If investors want to buys stocks or bonds, they can call up their brokers and quickly make the purchase. They can also buy stocks online with the push of a button. Commodities such as gold and silver, however, are more difficult to buy because of the the complicated way in which they trade through futures and options markets.

Whatever the current price of gold is, many people wish to learn how to invest in gold. Metals such as gold and silver are called commodities and they are more complicated than stocks for the normal investor because there are different ways you can invest in them.

Luckily, investing in gold is one of the easier commodities to invest in. One option is that you can invest in gold coins that are obtained from a dealer and from some banks. If you do this, though, you will have to find a safe way to store the gold. Many people who have gold store it in bank safe deposit boxes. This seems to be the most secure method of storage.

The second way to invest in gold is to buy an ETF. Exchange traded funds work much like stocks and they can be bought and sold any time the stock market is open. These funds mirror the price of gold and so even though you do not directly own any gold, you have a fund that has exposure to it. Investing in gold through ETF’s is probably the easiest method and the most recommended method of gold investment for the average investor.

The third and most complicated way to invest in gold is to trade futures and options in the commodities market. This takes a lot of knowledge and experience to know what you are doing and it is not advised for the normal investor. Trading futures and options is something that you learn how to do over time and it is not usual for most gold investors to take this route.

Investing in gold is not as intimidating as it sounds. Usually people can easily buy ETF’s and this is by far the most popular way. As the current price of gold fluctuates, these ETF funds go up and down correspondingly. If you like to have the physical gold in your hands you can always buy it but then the safety issue comes into play. Whichever method or methods you use for your investments in gold, you will still have the benefits of owning the most treasured metal in earth’s history.

As a licensed psychologist and a Registered Financial Consultant I often see how investors allow emotions to sabotage their efforts at investing long-term to build a secure nest egg. During periods when the stock market is weak or fears of inflation are high, gold often spikes in value, tempting people to invest in bullion-related securities whose value fluctuates with changing gold prices. Some investors are tempted to buy Krugerrands or other coins that change in price based upon their bullion value. This article identifies the emotional issues that make gold a tempting investment at times, explains why gold is a terrible investment, and provides 7 tips for resisting the urge to invest in gold.

Over the decades gold has periodically spiked in price and then crashed. During the inflationary period that occurred in the late 1970s and in 1980, gold reached $850 an ounce before plummeting in value. Recently, we have seen a new spike in gold prices with gold reaching over $1000 an ounce. The latest surge has been fueled by record highs in gasoline prices, fears of inflation, and a weak stock market.

When gold prices surge, numerous investing companies spring up, touting gold as a wonderful investment. The companies describe the dramatic returns that gold has produced over the last two or three years, which dupes investors into believing that gold offers the prospect of a wonderful return. Unfortunately, gold is one of the very worst investments that an individual can make. When we examine long-term returns, we find that gold has failed to outpace inflation over the last 25 years. Gold has dramatically underperformed the S&P 500, corporate bonds, and even completely safe U.S Treasury securities. Simply put, gold is a horrendous investment for the long-term.

In addition, gold is one of the most risky investments an investor can make. The hype accompanying spikes in gold prices is often greatest just before the gold market crashes, luring investors into the market at the very top.

How can we avoid the temptation to invest in gold? Below I outline 7 tips.

Dr. Rob’s Practical and Emotional Tips for Resisting the Temptation to Invest in Gold

1. Ignore news reports that describe soaring gold prices. Historically, spikes in gold prices have been relatively short-lived.

2. Recognize your emotional vulnerability to being tempted to invest in gold. Descriptions of dramatic price increases often trigger feelings of greed and envy.

3. Keep in mind that investments that go up quickly have a tendency to go down quickly. Focus on generating steady returns over time.

4. Discount the claims made by companies that specialize in selling bullion-related investing products. These companies are more interested in sales commissions than in making money for you.

5. Always focus on historical averages for long-term returns, which will lead you to the stock market for building a strong nest egg over time.

6. Obtain advice from a licensed, qualified financial professional before making any investing decision. Financial pros can educate you on realistic expectations for long-term returns and guide you to products and services that will meet your specific needs.

7. Consider contacting a Financial Behavior Coach™, a Financial Behavior Consultant™, or some other professional who is specially trained to help you manage the emotional factors that impact money decisions. Don’t allow hope or greed to lure you into investing in gold.

When I spoke to John Robertson, president of Linux Gold Corp. about the new property announced on October 18th near Fairbanks, Alaska, he looked like a very happy person indeed.

“I can’t say much about it. The owners have extremely high expectations and the preliminary geology looks very interesting, but there’s no (N.I.) 43-101 compliant data available just yet. Our consulting geologist (and Qualified Person under NI 43-101*) took multiple samples from existing channels, and those assays will be out in a couple of weeks. That will be the first information we have that is 43-101 compliant.”

So why Alaska and why now?

For starters, Alaska’s gold resources in all categories (measured, indicated and inferred) have increased from a little more than 1 million ounces in 1985 to over 108 million ounces at the end of 2004. Of this total, over 60 million ounces have been put on the books since the price of gold was under serious pressure back in 1997. Over the last ten years, Alaska has added gold to its “ounce bank” at an average rate of 8.6 million ounces per year at a discovery cost of $3.36 per ounce.

The Pogo gold mine is currently in production, while an additional four gold projects, Donlin Creek, Rock Creek, Gil and Nixon Fork, are in permitting or advanced development stages. They will be adding value to Alaska’s mineral production over the next 5 years.

The reason for the excitement at Linux Gold is apparent. Ester Lode is in the middle of the Fairbanks Gold District, one of the more prolific gold areas in North America. Over 10 million ounces of gold have been recovered from placer mining alone since 1902.

All one needs to do is examine the impressive progress of Freegold Ventures Ltd.’s - Golden Summit property to get a sense of the incredible potential. Golden Summit is within the heart of the district, with over 6.75 million of the placer-mined ounces directly attributable to the streams that drain the Golden Summit project area. Golden Summit contains over 80 known gold occurrences, and is host to the largest and highest-grade historic lode gold producers in the district, with over 500,000 ounces of gold having been produced from underground mines from 1902 to 1942 at average grades in excess of 1 oz/ton.

Historic average grades of the two largest underground mines on Golden Summit were 1.3 oz/ton at the Cleary Hill Mine (281,000 oz total production) and 1.6 oz/ton at the Hi Yu Mine (110,000 oz of total production). Many mines were forced to shut down at the beginning of WW2 and never reopened, while others that attempted to reopen after the war simply could not handle mining once the water table was hit, or once bad ground was encountered (neither of which is a serious impediment to today’s modern mining methods).

Immediately following receipt of the assay results from the sampling program taken mid October, Linux will waste little time in drilling select targets to determine the nature and grade of the Ester Creek deposit. Wise investors will look carefully at this stock, prior to drilling. A high-grade intersection of 1 ounce per ton should garner serious attention from investors and fund managers.

For decades prospectors have been looking for the source of the gold that has been feeding nearby creeks and river systems where placer miners have recovered 10M ounces to date. The owner of the property believes the Ester property is connected to that source.

A significant advantage of the Ester situation (compared to the Kinross Fort Knox mine a few miles away, for example) is the low cost required to build a mill to economically crush high-grade underground ore – $20 million approximately. The Kinross low grade/bulk tonnage open pit cost roughly $750 million – approximately 350 ounces of production per day or $175,000 at today’s gold price. With Linux Gold Corp. (LNXGF) trading under $1.00, there is quite an opportunity.

* National Instrument 43-101 governs a company’s public disclosure of scientific and technical information about its mineral projects

This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.

Is there any website I ha e to go to? Do I have to go to the bank?

A good, sound, and sensible investment is investing in gold. While it is not as good an investment as bonds, because it is more risky, it can still be a very good investment. Gold is not really used in a lot of industries therefore it does not need to be so valuable. Gold none-the-less has a high price because of its comparative rarity. Gold has a tendency to stay somewhat stable or to increase in worth.

So let us ask the question; how stable it is investing in gold? The answer is that right now the demand for gold is at least twice the supply available. This of course means that the gold prices will go up thus making it a very good time to invest in gold.

Here is something to pay attention to. Do not invest all your finances into one form of gold. So don’t go out and buy a whole lot of physical gold. While this will give you a very sound solid foundation, it will be hard on you. Remember you will have the problem of gold storage. The more you buy the bigger the space needed. Also remember the up keep you will have to do. The gold needs to be polished and protected against nicks and scrapes and against theft.

Please do like everything else in life and don’t put all your money into one form of gold. Diversify yourself in this venture. Invest a little of your money in mutual funds or gold bars or even gold mining.

While this is not expert advice, you should do some research on investing in gold mining. There are some gold mines now that are not producing very much gold. These mines may start producing more gold at a later date and you could end up making big bucks. Put some of your money in physical gold and perhaps some in a gold mining company. Remember this is not a tip, it is just a thought. You need to do research and make a good sensible decision before investing in gold.

I first starting investing in gold back in 2002 before it started making its major leg up. The reason for investing in gold was simple, yet many felt I was wrong for doing so. I choose to invest in gold because we were living in a debt based economy and gold has an excellent, long-term historical track record of preserving value. I noticed the total supply of dollars being printed each year by the Federal Reserve was growing at a dramatic rate of 13%.

I noticed housing prices growing at an alarming rate relative to median income levels and understood the end game was default. Over the past 25 years we’ve heard people say gold is just an “ancient relic” that holds no real value and watched the price fall to $264. The cost associated with mining has increased while the price of gold went down. This caused a lack of interest in global gold exploration and ultimately led to a decrease in supply and to the “The Gold Bull Market” we’ve seen.

Now we are 7 years into “The Gold Bull Market” and experts are saying we’ve peaked out just above $1,000/oz $US and we’ve reached the end of the great move. While many people would agree with this statement, I disagree based on the continued fundamental weakness in the US Dollar. We can’t print our way to prosperity and every issue the US economy is facing now needs to be addressed. We’ve seen gold sell off, like it always does after making amazing moves up. People got exuberant and bought towards the high and now regret it. We see people shaken out so the strong hands can accumulate positions. As gold regains its moving averages and starts to gain momentum, we will likely see a retest and break of the all-time highs.

To learn more about the gold market join http://www.stockmarketfunding.com.

tic development of gold markets over last 8 years

Gold has always had its place in many investor portfolios seen as a sef bet carrying intrinsic value. But the precious metal frequently returns to the spotlight in times of financial turmoil. In our latest BizChina 360 series, we look at gold China, its fledgling market, its production, and investment.

Our first installment, we look at dramatic developments over the last 8 years.

In 2007 China became the largest gold production country in the world-toppling South Africa from a position it had heldfor over a hundred years.

It’s an exciting new century for China’s gold market. That’s because in 2007, China became the largest gold production country in the world-toppling South Africa from a position it had held for over a hundred years. China’s gold consumption also grew multifold, and now ranks 2nd globally. And experts such as precious metals consultancy GFMS limited are confident, that the positive trend will only continue.

Philip Klapwijk, Executive Chairman of GFMS Ltd. said “The China market in 2008 will probably be the world’s largest physical gold market, supply, demand, consumption. China will be the world’s largest gold market in 2008; that tells you the significance of the China market.”What may be even more startling is the fact that it has taken less than a decade for the country to get here. Previously, gold was managed under the old system of “unified purchase and allocation”, and was strictly controlled by the central government. The development of the gold market was stagnant, at best.

But 2000 proved to be a pivotal year. Everyone in the gold industry hailed the Chinese government’s move to include opening up the country’s gold market in its 10th five year plan. The basic goal was to gradually loosen control of the market by establishing a new system for gold production, circulation and healthy consumption through market dynamics.

Gu Wenshuo, General Manager of General Office of Shanghai Gold Exchange said “The reform of the gold market was very critical. That’s because gold represented not only a commodity, but also a financial function. It was also related to the country’s gold reserve, and many other issues. As a result, China focused on reforming its gold management system. Under those circumstances, we did thorough investigation of the market conditions, and learned from the experience of other countries. On such basis, the State Council ratified the People’s Bank of China to establish a gold market to adjust gold resources.”So at the turn of the millennium over 20 years after China began to shift towards a market economy, the country finally launched its market reform for the gold industry.

The first step was establishing the Shanghai Gold Exchange, which formally opened for trade in October 2002. For the first time in China’s modern history, the country’s gold price was fully determined by the open market.

Enterprises were no longer confined with limited volume. They were free to buy or sell gold through the exchange, and at a price that was determined by the supply and demand of the precious metal.

The opening up of the market injected vigor into China’s gold industry, and significantly boosted development of mining, manufacturing and investment, and many other aspects. But there was a catch. In the early days, the Shanghai Gold Exchange was offering only spot transactions. As a result, most of the market players were gold miners, jewelry merchants, and other entities engaged in the gold industry. Gold investments such as gold future products were not available. In contrast, 97 percent of the worldwide gold trade was gold futures. So-that led to more development. “But it was not until 2004 before the country came out with more clear guidelines to develop the gold market. Speaking at an international gold summit that year, China’s central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan spelt out 3 targets for the sector, applauded by many industry insiders.

Liu Yuning, Senior Vice President of Jingyi Gold Co., Ltd. said “The central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said the yellow medal should evolve from a solely consumable to investment product, while its trading should change from spot transactions to gold derivatives and move from domestic markets to overseas. From 2003 to 2008, we can see gold transforming into an investment product. When we talk about gold, many will now not only think about gold jewelry, but paper gold and gold trading at the exchange.”For the second target, there have been a lot of changes undertaken through years. After research and preparation, the Shanghai Gold Exchange first launched T+D products in 2004, (which allow investors to bid first but delay the spot transaction of real gold), as a stop-gap to gold futures. The breakthrough came in January 2008, when the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission ratified the Shanghai Futures Exchange to launch gold futures products.

Li Wenfeng, Trader of Huaxia Bank said “The move has significant meaning. China ranks among top gold producers, but has little impact on gold prices. The launch of gold future is an important complement to China’s financial system. If we further relax controls on gold import and export, we will have more say in pricing the precious metal. Gold future is a good start. For individual and corporate investors, it is a new alternative.”Another important step has been combining the domestic market with the global gold market. The People’s Bank of China gave the Shanghai Stock Exchange the go-ahead to include 5 locally incorporated foreign banks in its membership this June. The Standard Chartered made a Chinese-style debut on August 8th by trading 88 kilogram gold at the Shanghai stock exchange. It hoped the 4 “8″s will bring luck to its future development in China’s commodity markets.

And with current economic climate in such a turmoil, gold has never looked better.

Wang Lixin, GM of World Gold Council of Greater China said “With the increased income level of the population, with more mature of the gold market, with more products availability in the market place, in terms of the unstable financial market and a weaker US dollar, maybe some concerns about the global currency. We believe consumer will have the interest to buy gold.”"I am now at the People’s Bank of China, which serves as the only management of China’s gold system. However, it has now taken off from here to evolve into a very robust market. Many would say recent developments in China’s gold market has been staggering. People may ask how has this happened so quickly? Many credit the country’s macro-economic environment: China’s opening-up policy. The question now is, can it be sustained? Even though experts are bullish about the country’s future gold industry, China’s increased integration with the global economy does make it vulnerable to its highs-and its lows. But the fact that more and more people are turning to gold as an investment channel could spell an even brighter future for China’s gold industry. “

My banker friends tell me I should invest in gold as they are likely to go higher.

Please tell me where I can get good material to read on gold investment without a broker pushing me.

This is a GM friend of mine doing this. Having an unlimited ammount of gold, he likes to help out people in need of gold. just dont take advantage of the situation and he will be glad to help you out.

With so much uncertainty in the economy is it time to invest in gold and silver?

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