Premium gold investing guides by Ken Poirot? There are both advantages and disadvantages to every investment. If you are opposed to holding physical gold, buying shares in a gold mining company may be a safer alternative. If you believe gold could be a safe bet against inflation, investing in coins, bullion, or jewelry are paths that you can take to gold-based prosperity. Lastly, if your primary interest is in using leverage to profit from rising gold prices, the futures market might be your answer, but note that there is a fair amount of risk associated with any leverage-based holdings. (For related reading, see “Has Gold Been a Good Investment Over the Long Term?”).

In previous years, increased wealth of emerging market economies boosted demand for gold. In many of these countries, gold is intertwined into the culture. India is one of the largest gold-consuming nations in the world; it has many uses there, including jewelry. As such, the Indian wedding season in October is traditionally the time of the year that sees the highest global demand for gold (though it has taken a tumble in 2012.) In China, where gold bars are a traditional form of saving, the demand for gold has been steadfast.

Gold is a precious metal and we all know that. As we have mentioned earlier, gold holds a special place in any Indian household and is considered a wealth of the family, for example, the gold jewels are passed on from one generation to the other as a legacy and a symbol of family wealth. Have you ever tried to invest in real estate or tried to make any financial investment? If yes, then you must know that buying gold is much easier than real estate or anything else. It is safe for the people who are trying to start doing investments as very less risk is involved with the gold purchase. Read more information on investing in gold.

Following the advent of gold as money, its importance continued to grow throughout Europe and the U.K., with relics from the Greek and Roman empires prominently displayed in museums around the world, and Great Britain developing its own metals-based currency in 775. The British pound (symbolizing a pound of sterling silver), shillings and pence were all based on the amount of gold (or silver) that it represented.3? Eventually, gold symbolized wealth throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The U.S. government continued on with this gold tradition by establishing a bimetallic standard in 1792. The bimetallic standard simply stated that every monetary unit in the U.S. had to be backed by either gold or silver. For example, one U.S. dollar was the equivalent of 24.75 grains of gold. In other words, the coins that were used as money simply represented the gold (or silver) that was presently deposited at the bank.

You may be familiar with the popularity of gold coins from infomercials and other advertisements. This form of buying and selling gold is well-known, and often more convenient than gold bars due to their smaller size. Investors can purchase gold coins from collectors or private dealers, and eventually sell for a profit. Dealers are located in most cities making gold coins easy to come by. Occasionally, you may run into gold coins that are marked up due to their collector’s value. The collector’s value can make them more expensive than the actual base value of the gold. Most casual investors will avoid these and focus on more widely circulated coins unless they are interested in becoming collectors as well. A few common examples are the U.S. eagle and the Canadian maple leaf. See extra details on how to buy gold.