Does anyone here invest in gold?

[Goldfingere]

I have a few coins and bars and I'm looking into lower carat chain jewellery. We do have a merchant here but his for sale price is much higher than the spot price adjusted for carat. I know that this is a long term thing but still I don't want to overpay.

Please could I have your recommendations for reliable sellers with decent prices for lower carat chains? I am based in Yorkshire but do travel as part of my job so could potentially pick up elsewhere if the price is right.

Thank you!

You have a choice it seems, either you can overpay now, or save up and overpay later, or you can look around abit and perhaps find someone cheaper. There are always better options if you look hard enough.

Yes absolutely I'm sure there are better options. It's finding the ones who are trustworthy though, which is why I'm asking for recommendations.

I should also make it clear that if possible the best type of recommendation would be for a merchant who also has decent buyback, thinking very long term.

Gold coins
No tax to pay when selling

The problem with buying lower carat gold is that you are really at the mercy of dealers in terms of both valuation and liquidity. And honestly, most of the dealers I've met in the UK I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them.

I use Krugerrands. Well established, transparent market prices, and fairly liquid. I also own shares in ETCs which track gold price - BULP on the London Stock Exchange is denominated in sterling and is as good as any.

Why in the world would you buy chains?
Unless you have an XRF machine, are you even going to know for sure that you have got whatever carat gold chains or if they are even solid low carat gold - there is a massive market for fake gold, just look at ebay.

I don't buy bars either as they are not CGT exempt, which matters in the long run.

Fractional gold coins or full oz coins do not attract Capital Gains Tax if they are issued by the Royal Mint with a value in legal tender and are fairly low in price if you can't buy by the ounce which is the most cost effective way.

Just search for CGT Exempt coins.

A 1/10th oz Britannia or Royal Arms is about £280 at the moment, or a 1/4 oz is about £650 (maybe a bit less if buying best value stuff).

I mostly use Chards (Blackpool based, they have a YouTube channel now if you want to see Lawrence Chard talking about coins at length - the guy knows his stuff) or The Royal Mint, but there are other reputable dealers out there.

No dealer is going to be selling for spot and I'd be wary of anyone who was.
The margin over spot is their income which needs to cover business running costs and profit as they tend to pay around spot and they are not a charity.

They tend to pay around spot for bullion and if you are not buying bullion you are gambling with the massive mark up you will have paid on special edition stuff unless you are very knowledgeable and lucky.

Why not invest in ETFs or ETCs that track the spot price of gold, within a S&S ISA?
There's minimal bid-ask spread compared to a direct trade in gold, due to the physical gold bullion held and traded at fund level. And you don't have the worry of storing your gold or the risk of it being stolen.

https://www.justetf.com/uk/how-to/gold-etfs.html

A relative used to buy gold from some second hand places in Leeds, not sure if the prices were good, they were fairly savvy though, so might have been. I think it was near the market.

To sell gold, Hatton Garden Metals have a very good reputation and fair prices, recommended by Moneysaving Expert.

However, looking at historical gold price charts, now might be a bad time to buy as the price has increased significantly in the past couple of years, which makes sense because this happens during times of economic instability. The chart shows the last peaks and troughs correlating with the pandemic, September 2011 and the credit crunch of 2008.

If you buy now, you might have to hold it for a very long time to not lose money by selling.

I've used Hatton Garden Metals to buy full gold Britannias - the larger coins have better spot prices than smaller ones, and as others have mentioned they are CGT-free. Coins from other countries aren't CGT-free though. I was able to walk to their premises and collect the coins, which meant no postage costs. I have sold back to them (again going to their premises in person) and it was all easy and straightforward

you are much better off buying bullion. as people mention above, you can buy in person or online via many retailers, plus some of them will store it for you too (at a charge of course). Gold also has no GCT.

i regularly buy bullion via Atkinsons and Sharpes Pixley, and also invest in Jupiter Gold and Silver fund in my ISA and SIPP.

why would you want to buy lower grade chains? I can't think of any benefit whatsoever in doing so.