3 Ways to Access Physical Gold with ETFs

As inflation and declines in purchasing power loom over investors, gold and its ETFs continue to remain appealing and draw in big assets.

Gold has declined slightly from its highs down to a three-week low, reports Jan Harvey for Reuters. One metals analysts notes that while interest has waned slightly, it appears to be a temporary pause because the long-term bull factors for gold are still there.

When considering investing in gold ETFs, Don Dion of the Street.com suggests tailoring your choice to your preferences about the quantity of underlying gold, liquidity concerns and geographical location.

There are three choices you have when it comes to playing gold through ETFs:

• SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) is up 17.7% year-to-date and has seen an astonishing increase in assets, surpassing the $35 billion mark as of Oct. 23. Additionally, GLD is the largest ETF when measured by assets. Gold that underlies GLD is held in the form of allocated 400-ounce London Good Delivery bars in the London vault of HSBC (NYSE: HSB) Bank USA, or in the vaults of subcustodians.

• iShares COMEX Gold (NYSEArca: IAU) is up 17.6% year-to-date and shares of IAU are backed by gold held by the custodian in the vicinity of New York, Toronto, Montreal, London and potentially other locations in the future.

• Physical Swiss Gold Shares (NYSEArca: SGOL) is up 4.9% since its inception on Sept. 9 and has $201 million in assets as of Oct. 23. SGOL has an external auditor inspect the gold holdings twice a year and the gold bar identification numbers are published on the fund’s site. There are also outside audits of the gold holdings.

For full disclosure, Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of GLD.

Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.

Comments

[jambo:]

Ok, NOW I'm not certain whether this whole process of accumulating stocks/shares/etf's/we... has been such a good thing for me.

Alright, let's go ahead and assume that the natural order of our world has been- and may always be- determined by agressive behaviour, you know, big fish consuming smaller ones for hundreds of millions of years with no catastrophic impact upon "the natural ecology", the only effect being to have sharpened the senses of the prey.

( Crikey, what must Obama and his ilk think of THAT travesty?! And dont even try to argue that it is different. Somehow, without help from the International Fish Council of Overall Goodness {you know the one, captained by Marx, Chavez, Obama, Hitler, Geithner, Olbermann et al, the special chosen ones that know what's best, better than the others} The Ocean has survived despite vicious and continued attack by the Sharks, Killer Whales, Conservatives.).
SO, having assumed that I am a part of that mix, somewhere in the Tuna range perhaps, I am now strangely stricken with CONSCIENCE of all things.

You know how I can tell? In reading, reflecting, strategizing upon this article, there came a moment when, in mentally phrasing a response, I actually wondered whether it would BENEFIT ME as an owner of GLD to acknowledge in print the perceived superiority of SGOL - you know, the one controlled and made safe by The Swiss, our Buddies. Would the mention of that perception put me at a disadvantage in some way as $$ flew from one fund to the other in reactive agreement? Right, like the sudden strike by a single Tuna could have impact on the school.

No, the important thing in this epiphanic moment is that I FLINCHED, I pulled back from the strike. I could have traded without warning but instead THOUGHT ABOUT IT for a precious moment beforehand. Does this signal the downward spiral of the species? Will others follow, adopting an 'I wasnt that hungry anyway' demeanor? Will it qualify me for, dare I say it, congress?

You know, this might just endear me to the FCOG (fish Council of Overall Goodness), what benefit might THAT have? Could I perhaps have been noticed? Could it win a spot on the sub-council of FCOG? Could I too become a Community Organizer? OMG! this is all so beautiful! We now have a place for Tuna who have become unable to feed! GOVERNMENT.
Jeezis, dont let this get out, all the other fat, lazy, reflex challenged Tuna will try.... Hey wait, isnt this where we started? Cynical bastard
long SGOL for now but Im buying a safe.

Oct 29 02:32 PM