Thursday, August 23, 2012

A small confession....

I have made no secret that I am not a fan of gold as an investment. No cash flow. No real fundamentals to speak of. It just looks pretty and it endures.  But I have been buying small amounts of physical gold (1 oz Maple Leafs) every now and again for some time as part of a "just in case" strategy. I purchased again this morning. The total amount is not large - only the equivalent of one of the smaller positions in individual equities and about a fifth of the value of the paper silver - and, to date, it has been kept off the balance sheet (like my bonded wine and a few other things).

Why blog about this now?

With retirement now quite close (updated post to follow) I have realised that I expect to retire with slightly more than my financial needs require and am looking for some assets that provide either a "just in case" degree of protection or an element of interest (like the wine does). I can see myself adding a bit more every now and again not because I believe it is going to be a great investment but to provide a little more diversification and a small degree of insurance in case things go badly wrong elsewhere.

2 comments:

J-D said...

Hello,

-Where do you acquire your gold coins from?

-Why the Maple Leaf in particular and no say the Krugerand?

traineeinvestor said...

Hi J-D

I purchased from BOCHK. I have an account there which made life a bit easier and their spreads seemed about as good as the other places I checked (and better than many).

They offered a choice between Maple Leafs and Pandas. I took the Maple Leafs as they are better known internationally.

Cheers
traineeinvestor