Want Some Input For Buying Gold

[thaiintokyo]

recently me and my wife are interesting in invest some of our saving in gold.

We want to keep it as a long term saving, (since we live in japan, and the Japanese bank offers us 0% interest rate for the saving account.)

now we are valuating between the gold bars and the gold coin.

Anyone’s got an experienced in buying gold? just want some input.

- gold bar or gold coin? (or gold account?)

- If gold coin such as the canadian maple, or the Australian nugget, will it be a premium above the intrinsic gold value? how much percentage they will charge in general?

- is it easy to sale in thai (both gold coin and gold bar)? If some day in the future I (can successfully convincing my Jwife to) go back and living in thai.

thanks in advance

and sorry for my bad English.

[Kerryd]

recently me and my wife are interesting in invest some of our saving in gold.

We want to keep it as a long term saving, (since we live in japan, and the Japanese bank offers us 0% interest rate for the saving account.)

now we are valuating between the gold bars and the gold coin.

Anyone’s got an experienced in buying gold? just want some input.

- gold bar or gold coin? (or gold account?)

- If gold coin such as the canadian maple, or the Australian nugget, will it be a premium above the intrinsic gold value? how much percentage they will charge in general?

- is it easy to sale in thai (both gold coin and gold bar)? If some day in the future I (can successfully convincing my Jwife to) go back and living in thai.

thanks in advance

and sorry for my bad English.

Not my area of expertise (like many things )

Here is a link the the Canadian Mint. Has some links and info on buying bullion and investing.

Royal Canadian Mint

In general, you can buy and sell gold in Thailand fairly easily, especially if it was bought here in the first place. How ever, if it is less than 24k (say 18 or 14k, you're not going to get many (if any) takers. Thais like the bright yellow gold.

Buying coins is pretty much always going to be a higher price than plain bullion, as the coins need to be stamped. Do an online search for coin shops and see if any quote prices.

[Lacoste]

Try here http://www.gold-investments-comprehensive-...ld-bullion.html

Good luck, it can be fun.

[naka]

Credit Suisse 99.99% gold bars, available in 5, 10, 100 gram and other weights.

Available from major banks.

No problem to re-sell in Thailand.

Having said that you've possibly missed the bull market for gold.

Naka.

[simcity]

I bought some certificates from :

http://www.jaggards.com.au/main.asp

you can buy coins and gold bar from them too .

they can be Allocated (segregated) Coins or Bars or Unallocated (unsegregated) Bullion.

They have a price list and information .

Email them if you have some questions !

Gold bought in Thailand is not easy sellable outside Thailand .

I do not know if perth mint certificats are easy sellable out side australia , i think Kto have them too.

[The Skipper]

Buy low-Sell high.

Gold is high now.

[ZZZ]

Buy shares in a reputable gold mining company. The price of these shares usually increase more than the gold price, you can sell and by with the click of the mouse, no problems with safekeeping or smuggling across borders (not sure how much gold you are allowed to bring in to Thailand??)

[Phil Conners]

Good idean, the problem is who knows what is a "reputable" gold mining company.

[Kerryd]

Good idean, the problem is who knows what is a "reputable" gold mining company.

For the most part, if they are listed on major stock exchanges (Nasdaq, NYSE, TSE, ect), they should be fairly reputable.

Still have to be careful though. Bre X was listed on a major exchange. Shares shot up to around $180 per on news of a major find in Indonesia. Then their chief geologist committed suicide by jumping out of a helicopter over the Indonesian jungle. Then rumours surfaced that the core samples had been "tampered" with. Then the stock crashed, hard. Down to about $1.10 over the next couple of days.

Had a brief "dead cat bounce" up to $3.00 and then dropped to $0.07 cents per share. Got delisted after that.

Thousands of people lost their life savings in that one.

(I never had actual shares in the company, but I was buying them in an online stock market simulation. Helped me turn $5,000 into $90,000 in less than 3 months and win a prize !)

Some of the more reputable majors are Falconbridge and Inco. Can't recall the others off the top of my head though (haven't been in the market for almost 8 years now).

[thohts]

An alternative would be to open an account at a bank with which you can buy/sell gold ounces online. No need to physically take delivery of the gold.

Easy to buy easy to sell.

Gold make you rich?

Time will tell!

[thaiintokyo]

thanks for the input and all the links.

Having said that you've possibly missed the bull market for gold.

yes i missed it. i am kicking my self for that.

this year peak was one of the main reasion (plus the 0% interest rate from the japanese bank, which is suck.),i want to get into it soon.

it look height now, but it actually a lot lower than when it was peeked some month ago. (it was crazy.)

now all the data and people in the market is pointing at the same direction! buy it before the end of august.

[frenchFARANGbkk]

Credit Suisse 99.99% gold bars, available in 5, 10, 100 gram and other weights.

Available from major banks.

No problem to re-sell in Thailand.

Having said that you've possibly missed the bull market for gold.

Naka.

In Bangkok they told me at a shop it's better to buy 96 % , because easier to sell?

(I asked about buying gold plate)

[sleepyjohn]

Buy shares in a reputable gold mining company. The price of these shares usually increase more than the gold price, you can sell and by with the click of the mouse, no problems with safekeeping or smuggling across borders (not sure how much gold you are allowed to bring in to Thailand??)

I've not had time for much posting lately, but I can't let you do something silly.

You need to decide if you want the metal as a hedge against catastrophe or are happy to hold representative paper or stocks.

Holding a reasonable amount against catastrophe is perfectly legitimate, maybe even sensible in some places.

But you MUST think about it's saleability.

If you are going to live in Thailand the spread (buy/sell commission) on the metal is not too terrible actually, probably less than the spread on well known coins of which Kruggerands for instance are just perfect and I have formerly held myself. The difference is I didn't buy them, why would I, I got them as payment for something, held them for a few years for a slight profit if I remember, and sold them to Baird and Co.

By the way where will you keep your gold, under the floorboards?

If you want to buy a lot you could buy in Thailand and sell outside of Thailand. Only if you have a lot will a melt and assay cost be negligible because the folks at Covent Garden or New York or elsewhere will not buy without a melt and assay.

If it's a smaller amount don't buy in Thailand unless you are going to sell it there too.

As ZZZ said stocks are leveraged and move more than the metal. Don't buy unless you want to gamble as a 20% drop in gold could be a 50% or more drop in a stock.

You could buy a tracking stock ticker GLD in the US stockmarket, it trades at about 10% price of gold. But that's a hassle too unless you are already organized for it.

Listen bear in mind gold has been one of the poorest performers in all the metals or actually in anything tradeable. If like many you had bought during the last big bull market your money would be worth a tiny portion of what you paid in real terms. Bearing in mind all the above problems unless you had a special dream and are prepared to take a chance do something else.

Don't ever let anyone tell you something is desperately cheap or a great deal unless you REALLY have reason to trust their judgement. The market price is what it is because just as many people are selling as buying, and most of those people know a lot more than you or I do.

Of course gold could go to the moon, and the end of August deadline for Iran may be a trigger, but wouldn't you like to know your parameters a bit better?

Edited August 2, 2006 by sleepyjohn

[rishi]

... for all that I know, If you're Thailand anchored and have a handfull of spare thousand-baht notes, you don't know how to handle better, buying gold "items" stamped by some well-knowned gold dealer, isn't but the best way to go ...

[simcity]

... for all that I know, If you're Thailand anchored and have a handfull of spare thousand-baht notes, you don't know how to handle better, buying gold "items" stamped by some well-knowned gold dealer, isn't but the best way to go ...

better to buy some lingot from the thai shop if you want invest.

the gold containt is bit higher , and you do not paid labor cost !

but he you want your GF to look after the gold for you .... well

[bazmlb]

yes the ingot price is only ever 100baht difference for 96.9% gold here in Thailand, 96.9% being the preferred content here it seems.

Jewelry buy/sell can be up to 1000 baht difference

check here for info on the Thai market

Gold Traders Assocaiation

[aughie]

If you wish to physically possess the gold then coins are the most easyily accepted by dealers when it comes time to sell them. The canadian Maple Leaf is the most popular of the coins. Buy one ounce coins. The smaller weights incur a greater discount when it comes time to sell.

[bazmlb]

If you wish to physically possess the gold then coins are the most easyily accepted by dealers when it comes time to sell them. The canadian Maple Leaf is the most popular of the coins. Buy one ounce coins. The smaller weights incur a greater discount when it comes time to sell.

i guess you are refering to coins in general as in thailand its all done in baht weight,

Physically ingots have the best buyback, when i looked into coins they wanted an extra 50 baht per baht weight when it came time i wanted to sell them back, so i went with ingots always only 100 baht difference, but that also depends on when you buy the gold and how much it was at purchase.

[aughie]

It depends on where he is selling the gold when the time comes. Coins are more universally trusted. I reread the original post if he is reselling in Thailand then I would buy ingots. They have the smallest transaction fee as you say. Buy from a reputable dealer to insure the seals stamped on the ingots come from a refinery that is readily recognized by people in the business.

Edited August 3, 2006 by aughie

[trajan]

if you are buying and selling in Thailand, its better to buy gold ingots from a local established reputable Chinese-Thai company dealer like at <huasengheng> they have 5, 10 and 25 baht-weight bars (1 baht equals about 15 grams)

here's a good explanation of Thai gold <THAI GOLD>

[Khun Jean]

As the OP was saying

We want to keep it as a long term saving, (since we live in japan, and the Japanese bank offers us 0% interest rate for the saving account.)

Why not put the money in a different bank. I have some money in Australia (City bank), i get 5.6% on 12 month fixed.

I thought of gold before, but in my opinion it is not "saving" but speculating. On top of that a "fund" that is not really performing well. And as skipper said very clear "buy low, sell high".

If Iran goes well, Iraq is not a problem anymore then gold might fall in price a lot. It would be a posibillity that this gold is a major drain on your saving. Then again if everything goes wrong you make a bundle.

You did say long term savings. 5.6% and i read in another thread even almost 6% is available with ING-Direct.

[sleepyjohn]

And as skipper said very clear "buy low, sell high".

Actually the more profitable tactic might be

BUY HIGH, SELL HIGHER

but I'll side step myself right now.

[thaiintokyo]

we design to go with the coin. we think it is better for the long-term saving. since it is a collectable material, the price likely to go up year after year.

we will buy it after the war. rent a locker with one of our local bank and leave the coin there.

thank you all for the comment.

[thaiintokyo]

Why not put the money in a different bank. I have some money in Australia (City bank), i get 5.6% on 12 month fixed.

You did say long term savings. 5.6% and i read in another thread even almost 6% is available with ING-Direct.

we was thinking of putting our saving in the Austrian or the kiwi bank too, but we just don't know where and how to do it.

[causticme]

Credit Suisse 99.99% gold bars, available in 5, 10, 100 gram and other weights.

Available from major banks.

No problem to re-sell in Thailand.

Having said that you've possibly missed the bull market for gold.

Naka.

In Bangkok they told me at a shop it's better to buy 96 % , because easier to sell?

(I asked about buying gold plate)

I bought 100 ounces at 260 and sold it at 603--Should have bought more--Too late and now it is too high for me!Good luck.

Edited August 4, 2006 by causticme

[Khun Jean]

Why not put the money in a different bank. I have some money in Australia (City bank), i get 5.6% on 12 month fixed.

You did say long term savings. 5.6% and i read in another thread even almost 6% is available with ING-Direct.

we was thinking of putting our saving in the Austrian or the kiwi bank too, but we just don't know where and how to do it.

If you type "ingdirect Australia" in google you will get a hit. Select personal savings and there you have a button "apply"!

Be sure to have a printer because you need to print and fill out some docs and fax them.

At the moment it is 5.85%pa.

No minimum, no fees.