How Do I Buy Gold Coins?

Every first big purchase is a scary one, buying your first home, your first car etc. The same emotions surface around buying gold for the first time. The initial thing you want to do when buying gold for the first time is get educated around it, just like you would do when buying a home or car. This makes the process a little easier and smoother. You will want to know what coins are available and how they will best fit your portfolio. Once you understand the coins and have an idea of your goals and objectives, buying gold becomes an easy process.

Let me help familiarize you with some of the coins. Bullion and numismatic coins are two that are obtainable in the market today. Bullion coins get their value solely from their gold content. American Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs, and South African Krugerrands are all bullion coins which you can easily buy both versions of gold and silver online. Several countries around the world mint their own bullion coins to sell to the public. The American Eagle is the most favorable bullion coin due to its gold content being assured by the US Government.

You can buy gold bullion coins all over the world. The gold will be sold to you for whatever the spot price is at during that time including a premium for being minted, mined, and marketed. One of the pluses to owning gold bullion coins is they tend to keep up with inflation over the long run.

Let’s take a look now at numismatic gold coins. There are some benefits to these coins that bullion coins do not have, one being that they hold a collectable value. When we talk about rare gold coins we are talking about numismatic coins. Between 1795 and 1933 gold coins were minted and used as currency.  In 1933 during the confiscation of gold, President Roosevelt decided not to include numismatic gold coins in the confiscation. This has led people to believe that if a similar event were to happen today that numismatic coins would probably be excluded from confiscation once again.

Another up side to numismatic coins is that they are not reportable when buying or selling. Meaning they are private. People find confiscation protection and the fact that they are not reportable to be very good benefits to owning rare coins.

A couple other factors to consider regarding rare gold coins is that they typically outperform gold bullion and over time in comparison to the bullion coins. Mint state rare gold coins have performed better in the last 40 years over gold bullion on an average of 3 to 1 according to the PCGS charts.

Most people tend to lean towards purchasing rare gold coins due to the three benefits that come along with them. Now that you have some knowledge under your belt you are better prepared to make your first gold purchase.