YOUR MONEY


How to Buy Gold From coins and bars to the best ETFs, now is a great time to invest. :: BY GREG BROWN H


ome values are at nosebleed heights, despite higher mortgage rates. Stocks have wobbled


through the fall. Even super-safe U.S. bonds have crashed. Throw on top of that political


gridlock, foreign wars, scalding inflation, and employment anxiety, and you have a pretty strong recipe for worry about the future. That, many financial experts


argue, sets up a bullish outlook for gold as an investment. “In my lifetime I have never seen


a better climate for gold and silver,” says Phillip Patrick, sales manager for Birch Gold Group, Des Moines, Iowa. “Certain economic conditions


drive prices for metals. Inflation is burning at 30-year highs, the world is distancing from the dollar, recession is here or on the horizon.” Plenty of Americans agree. A


recent Gallup survey found that more than a quarter of us believe gold is the best long-term investment, ahead of stocks, bonds, and certificates of deposit (CDs), and the yellow metal is catching up to real estate, too. Meanwhile, central banks are back in buying mode. After decades of


82 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | DECEMBER 2023


being net sellers of gold, the banks are gobbling up new supply at record rates. Leading the pack are Russia


and China, whose governments appear eager to blunt the power of the greenback and, in Russia’s case, provide insurance against international sanctions over Ukraine.


WHAT’S ‘MINED’ CAN BE YOURS So, where is all the world’s gold these days? Of the 209,000 tons of gold mined throughout history, jewelry accounts for 46%, according to the World Gold Council. Meanwhile, 15% is used for industrial applications. The balance, 40%, is bars, coins,


gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), plus central bank reserves. Subtract the central bank reserves


and the private gold investment market is valued at $3 trillion, just a smidge over 1% of the $266 trillion in investable assets worldwide. But at the individual level, how


many of us own gold? Some trading houses unofficially put the level at 10%, though other experts estimate it in single digits. It is perhaps unsurprising that little data exists; it was illegal for Americans to own gold at all from 1933 to 1975. “Most clients are surprised by what


a simple and easy process it is,” says Jack Hanney, CEO and cofounder of Patriot Gold Group in Seal Beach, California. “It’s a simple cash purchase via a


bank, with physical gold delivered in five to seven days to your home, or we store it securely for you.” A popular alternative for many


American investors is to own gold in a tax-advantaged retirement account. “It’s a tax-free, penalty-free rollover from a 401(k), IRA, 403(b), or TSP [thrift savings plan],” Hanney says. Since the money — whatever the


amount — is a rollover, your funds stay in the retirement account and remain shielded. A third-party custodian takes charge of the investment. The gold is held at a secure depository for self- directed IRAs, he explains. Patriot Gold Group is not a financial


or tax adviser, so the decision to invest in gold is best handled between an investor and his or her own advisers, Hanney stresses.


THE MINT CONDITION As to what form, the important detail is that the gold you buy is “IRA eligible,” Hanney says. Broadly speaking, that means the gold must be issued by a recognized


OLIVIER LE MOAL©ISTOCK


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