatep...

XAU is the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Sector Index
HUI is the AMEX Gold Bugs Index
GLD is a gold ETF that (supposedly) holds real bullion
SLV is a silver ETF that (supposedly) holds real bullion
CEF is the Central Fund of Canada which (most likely) holds about a 50/50 mix of gold and silver (http://www.centralfund.com/)

GLD and SLV are fine for gaining exposure to the precious metals sector - I trade in and out of them from time to time - I feel safer about CEF and consider it a long term holding - if you open a brokerage account denominated in the Canadian dollar and buy CEF in that account you gain exposure to the precious metals and the Canadian dollar while reducing your exposure to the US dollar

XAU and HUI are indexes so we can't buy them directly - there are options available on both indexes - Adam Hamilton at Zeal (www.zealllc.com) prefers trading NEM stock (Newmont is one of the major gold producers) as a synthetic option on the HUI index

There is a fair amount of controversy over whether GLD and SLV actually hold the metals they claim - some of their paperwork is vague as to subsidiary entities being allowed to hold bullion futures positions vs actual bullion - "where there's smoke there's usually fire" seems like a good attitude to take in this case - use GLD and SLV as trading vehicles (I hold them in my IRA currently along with CEF) but also gain more secure exposure to the precious metals via the Perth Mint Certificate Program or your local coin shop

Gold from the US Mint?

Here is the site with American Gold Eagle bullion coins:

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/inde...

Is this a good way to go to buy gold coins?

Also what is safe way to store gold at home? In a safe?

there is no 'safe' way to store valuables whether it is in your home or Fort Knox - there are just degrees of safety

I recently read this suggestion which makes sense: "never store more gold at home than you would willingly give up"

the depository programs are needed because it isn't safe to store valuables in your home - even with the .45 and the 12 ga next to your bed

~

one of the reasons for buying precious metals at this particular juncture is to protect yourself from the continuing debasement of the US dollar (call it inflation if that helps you sleep at night) - with all the financial fraud going on right now (which always happens at the end of a fiat currency's lifecycle - read your history books) you also need to protect your assets from loss via a failed investment bank, internet brokerage, etc

you have to decide for yourself how much protection you need or want - are you willing to take physical delivery of your stock shares to eliminate the risk of your brokerage going under? do you feel comfortable having your assets inside the US borders or do you want to gain some geographic diversity via gold in a Swiss safe deposit box or gold depository (for example)? lots of options to choose from

Jim Sinclair (www.jsmineset.com) is advising his readers to eliminate all financial intermediaries that stand between them and their assets - he acknowledges that options are limited for 401K plans unless you are willing to take the tax hit (early withdraw penalty plus taxed at current income rate) - Mr Sinclair recommends taking physical possession of Canadian or Swiss Treasury Bills for cash holdings right now

another option for 401K money would be to take a loan against the account and use the money to accomplish whatever financial protection you thought was appropriate - I think you can borrow up to 50% - this way you wouldn't have the tax penalties and you could gain some protection for your retirement assets - I'm not recommending doing this but it might make sense for some people

From the Market Oracle...

Despite its higher prices of late, gold's global supply-and-demand fundamentals remain dazzlingly bullish. Worldwide investment demand far exceeds the ability of miners to ramp up their production. And if you adjust gold's early 1980 high by CPI inflation, it works out to about $2300 in today's dollars. So most of gold's bull probably remains ahead of us , not behind us."

Market Oracle