Sunday, May 24, 2009

Diversify Your Gold Portfolio

By Cindy Wilson

The best investment strategy is to have a diversified portfolio, but you should also diversify your gold investments within your portfolio. There are several different type of gold you can invest in and be able to diversify your gold portfolio. There are foreign or domestic antique gold coins, foreign or domestic modern gold coins, foreign or domestic gold bullion and gold certificates.

There are also many options within each gold category that will allow you to receive and store your gold or by allowing the dealer or broker to hold your gold for you. Most investors buying gold are not only buying to diversify their portfolio but they are preparing for financial disaster. In those cases, gold coins and antique gold coins have the reputation that the government can't confiscate them because of their antique and collector value.

On the other hand, gold bullion in recent history has been confiscated by the US government and there are several organizations that are trying to push legislation through that will fix that situation by not allowing the government to be able to confiscate personally owned gold bullion or coins of any kind.

Will the government take foreign gold bullion or modern foreign gold coins? Back in 1933 gold was confiscated by President Roosevelt, foreign gold and gold coins "earmarked or held in trust for a recognized foreign government or foreign central bank"

If we go by the historical events foreign gold bullion and gold coins would be safe from US government confiscation. That's the way it happened before, but that's not guarantee that's the way it will happen again. The government can and often does create laws to fit the situation, no matter what happened before.

Older gold coins are pushed by telemarketers and many dealers because of their higher profit margins. Many dealers and sales people prey on buyer's fears about the historical gold confiscation. President Ford issued his own directive that repealed Roosevelt's executive order.

Then Congress in 1977 removed the president's authority to regulate gold transactions during a national emergency other than war. What's that mean? Absolutely nothing. People, especially salespeople that use historic events to sell their most profitable inventory are being disingenuous by preying on investors fears of what happened in the past. Which has nothing to do with what can happen in the future.

Just because President Roosevelt exempted antique gold coins and foreign bullion doesn't mean a current administration would go by those same guidelines. The truth is, no one knows what will happen in the future, especially in the event of a financial collapse.

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