“…as with any other ETF, you don‘t really OWN the physical precious metals in storage. You only have a CLAIM to the metals held in storage. Therefore, your investment depends on the financial health of a bank.”

“While I don’t want to make too big a deal about it, there have been clear signs of late that the U.S. government is taking an unhealthy interest in your gold.”

A couple of very informative articles have come my way recently from trusted sources. These help to address the constant questions we get here at Q Wealth about how to invest in gold.

ETFs like the GLD ETF or the ZKB Gold ETF, as well as so-called ‘digital’ gold like GoldMoney and BullionVault, certainly serve a purpose for those who want to speculate in gold, offering easy in and easy out terms.

They are NOT, however, suitable investments for those looking at gold and silver as long term capital preservation hedges. Ask yourself this question: if you are buying gold because you don’t trust the financial system, why would you buy gold within that very same financial system? Or, as our Swiss friend Frank Suess puts it:

How you invest in gold or silver depends very much on your belief system and your objectives. If you are not concerned about the current economic climate and the state of the international financial system, then you may be much less critical of HOW you invest in gold.

Frank, who will be giving a few presentations at our event in Ireland at the end of this month, has written an excellent article on the subject, in his free Mountain Vision newsletter. He specifically gives Ten Reasons Why You Should Avoid the GLD ETF. If you have money in that ETF, you definitely need to read this.

A lot of people apparently trust ZKB’s Swiss gold ETF more, because of its Swiss pedigree and the venerable institution that is backing it. However, Frank has gone through this ETF’s prospectus with a fine tooth comb too, finding a section published only in German that can be summarized as follows:

The fund may be suspended temporarily at the discretion of the fund´s managers if gold trading in New York is interrupted for some reason; if a political, economic, military, monetary or other emergency (this pretty much covers it all) occurs; if a lot of redemptions are placed, which might in turn harm the interests of the other investors in the fund.

Hmmm…  not much ‘safe haven’ there then.

If this has got you scared, then Frank has a solution: the Global Gold program that offers real, physical non-bank secure allocated gold storage. Details of it are here, and if you would like further advise on the matter we strongly recommend you get in touch with Global Gold. Contact the Q Wealth offices and we will be happy to refer you through to our personal contact there, Scott Schamber.

I mentioned another source too, and that is Casey Research, one of our own preferred information sources. They get asked every day about gold confiscation rumours. Will the US government confiscate privately owned gold as they did back after the great depression?

David Galland, Managing Director of Casey Research, writes:

While I don’t want to make too big a deal about it, there have been clear signs of late that the U.S. government is taking an unhealthy interest in your gold.

He writes about the possible introduction of a Value Added Tax in the USA, and something even more scary: a regulation slipped quietly into the Obamacare legislation,requiring  coin dealers – and all businesses, for that matter – to report any purchases of $600 or more from anyone… including clients selling back their gold.

I also suggest you read David’s article (that you can find by clicking here) because of the point he makes about how some unscrupulous coin dealers are cashing in on the rush to hard money by selling illiquid collectors’ coins instead of the bullion coins, such as those offered by Global Gold, that people should be getting into.

I hope you find these reference sources as useful as I did. If you have any comments or feedback, please remember that you can post comments on this blog. Up until now not many people have used this facility, but we would like to encourage more interaction and feedback. So please tell us what you think!

Peter Macfarlane’s long-awaited Gold Report is now available for download in the Members’ Area here at Q Wealth Report.

If you have been looking into options for buying physical gold bullion but have been put off by the difficulty or the extra costs involved in buying gold bullion through local gold dealers, this report was written for you, by Q Wealth’s Offshore Banking and Asset Protection expert Peter Macfarlane.

As the gold holdings of the Barclays Gold Trust (Gold Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs for short) and the World Gold Council across the globe grew larger than the gold holdings of Switzerland this week, in this 11,000 word report Peter looks at the outlook for Gold during 2009 and beyond. Peter explains why in his view investing in anything other than real physical gold bullion is unsafe because of exposure to the global banking system. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough in the current climate. He explains why the whole point of gold is a safe haven and why owning gold through an ETF or through substitutes like Perth Mint Certificates is just not the same as owning real gold bullion! (Not that it’s necessarily bad, says Peter… but nobody should mislead you into believing you are really buying gold)

Many people, however, are mystified when it comes to buying gold bullion offshore. Gold bullion kept in an offshore safe deposit box does not trigger any reporting requirements, but if you want to keep your gold ownership secret, then there are certain do’s and don’ts you need to know about before you buy a single ounce of gold. Peter explains in detail three strategies for buying gold offshore, privately and even anonymously if you wish. Whether you want to invest just a few thousand dollars or a few million, one of these three techniques will probably work for you.

Peter also talks about buying gold direct from the producers who own the gold mining assets. This is a way of cutting out the middleman – the gold and banking cartel. He touches too on how the Federal Reserve might be manipulating the gold price. Gold Price Manipulation is a big issue for all gold bugs to be aware of – and yet another reason why real physical bullion is the way to go!

Finally, where can you store your gold safely? Peter looks at different options in depth and reviews the pluses and minuses of each, from storing gold in a safe at home or a local bank, to storing bullion in tax free vaults at Zurich Airport in Switzerland. Little known secure safe deposit storage options where you can hide your gold safely in Austria, Switzerland and the Caribbean are also reviewed – and there’s a dire warning about why you should not hide your gold in the United Kingdom!

The Gold Report is essential reading for anyone interested in buying gold offshore or overseas. Best of all, The Gold Report is yours FREE! If you are a Q Wealth member, you can simply log in right now and download your copy. If you haven’t yet joined, take advantage of the opportunity to join online right now and download not just The Gold Report but also Peter’s Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009 and a host of other goodies available exclusively for members!

For Press Enquiries or Interviews with Peter Macfarlane, please contact Q Wealth Limited in London, preferably by e-mail.