How to Invest in Gold

Invest in gold with American Hartford Gold and start growing your investments today.

Maybe you need to diversify your investments and lower your risk. Perhaps you're looking for a so-called safe haven investment to perform better when the rest of the market down.

Gold may be considered the best safe haven investment. Start with our guide to learn more about how you can include some gold in your portfolio.

3 Ways to Start Gold Investing

The gold market is a great way to diversify your investment portfolio. Here's how you can start investing in gold.

1. Buy Physical Gold

You can get exposure to gold by purchasing gold jewelry, coins or bullion. Gold bullion trades close to the price of gold, and it can refer to gold bullion bars or gold bullion coins.

Bullion doesn’t have any artistic value, which makes it different from jewelry or numismatic coins. To buy gold bullion, you have to pay a premium over the gold price which can be in a range from 3% to 10%. You'll also have to use a vault or a bank deposit box to store it. You can buy physical gold online, in a jewelry store or through another gold storefront.

Before you purchase, make sure the price is fair, the gold is real and tested and that you aren’t paying a higher premium for collectors coins if you’re just looking for pure gold. Be prepared to walk away if these standards can't be met, especially if an online store or physical storefront feels shady.

A trusted online store with a 4.9 rating on Google store is Silver Gold Bull. It not only allow you to buy gold, but will also store it and buy it back should you chose to sell it for a profit. 

2. Buy Gold Futures

Futures contracts are standardized contracts that trade on organized exchanges. They allow a holder to buy or sell an underlying at a specified time in future and at the price from the futures contract.

You'll need to open a brokerage account to get started. Check out Benzinga's Best Futures Brokers rankings to start trading.

Here's how it works: A gold futures contract at Chicago Mercantile Exchange covers 100 troy ounces. To trade it, you need to deposit an initial margin, which is a minimal amount necessary to open a position. Every day your position is going to be marked-to-market. This means that if the price goes in your direction, you'll make a profit. If it goes against you, you'll lose money.  

If your account drops below maintenance margin, you will have to transfer money to your account to meet the amount of initial margin. Futures contracts are leveraged instruments. You need to only need your account balance to be equal to the initial margin, which is lower than the value of the whole contract.  

Most brokers do not have the delivery option, so the contract is settled in cash when it expires. The expiry is also standardized feature of the gold futures contract and investors can choose their time horizon while keeping standard expiration in mind. Later expiry contracts prices can be higher than the spot price and earlier expiry futures. When this is the case, we say that the market is in a contango.  

On the other hand, when the spot price or the price of early expiring contracts are higher than the price of later expiring futures contracts, we are in a backwardation. If you are buying gold when the market is in a contango, you will also have to pay a premium for later expiry contracts.

3. Invest in Gold ETFs

If you are not a fan of investing in gold futures, you can try gold ETFs. Instead of owning futures contract and paying attention to maintenance margin, you can buy shares of ETFs and get an exposure to gold.

If you've never invested in ETFs before and want to start, check out Benzinga's Best Online Brokers for ETF Investing to get started. Once you pick a brokerage, you just have to open an account and pick your preferred gold ETF.

The most popular gold ETF is SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD). It costs 0.40% annually to own it. The ETF follows gold bullion price.

4. Invest in Gold Mining Companies

An investment in gold mining companies offers exposure to gold, but the exposure is sometimes limited. These companies carry operating risks, which can break a correlation to the gold price. Gold miners are at risk of a default and their shares can trade lower in case of an operating problem with the company regardless of the price of gold.

Best Brokers for Investing in Gold

Benzinga compiled a list of the top brokers for investing in gold, here is who made the cut.

1. Best for New and Experienced Investors: American Hartford Gold

You might also try American Hartford Gold Group, a family-owned business that offers you access to a wide range of gold and silver coins along with easy setup for Gold IRAs.

Plus, you could qualify for up to $15,000 in silver or 3 years of free storage. Using this platform helps you diversify your investments, protect yourself during economic uncertainty and get the dedicated, expert account support that you deserve.

2. Precious Metal and Gold IRA Investing: Advantage Gold

Using Advantage Gold to set up your precious metals investments opens you up to a world of possibilities. You can start a Gold IRA account at any time, self-direct your investments in that account or use their top-rated customer service team to help you purchase the right precious metals for your specific goals.

Advantage Gold is built on customer service and education and provides a wealth of information on gold, silver, platinum or palladium investments. These physical metals can be shipped directly to you or they can be held as part of your retirement account and be a safe haven in a down economy. You can reach out to the Advantage Gold team at any time if you have questions, learn what your best options are and begin to build a financial portfolio that focuses on the safety and peace of mind provided by precious metals.

3. Retirees Wanting Security Against Market Crashes: Lear Capital

You might also try Lear Capital, which is a full-serve precious metals broker that allows you to purchase physical gold bullion or coins, buy into gold IRAs and mix these investments into your overall financial portfolio. When you spend more, Lear waives more fees on your behalf, and their experts can answer your questions, explain how to invest wisely and share account details as needed.

4. Home Delivery Gold IRA: Red Rock Secured

Try Red Rock Secured. When you use Red Rock Secured, you can actually turn your retirement assets into physical gold (and other precious metals.)

Red Rock Secured pays for the shipping required for all gold purchases, helps you diversify your retirement portfolio and offers a 7-day price protection policy. 

You can get free 1-on-1 advice from the Red Rock team, likely qualify (like 90% of their clients) for no fees for life and put your money into one of the safest investments out there.

5. Gold IRA: Augusta Precious Metals

Working with a trusted firm like Augusta Precious Metals allows you to purchase precious metals like gold (and silver if you prefer), gold coins or set up a Gold IRA that invests your retirement funds in the gold sector, using 99.5% pure, IRA-eligible gold. Consider making the change and check out APM when you’re ready to start a collection or save for the future. All prices quoted on the site are the prices you will pay, but make sure you buy soon because prices are subject to change.

Once you buy gold, you have to store it properly. You could store it at home, but security issues could arise from this approach. If you decide to purchase and keep it at home, make sure you have a proper safe and take the necessary measures to protect your assets.

6. Best for Experienced Precious Metals Investors: Preserve Gold

With a 24-hour satisfaction guarantee, solid buyback policies, guaranteed lifetime account support and secure shipping that gets to your home quickly, you can make the most of your gold investment with Preserve Gold.

You can sign up and start buying into gold, silver, platinum and even palladium. Doing so helps you hedge against a crumbling economy or sector. Plus, you can talk to their team at any time when you want to learn more about these unique investments.

Investing in Gold as a Commodity

Like any other commodity, the price of gold is determined by supply and demand. Most of the world’s gold comes from the hard rock mining, but it can also be produced using placer mining methods or as a by-product from copper mining.

China, Australia and Russia are the largest producers of gold in the world.  Gold's main use is for jewelry production, but it's also used in the aerospace industry, medicine, dentistry and electronics. Governments and central banks are also buyers of gold.

Currently, the U.S. is the largest gold holder, while Germany comes 2nd and the International Monetary Fund is 3rd. Private investors are also interested in buying gold and treat the purchase of gold as an investment.

Why are Private Investors Investing in Gold?

Instead of holding a cash position, you might buy gold when they expect a recession, geopolitical uncertainty, inflation or a depreciation of a currency. Sometimes investors hold it as insurance from the market decline.

In the last 40 years, gold recorded significant gains from 1978 to 1980 and from 1999 to 2011. It struggled during the 90s and after 2011. Fears of inflation and recession led gold to its 1980 highs, while several events caused gold to trade higher after 1999. The September 11 attacks and the war in Iraq held the price higher until 2003.

Insurance buying was behind gold’s move higher going into the 2007 recession. It continued its uptrend as the market traded lower, with economic uncertainty as its main theme. Problems in Europe, weaker U.S. dollar, concerns over economic recovery kept the gold price high until 2011.  

Gold has not always performed well. It struggled during the '90s due to a growing U.S. GDP, interest rate hikes in 1995, and a tight fiscal policy. After 2011, the strength of the U.S. dollar and economy hurt gold. The stock market broke out of a downtrend and turned in the uptrend and investors were not as interested in owning gold as an insurance.

Expand Your Portfolio and Invest in Gold Today

Investing in gold can be a great way to diversify your portfolio, invest in a new asset class and protect yourself from the volatility of the stock market. When considering how to invest in gold, it is important to evaluate both the risks and rewards of doing so. The most common methods of investing in gold are physical ownership, ETFs and mutual funds, gold stocks, and futures trading.

You can diversify your investments and lower your risk with an investment in gold. There are many ways to add gold to your portfolio. Review our recommended avenues, and choose your gold investment today.

Frequently Asked Questions