7) Many ways to invest

Investing is gold is not limited to only buying jewelry or gold coins. There are a number of ways in which investments can be made in gold such as e-gold, gold futures, gold mutual funds etc, which can be chosen by investors according to their risk appetite and comfort level.

Different Ways of investing in gold

1) Jewelry

One of the most common ways of investing in gold is buying gold jewelry. Though gold is bought in the form of jewelry mostly for consumption purposes rather than investment purposes, it is still considered to be a rather safe way of investing in gold.

This method of investment is rather easy, all one needs is cash or cheque and then he is ready to shop around for buying gold jewelry. When buying jewelry, customers are not only paying the market price of the yellow metal but also paying for the making charges of the jewelry. At times, customers may be sold inferior quality gold in the pretext of ‘high quality' gold. So, it is a must to look for certificates of purity of gold like BIS Hallmark, when buying physical gold.

2) Gold coins and bars

Buying gold coins and bars is considered better from the point of view of investment. Small investors generally go for gold coins and bars as these can be bought in small quantities also. Not only jewelers but banks and post offices also sell gold coins or bars in weights of 5 grams, 8 grams, 10 grams, 50 grams and so on. Gold bars are available for higher weights also.

3) Gold ETFs

Gold ETFs stand for Gold Exchange Traded Funds, which are units of gold held in an electronic form and traded on exchanges. One unit of gold ETF is equivalent of 1 gram of gold. To invest in gold ETF, an investor needs to have a demat account. They are considered safe as investment is made in standard gold bullion with 99.5 percent purity. To provide further protection to Indian investors, gold ETFs are regulated by Stock Exchange Board of India.

Gold ETFs are good options for those who do not want to be bothered by the inconveniences of storing and securing physical gold. Liquidity is also not an issue as the ETF units can be sold in the exchanges at existing rates easily and quickly.