Why don’t you buy gold bars

When I tell my family and friends about buying silver bullions, the first question they ask is: why don’t you buy gold bars?

Everyone seems to have emotional attachment to gold.

They like the idea of buying gold bars, but not the idea of buying silver bullions.

Why do I not buy gold bars?

From an investment perspective, gold is not a good investment.

The increase in gold price is not as good as the increase in silver price in term of rate of return.

The whole year increase for gold in 2010 is about 30%.  The whole year increase for silver is about 70% in 2010.

Even if you take the rate of return for both gold and silver in the past five years, silver outperforms gold.

In this case, the logical answer is to invest in silver.

The price of silver per ounce is still within the range of everyone.  At the moment, it is between US$28 to US$29.

The price of gold per ounce is between US$1360 to US$1400.

It is cheaper to invest in silver bullions than gold bars.

Does that mean that you should not buy gold bars?

Actually gold is one of the best investments, since everyone loves gold.  Everyone recognizes the value of gold bars.

The question is not whether you should or should not buy gold bars.  The question is when you should buy gold bars.

The price of gold is simply too high at the moment.  Even if you buy a single gold bar of 1 oz, you need to fork out more than US$1,400.

The selling price for gold bars is always more than the spot rate.

After all, you have to pay for the Mint to make the gold bars, and pay for the shipping and insurance cost.

Many experts in commodities and precious metal investment are warning of the coming market correction for the price of gold and silver.


If you intend to buy gold bars or silver bars, wait for the price to drop.


The correction may cost the price to drop 20% to 30%.  Nobody really knows how drastic the price change will be.

Everyone is keeping an eye on the international spot rate for gold price and silver price.

It is a good investment opportunity for those who can afford to buy gold bars and silver bars.

If you prefer paper assets, you can check out the national banks for the gold and silver account.  Many banks have gold saving accounts or silver saving accounts scheme.

The problem is that the account charges a monthly maintenance fee, since they are holding and keeping the physical gold and silver for you.