Buying gold? We tell you the best mode

Indians love Gold the most, even though other precious metals exist. The shine for Gold has not reduced with Platinum, Indians are still interested in Gold. There are many forms to buy Gold

Jewelry is a traditional form of buying gold in India. However, its not for investing reasons, rather as jewelry, it carries a heavy loss in form of wastage and making charges. This wastage and making charges vary from 10% to 35% based on the designs. Gold coin from Jeweller are best, a detailed explanation is given in my other post http://2bnamed.blogspot.com/2010/01/gold-investing-strategy.html

Bank coins is not an investment idea as that banks charge for their coins is anywhere between 5 and 10 per cent. The bank coins have lesser liquidity as they are not bought back by the banks.

World Gold Council coins issued by jewelers have lesser premium over the market price (1 to 2 per cent) and are redeemed at the market price when one takes them for selling off.

Bullion bars are great for investment but minimum investment is much higher for a common investor to invest.

Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are really hot these days. These are like MFs who only deal with gold. Its a safe and easy way to buy Gold and the charges are very less and the gold can be accessed electronically. The disadvantage is that one never gets to ‘see’ one's holdings.