Experts have a golden rule of holding no more than 10% of your assets in gold. After all, gold is a commodity. The price of gold will depend on the supply and demand for it. If the US dollar has strength, the commodity market will be weak. And vice versa.

Are we talking about investing in gold and silver as the actual physical bar or part of the market?

Are you building a locker and storing food? You might choose to invest in an actual bar.

When you want to hold the actual bar of gold there are some things to think about and questions to ask:

    Shipping costs

    Research the dealer

    Research the product

    Where is it being held?

    Who is backing the product?

    What type of transaction confirmation is there?

If you choose an actual bar you will pay a premium relative to the gold price. And a disadvantage is the liquidity is diminished.

However, if you are comfortable with the markets instead of buying gold bars you might choose to invest there, instead of buying the physical gold bars!

You will want to get as close as possible to the value of the true market. To that end, you have the option of using an ETF.

Who wants to hold a Gold Eagle?

When investing in gold and silver American’s want to hold the Gold Eagle!

The bad news is it is one of the worst coins you can buy from an American perspective. The pricing is the same as when the eagle coin was first issued in the 1980s. That’s right 33 years ago!

There are no deals for the dealers. They pay the same price for each coin regardless of how many coins they buy and they don’t get anything under melt value.

Let’s say I’m a dealer. I will pay 3% ($38 per coin). If another dealer comes to me, I’ll sell to him at a slight increase ($45). If a customer comes to me directly I will sell it for between $50 and $60.

This is harking back to high school economics, but think about the law of supply and demand, nobody is paying attention to the premium. Why? Because there is so much demand for the Gold Eagle and Silver Eagle.

The US mint has the mindset: If it’s not broke, don’t try to fix it.

The Gold Eagle coin if fine in the United States. However, other countries prefer a 24-carat gold coin–and the Eagle is not that.

So, if the Gold Eagle isn’t equal to the coins in other countries–which coin is?

Gold tends to trade inversely to the value of the US dollar, so be sure to know the market

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The US has the Buffalo which is a four nines gold coin which compares equally with the Royal Canadian Mint Gold Maple Leaf, the British Britannica, and the Australian kangaroo. They are all four nines gold coins.

The US Buffalo sells at the same rate as the US Gold Eagle–sometimes even higher. The dealers get their mark-up. It is the retail investor that pays an additional $30 or more.

An even better deal is to buy a gold bar. They can be traded for $15-$20.

Since the US mint is at 3%, it’s opened a window for the other sovereign mints to offer their coins on the US market. That discounts the Golden Eagle.

As a lifelong collector, I’m continually disappointed that the US Mint chooses not to be more competitive when it could.