Physical gold is one of the best forms of long-term wealth protection. It's ideal for your heirs, as it will last longer than any currency they may use in the future. This means that there is enough paper gold in the form of an ETF or XAU, while there are limited quantities of physical gold that investors can buy. Physical gold serves to protect your purchasing power or, as mentioned above, to ensure your purchasing power.
Analysts prefer physically backed ETFs or ETFs, such as iShares Physical Gold, rather than leveraged products that rely on derivatives to boost profitability, adding additional costs and complexity. Gold values represent physical gold, but you don't have the right to exchange them for real metal. If conservative investors want to buy physical metals — a very wise solution, in my opinion — the key safety measure they can take is to ensure that they can distinguish between real gold and fake gold. I like to think of physical gold and silver as financial insurance against inflation, which provides the ability to “set a specific rate”.
As can be seen in the diagram above, there is 46% of physical gold in jewelry, 17% of gold is stored by central banks, and almost a quarter of all gold reserves are still underground. Critics cite the lack of income that can be obtained from physical gold or ETFs, since it does not generate dividends, and the price can be volatile in the short or medium term, making it difficult to know whether to buy at the top or bottom of the market. The opportunity cost of investing in physical metals instead of dividend-rich stocks could be considered another drawback. Compared to paper stocks, physical gold gives investors the ability to physically hold the investment over which they have full control at all times.
If you buy physical gold, you can hold it in your hand, something you can't do with almost any other investment.
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