Your 5-Step Guide to Buying Gold Bullion.

– and helpful tips for what to look out for when doing so.

1 – Decide on your budget?

Traditionally, financial experts will say that investors should allocate no more than between 5% to 10% of their portfolios to alternative assets, such as gold. However, it’s always important to take your individual situation and goals into consideration.

You may not have a traditional financial portfolio, with divisions of stocks, shares, bonds and other commodities – you may simply have a ‘lump sum’ to invest.  In this case, the amount of your lump sum investment into gold can be as much, or as little as makes sense to you to achieve your objective.

For instance, you may have a certain amount of funds in a bank savings account – and if inflation is running at high levels – these funds may be better suited to purchasing gold in order to hedge against inflation.

Gold is seen as a ‘store of wealth’, so decide how much you want to invest, with a medium to long term view of holding the gold so that when you decide to sell, your investment should have at least retained (and hopefully increased upon) its initial buying power.

2 – Research your Gold dealer/company

Make sure you are dealing with a legitimate gold bullion dealer.  Look for dealers and companies that are certified and authorised by LBMA Approved refineries and industry associations or other industry-leading bodies.

Look for dealers that have a physical presence – not just a website!  You need to know you can call in to your dealer to meet and discuss your requirements in-person and face to face.

Research your dealers Google reviews to see what past-customers say about dealing with them. Here at Core Bullion Traders, we are always happy to meet existing and potential clients in-person at our facility in Dublin City centre.

3 – Choose your product

A good gold dealer will be able to assist you in choosing the right product to suit your individual requirements.  You may be thinking about buying gold coins, when in actual fact gold bars may be a  better option for you.  Your gold dealer should give you all of the ‘Pro’s & Con’s’ of choosing each different product type – be that bars (bullion) in different sizes/weights to suit your budget, or coins and which coin is best suited for you.

In some circumstances ‘physical’ gold may not be right for your requirements, in this instance you could buy gold certificates – where your gold is stored for you in a secure location.  This negates any storage or security issues that come with buying physical gold bullion or coin.  If gold certificates are the right option for you, make sure you only buy certificates that are 100% physically-backed by gold bullion and certificates which are Government guaranteed – such as Perth Mint Certificates.  Core Bullion Traders are 1 of only 10 companies in the world who are Officially Authorised Distributors of The Perth Mint Certificate Program.

4 – Place your order

When placing your order there are a few key points you should be aware of and expect from your gold dealer.

Your pricing should be based on the Live ‘Spot’ price of gold. This is the Live price of gold on the market and is based on 1oz of 24 carat gold. The Spot price goes up and down all day, every day, just like stocks and shares.  All reputable gold dealers will base their prices on the Live spot price.

The usual sequence in which an order is placed is as follows:

• Get your Live ‘Initial’ pricing from your dealer

• When you are happy with the pricing you will usually have to pay for your order, or place sufficient funds with your dealer in order to ‘Lock-in’ your trade

• Once your trade is Locked-in you should receive your paperwork for your transaction from your dealer, along with an ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) on when your order will be ready for collection/storage

• You should receive paperwork/confirmation from your dealer throughout every step of the process

5 – Collect your order & store it

Once your order has been fully locked-in and placed with your dealer you should have an ETA from them for your order.

Once your goods are received at the dealers location, you can then  book your collection date.  Be aware that you will usually be required to produce Photo ID on collection.

All reputable gold dealers will have various storage options available for you – to either store your order securely with them, or for storage options with secure vaults around the world. Your gold dealer should be able to advise you as to the best storage option for you be that your own safe deposit box or storing with them.

Always investigate all storage options with your dealer to find out which is best for you.

Core Bullion Traders are 100% Irish owned and operate from a high-security facility in Dublin city centre.  We are happy to meet our clients both existing and prospective, in our offices (by appointment) at any stage.

We only deal with LBMA Approved & Member Refineries and we are Officially Authorised distributors for The Dublin Assay Office bullion bars and The Perth Mint Program.  We are quality assured and accredited by The International Trade Council (ITC).

 

We love what we do and we look forward to dealing with you should you ever need to buy or sell gold bullion, coins and many other precious metals products.

Contact us today if you would like to know more.  We look forward to dealing with you at Core Bullion Traders.

Nigel Doolin is Head of Trading at Core Bullion Traders – he can be contacted directly at: nigel@corebulliontraders.ie or Tel: +353 (0)1 447 5975

Disclaimer &  Copyright 2023

Although every effort has been made to undertake this work with care and diligence, Core Bullion Traders do not guarantee the accuracy of any forecasts or assumptions. Nothing contained in this presentation constitutes an offer to buy or sell securities or commodities and nor does it constitute advice in relation to the buying or selling of investments. It is published only for informational purposes. Core Bullion Traders does not accept responsibility for any losses or damages arising directly or indirectly from the use of this presentation or data.