There are several ways a person can hedge their portfolio with gold.  The best and easiest way is to buy a gold etf.  Most of these funds are backed by physical gold.  That is, there is a warehouse that is packed full of gold.  Each time a share of the etf is sold, that share represents a fraction of the price of one ounce of gold.  As the price of gold increases, the value of the etf will increase.  Unfortunately trading the etf for physical gold is very difficult.  So for those who do not want to take the risk of not being able to get the actual gold in exchange for their shares, they might want to look at purchasing physical gold instead.

The general school of thought on buying physical gold bullion versus an etf for gold is why the gold is being held in the first place.  For those who want the gold to protect against market volatility, or those who are protecting against hyper-inflation, the best thing to do is to buy an etf.  This way their investment will be much more liquid and can be cashed in or re-invested into the market much more easily.  For those who are looking for disaster protection, that is in the event of a total economic or governmental collapse, they might want to purchase physical gold.  In the form of coins or in another form of bullion, the gold will be available if for some reason the banks or the stock market shuts down completely.

Many people do not want to just keep up with the price of gold, but want to do a little better than it.  This is a little bit riskier of an investment, but it can pay off in the long run.  Instead of an etf, people that are interested in a high return should buy gold stock.  By purchasing gold stock they are actually buying shares in a company that mines or refines stock.  These companies usually do better when the price of gold increases, but they will increase faster and more dramatically than the value of gold.  So when the value goes up, the value of these stocks goes up even more.  On the other side, when the value goes down, the value of these stocks go down even more.  The potential for great returns is there, but the potential for dramatic losses is also present.

There are many ways for an investor to get a portion of their portfolio in gold.  Each method of investing is used to meet a specific goal.  So if the person is looking to hedge against disaster, inflation, or take some risk and get a great return, their investment will look different.  In any event, it is wise for people to invest in gold, regardless of which method is chosen, gold can round off a portfolio and make it very well balanced so it will continue to perform well for the investor.

The most important lesson to remember when learning about buying gold bullion is that you should never pin all your hopes on a single deal. This is a recipe for disaster because if you put all your eggs in a single basket then if that investment goes wrong you stand to lose a lot of money. Instead, you should try to make your investment portfolio as diverse as possible so that you can be sure if something goes wrong with one investment you won’t lose too much money.

There are several options when it comes to buying gold. For example, you could buy gold coins or bars. When buying gold make sure you buy only if it’s considered investment grade i.e. stamped from a recognized refinery with .999 fine. You could also buy silver, platinum or palladium bullion if you want to diversify with different metals so that if the price of one drops you won’t necessarily lose your entire portfolio.

Apart from buying physical gold you could also consider buying digital gold which is sometimes called e-gold.  Many companies offer what are called Pool accounts, they work like this, you set up an account with the company ( I have a Kitco pool account) you then choose how many ounces of gold, silver or platinum you want to purchase, they store the metal for you, when you want to sell your bullion you simply login to your account and sell it, they mail you your cheque or you can keep the funds in your pool account if you plan on buying something else in the future.  Pool accounts take to worry out of storing your metals, just make sure you use a well known and respected company.

Gold bullion is available in a wide variety of sizes such as:1 gram, 5 grams, 10 grams, 50 grams, 100 grams, 1000 grams, 1 oz, 5 oz, 10 oz, 100 oz and 400 oz.  You can also purchase a wide variety of gold bullion coins, some of the more well known gold coins are; 1 oz Maple .999, 1 oz Maple .9999, 1 oz Maple .99999, 1 oz Australian Nugget, 1 oz Vienna Philharmonic, 1 oz Chinese Panda and the 1 oz Krugerrand.

Whether you want to invest in a gold coin, bar or ingot  or open a pool account you need to make sure you understand the process and the risks before you start. Just because prices for gold seem to be rising regularly at the moment does not mean that this will always be the case and the market can change very quickly. With that said, the potential rewards of buying and selling gold are large and you need to be willing to take a certain amount of risk if you want to make money in the long run.

My most successful transaction over the past few years has been in Palladium, I was fortunate enough to purchase Palladium a couple years back at $190 per ounce, as it sits today that same Palladium is now worth $466.00 per ounce.  I’m not a financial expert but I am a gold buyer, I purchase everything at a discount, I also watch for large drops in prices, this is when I buy, it’s worked out well for me but I do watch precious metal prices daily and when you’re involved in an industry you get a feel for what’s going on.  The cash for gold industry has exploded over the past few years, when I first started there were but a handful of competitors but it seems now that everyone is a gold buyer, from pawn shops to jewelers to the numerous online companies popping up, I’ve even seen dry cleaners with signs advertising they are now buying gold.

The first thing you need to know is that there are a number of different places you can buy a silver bullion bar and each will have a different price. For example, you could try looking for silver using online auction sites such as eBay or a local dealer. The trick to making an investment that will pay off in the long run is to find the best price possible by searching all these potential sellers.  The problem with ebay is that sellers on ebay know what their silver is worth and are usually looking for a premium on their bars.

You also need to be aware that not all silver bars are equal. For example, high quality bars will have a marking of where they were made, how much they weight and what fineness they contain. Investment quality silver bars will have the name and serial number of the refinery stamped on it.  If you come across bars that are unmarked stay away from them unless you really know your stuff, there are counterfeit gold and silver bars around these days.   If you want to get the highest quality silver you should look for 99.9% fineness as they are 999/1000 pure silver.  Fine gold, silver and platinum are considered financial instruments and are therefore sales tax do not apply to them at least here in Canada.

Silver bars come in a variety of sizes as listed below:

• 1 gram
• 10 gram
• 1 ounce (31.1 grams)
• 5 ounce
• 10 once
• 100 ounce
• 50 grams
• 500 grams
• 1000 grams (kilo bars)
• 50 ounce
• 100 ounce (my personal preference as it’s all I can afford at this time
• 1000 ounce

Silver bullion is also available as Silver Rounds, Canadian Silver Maples, Chinese Pandas, Olympic Coins and more.

When buying silver bullion you need to be constantly aware of the current market price for silver. This will greatly affect whether a particular piece of silver is worth investing in so you need to watch the market closely to identify any potential trends. However, you shouldn’t expect to get silver bullion for the market price when buying from a bullion manufacturer because they’ll add manufacturing costs as well as a profit margin.

One thing that many people overlook when buying silver bullion is where they’re going to keep them. Silver isn’t like other investments in that it’s a physical thing and hence needs to be stored. It may be worth getting a safe box at a bank to store your silver so you know it’ll be safe. At the very least you should buy a secure safe for your house although this won’t be as protected as storing the silver in a bank.

Once you’ve bought the silver and stored it you then need to think about when to sell it! Silver and gold buyers and refiners will always be happy to purchase your silver bullion.   Keep watching the market to see when the best time to sell to maximize your investment. You don’t want to miss an opportunity so check the market as often as possible.  With the price of silver on the move bullion is not the only thing to be on the look out for, scrap silver such as old coinage, sterling silver jewelry and silverware are also being purchased en mass.

Unlike other commodities it can be difficult to know the true value of a diamond. For this reason most people choose to get an appraisal from several different and independent jewelers of a diamond before selling so they know how much they can expect to get.  The thing is, appraisals are generated mostly for insurance purposes and don’t reflect the actual amount you can expect to fetch for your stone.  One problem you may have is if your diamond doesn’t have a certificate and in this case you may not be able to sell it for the full price. You can always apply to get one though and this might be a good idea if you find you aren’t receiving acceptable offers. Not all jewelers purchase diamonds, as a matter of fact most do not.

Although ideally you’d like to find a professional diamond buyer this may not always be necessary.   Someone you know and trust may be able to give you a fast sale of your diamond so make sure you ask friends and family whether they’d like to buy. Always ensure you know the true value of the diamond before doing this though.

When it comes to diamonds or any valuable material it generally isn’t a good idea to sell it at a pawn shop. While this can seem like an easy way to sell a diamond in reality you won’t receive anywhere near the full value because the pawn shop won’t be able to sell it on for full price.

If you have a high quality diamond then it’s probably best to sell it at an auction where there will be many people who understand its true value. For a less expensive diamond you could consider selling it direct to a jewelry shop or even through a classified ad in your local newspaper but as you look into doing this you’ll notice there are a ton of other people looking to sell their diamonds as well.

Unfortunately because there are so many people trying to sell their diamonds the market price tends to be quite low.  This is particularly the case with lower quality / smaller stones.  If you diamond has a clairty of SI1 or lower or a color below G-H you’ll have a hard time finding anyone who purchases diamonds to give you much of a price for it.  The stones you can expect to recover a decent amount form are stones .75 carat and higher with good color and clarity.  With regards, to appraisals, as  mentioned they don’t mean a great deal when it comes to the real price you can expect to get for your stones, as  a rough guide I would say you should expect to get anywhere from 9 to 12.5 % of the appraisal value.  Most buyers and brokers use Rapaport as a price guide line, this is an industry publication that gives the approximate high cash asking price in New York for the wholesale diamond industry.
Whether you’re looking for diamond ring buyers or buyers for rough diamonds the first place you should look is the internet. Not all gold buyers necessarily purchase diamonds, as a rule if a company is buying precious metals they aren’t necessarily experts in gemstones.  Searching for diamond buyers in your area will give you a list of potential buyers and also a list of people who have the expertise to give you an accurate appraisal. Even if you need money quickly you should never rush into selling a diamond because you need to make sure you’re receiving a fair price.

Jewelry stores – These are not one of the best places to sell your scrap silver but you need to remember that they’re buying to make a profit. This means you won’t be able to sell for decent value. As a rule jewelers don’t specialize in purchasing unwanted silver, there isn’t a huge profit in buying scrap silver so many gold buyers stay away from it.  I do purchase silver, although it doesn’t provide a huge profit I tend to accumulate many kilograms before I sell it, while I’m accumulating the bits an pieces the price of silver rises so I’m normally happy when I melt and sell it.

Now you’d like to know where to sell silver, I sell my to a local refinery that I have dealt with for over 5 years, when you sell your silver you have a couple options.  First you could take the payment in cash or check, secondly you can take your melted silver in precious metals itself in either gold, silver or platinum bars.  Personally I do a bit a of both, say I take in 20 kilograms of sterling silver jewelry or silverware, so it’s 20 kgs or 20,000 grams x .925 = 18,500 grams of fine silver, I get paid 90% of the actual silver by my refinery which is 18,500 grams x .9 =now we divide 16,650 grams / 31.1 grams = 535.3 troy ounces of fine silver in return.  You could choose to be paid by taking 535 troy ounces of silver, if you do this you will likely be charge a ‘bar charge’, on 535 ounces it will likely be $1.00 per ounce.

If you are an individual with sterling silver jewelry or sterlingware to sell you would be wise to call and or visit websites in your region to see what they are paying for sterling silver that day, if a company says they need to see it in person to give you a price I would suggest looking elsewhere as they are likely to low ball you, it’s a simple ‘price per gram’ you are looking for.

Offline and Online classified ads – Places such as eBay are good places to sell medium to low quality silver although it’s often hit or miss whether you get a good deal. However, if you’re selling expensive silver coins for example then you should definitely avoid places such as eBay and go to an auction house or a professional dealer. Even so, eBay is regularly visited by a lot of knowledgeable silver dealers looking to pick up a good deal so it’s always an option.  The problem with selling on ebay is their fees, once you factor in the ebay fees you’ll see your return deminish substantially.

Auction Houses – It’s usually only worth trying to sell silver jewelry at an auction if you’ve had it valued at a high price.  With silver jewelry this is unlikely, again auction houses will charge a hefty fee that will see you profit eaten away quickly.  Auctions can be stressful and a lot of work so they generally shouldn’t be used to sell low priced items. However, they can be a fantastic place to sell expensive items because there will be many knowledgeable bidders who have the money to buy.

If you’re selling silver coins and they are of collectible quality then you need to make sure you get it graded before you sell. For example, you could ask a company such as NGC to grade your coin which will then define its value to potential bidders. Having your coins graded will make them much more attractive to potential buyers. In fact, some collectors will only buy coins that have been professionally graded so if you’re serious about selling a high priced coin this is an essential step.  If you have older U.S. or Canadian regular coinage (pre 1968 for Canadian and pre 1965 for U.S. coins) you’ll normally be quoted per face dollar, for example as I write this I am currently paying $7.85  for everyone $1.00 worth of U.S. dollar, half dollar, quarters and dimes.  I am currently paying $6.75 for every dollar, half dollar, quarters and dimes that total $1.00.

Normally you’ll be able to sell your unwanted silver to the same company you sell you gold scrap to but no matter where you decide to sell your silver make sure it’s a reputable company or individual. There are unscrupulous silver dealers out there that should be avoided at all costs.  When you selling your scrap silver you should expect to receive approximately 75% of the actual value of the silver content.

Silver bullion has been one of the most undervalued metals over the last few decades.  That is why so many people are buying silver these days.  Unless  you purchase you bars before the most recent surge in price I would hang on to them a little while longer.  Silver is still vastly undervalued and many experts are predicting silver to soar to $50 to $100 dollars per ounce in the next two years.