Feedback Buying Gold Where to buy gold
Feedback Buying Gold Where to buy gold
Why you should distrust the mainstream mediaNewspapers have to attract and maintain a high proportion of advertising in order to cover the costs of production; without it, the price of any newspaper would be many times what it is now, which would soon spell its demise in the marketplace. There is fierce competition throughout the media to attract advertisers; a newspaper which gets less advertising than its competitors is put at a serious disadvantage. For any publication to survive, it has to hone itself into an advertiser-friendly medium. In other words, the media has to be sympathetic to business interests. Even the threat of withdrawal of advertising can affect editorial content. A US study of 150 news editors found that 90 per cent said that advertisers tried to interfere with newspaper content, and 70 per cent tried to stop news stories altogether. 40 per cent admitted that advertisers had in fact influenced a story. The mainstream press usually dismisses jewelry as an investment. For instance the Daily Telegraph writes: While thousands of items of gold jewellery change hands every year, they are not considered serious investments. India devours 800 tonnes of bullion, more than 30pc of annual global gold mine production, mostly as jewellery. But although over the long term these jewels should hold their value and rise in line with inflation, manufacturing costs and the jewellers' markup mean they would sell for a fraction of the purchase price for the first few years of ownership. This is totally untrue; the markup on Indian jewelry is negligible. Either the writer has failed to properly research the subject or is deliberately misleading the readers. What the press likes to write aboutA financial services company will pay as much as 800 times more for an advertisment than a company in another sector. For this reason the media likes to focus in particular on the following 2 ways of investing in gold and precious metals: Exchange Traded FundsIf you can't spot the sucker at the table, then it's probably you.- old poker adage It is possible to buy shares in a gold ETF called GOLD, which has the ticker symbol GLD. The shares are priced at the mid point between the buying and selling price of the spot price of gold. IAU and PHAU are 2 other gold based ETFs similar to GLD. SLV and SIVR track the silver price. There are several disadvantages to this way of owning gold.
Gold Mines and Gold Mining SharesA gold mine is a hole in the ground with a liar on top - Mark Twain It is possible in some parts of Africa to buy gold dust or uncut diamonds at considerably less than they are worth. If there are no refining facilities in the country then gold dust is of little use and people will be happy to swap it for a shirt or a pair of shoes which have more practical value. However this cannot be recommended as there are many risks associated with this kind of transaction. The mainstream media likes to focus on shares in gold mining companies. In reality this is little more than gambling. Gold mining companies have in the past been destroyers rather than creators of wealth.
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