Weather in March and April if no rain and cool, will be dry and hot.

It's not really gold raising as much as it is the fiat currencies losing value.... Inflation for essentials are still very high....

Play with gold is even riskier than dealing with equities

how i wish our local bank GIA is 24hours trading

Good day to all taikor here! I'm new to this thread, but have been investing in both physical n paper gold.

Gold is still on the down trend, some predictions saying it will go further down to 800/oz.

What do you think?

I agree with haziqnet.

Plus the reality of paper gold is there is NO gold. Just numbers in the computer or in yr bankbook.

Right now mints are reporting record sales of gold and silver. Logically the price should go up (economic law). But the price of gold and silver go up and down ...doesnt make sense.  It makes sense only when you realise the prices are being manipulated.  The super rich want to keep us using paper currency but if gold price goes up, value of paper currency goes down. So they use the paper gold market to smash the price of gold down, hoping people will lose faith in gold and stop buying gold. Unfortunately this strategy didnt work.

At some point they will be unable to control the price and the paper gold market will fail. You don't want your money in paper gold at that time.

Google Mike Maloney's Hidden Secrets Of Money. Start with the Episode 1 video.

The last point by guy3288 was good.

The thing is, unless you guys are buying physical gold at exactly gold's traded price, then, that's great. However, based on what I understand in Malaysia, the physical gold you can possibly buy from let's say, Poh Kong or take a cheaper retailer, Wah Chan, has up to 10-20% (or more) mark up on the price of gold when you buy from them..

Whereas, if you decide you trade and buy paper gold (e.g. via CIMB Gold Investment Account for e.g), you're looking at a mark up rate of only around 5%, and you can still go and withdraw physical gold with minimal costs.

There are of course, other sources of obtaining physical gold, especially with online retailers (not sure what's the mark up % like, please enlighten me).

Don't forget that dealing with big amount of physical gold is a pain, where you may want to consider a safe deposit box (and insurance perhaps?), which means extra costs on a periodical basis which can be pricey, for something that doesn't grow or doesn't increase in value (I don't mean relative value here) where like Buffett's saying, you can own it all you like, but it will still remain the same.

Anyhow, the main thing I'm getting to is, the ongoing logic is, the relative value of gold increase in times of uncertainty. I use gold as a hedge if I'm feeling more uncertain about the economic environment, and it forms as part of my portfolio. Like some form of "insurance"

Either way, I believe every body has their different styles of figuring out what level of investment and portfolio allocation works for them.

so u are saying if buy paper gold , when need money must sell at a loss if price is down. Yes i agree.
But if  buy physical gold, when price down, you need money , you can pawn the gold and you dont lose money.

but if someone got holding power, can wait for gold to go up, isn't buying paper gold or physical gold the same?
For goldsmith sure they prefer to buy physical gold. But for investors ,how to keep the gold is a problem, risky, how to verify it is genuine  etc, inconvenient when wanna sell back.

so i think the advantage you mentioned for buying physical gold is only for when you need urgent money you can pawn it. that's all.

BTW, today when i checked the UOB Gold price, i see the difference between buy and sell price on the bank website has reduced to only RM2.10. It used to be more than RM3.00 , is this some error on the UOB website?

http://www1.uob.com.my/jsp/finance/fin_gia.jsp

Just to add, another place to find very reasonable price of 100g pamp suisse is via fb. Trust me sometimes the price is too good to be true.

Nice feedback.  what i noticed is that there seems to be 2 different general pricing when it comes to gold in Malaysia.  With the jewelers such as Habib, Poh Kong, Wah Chan and others they have a spot rate that is based on the FGJAM which is the Federation of Goldsmiths and Jewelers Association of Malaysia.    The spot price is usually published by this group and it is way higher than the actual spot price displayed in mks or kitco.  

I have seen where at bullion dealers such as mysmartgold.com.my, buysilvermalaysia.com, nubex.com.my you are able to buy 100g PAMP Suisse Cast bars for less than RM 13,500.00 a piece  but at these jewelers they are selling the same for between RM 16K - RM RM 19K.  The disparity on the price makes sylar111's advice wise.  

With regards to the storage aspect of physical pm's that is the only problem that we have to overcome but for me it is still worth the effort to be creative in the storage of these physical bars.  I still believe in a saying that I had heard in Mike Maloney's videos "IF you don't hold it, you don't own it".    So with that in mind, I have had fellow collectors be very creative in the way they store stuff.  Some of the more creative ones:-

a.  Digging a hole in the ground and putting it there
b.  Put a little in the water tank of the WC
c.  In the freezer
d.  Amongst the children's toys

I do agree with lots of the forum members that the collecting of gold is usually done as a hedge towards the economic uncertainty that is looming but naturally I treat gold just like any other investment.    It has its cycle and its time.  My personal experience, I remembered buying the little bits of gold in the mid 90's for about RM 35/gram and how upsetting it was when in the late 90's in went up to RM 95/gram and now the price?. . ooohh how I wish I could repeat the early 90's again, when gold price was low and I was better looking.. he he he 

Happy Stacking/Collecting..

U can search on there. Lots of pages dedicated for gold selling and buying.

Hi, My thoughts on the 2 bullion dealers that I have bought from:-

1.  Nubex:-  These guys have a nice selection but at times their stocks runs outs.  Other than that, they are very professional in their dealings with me.  Their showroom is easy to get to and parking does not seem to be a problem.  Their payment options are also great.  But their prices are split into 2 different categories; nubex members and normal buyers. So far I have no issues with them at all but with that said, I have never tried their delivery service, its always self pick up.

2.  Buysilvermalaysia.com:-  These guys are also very professional.  I like the fact that their offering is only 1 price and at times based on the spot, the items they sell are very competitive.  Their ordering system is easy and payment is also simple.  The only drawback is that their products are very specific and they don't carry many different brands.  Otherwise a very good experience when I bought from them.  Again, I have never done delivery, its always self pick up.

Generally, I noticed that the smaller grams of gold (ie 1g, 2.5g, 5g) are cheaper based on nubex membership price.  For the larger grams of gold (ie 10g, 20g, 1oz 50g and 100g) it's cheaper in Buysilvermalaysia.com... Just my 2 cents..

Good Luck and Happy Collecting/Stacking.. 

Thanks for the feedback as usual.  I guess everyone may have different definitions for various terms.  For me as a little stacker, I like to purchase various sizes and grams in order to ensure that i have a diversified collection and it is usually separated into a Collecting Column and Fiat Conversion Column.  Again, investment would also be defined really by the time that you are looking to hold on the investment.  For me long term means between 5 - 10 years before consideration of selling unless there is a real need for fiat, then it would be sooner.  I have redefined the definition of money for my family and I, and for us money = grams of gold/silver.  So we just kinda keep stacking/collecting as we go along. 

With regards to the brands it is just a personal preference, sometimes I like to have different looks and feel when it comes to my precious metals (Money.. he he he), so my goal is to be able to collect/stack bars from various manufacturers because it is just cool for me.  And jewelry shop in Malaysia as you already know does not have many different versions of LBMA certified bars (mostly local ones, they are nice but usually a heavy reduction in price when we travel and try to sell them because they haven't heard of that particular brand).. In my experience they usually sell the PAMP SUISSE.  But Nubex carries so many different versions as I had mentioned.  Just to have different versions when we stack/collect. 

I agree with you on the final point, I think everyone wants to trade and get a very competitive price, but in Malaysia at this moment, the pricing is not very competitive unless you meet some desperate sellers that is in need of fiat.  I am afraid I have not been able to meet many of them, but I am hoping to meet them in the future... he he he..

Happy Collecting/Stacking..