How Many Ounces Of Gold Should I Own

Underinvestment In Gold Continues

So there is still significant underinvestment in gold. Wed be inclined to agree with reader M.B. where he also wondered:

Given that fewer people in history own precious metals could there be a collective yawn from the masses and worlds media. While the small investor misses out and the only winners may be the Nations of the world sensible enough to have bought and stored metals?

The crisis kicked off by COVID-19 certainly increased the demand for physical gold in 2020. Globally refiners had trouble keeping up with demand and there were long waits for delivery of gold throughout much of 2020.

But while there has been an increase in private gold ownership, it is from a very low base of interest.

Central bank gold demand looks likely to continue at similar levels to 2020, which in turn was a significant rise over 2019. With a World Gold Council survey reporting that The number of respondents who will increase their own gold holdings has climbed to 21%, compared to 20% last year. No central bank is planning to decrease its gold reserves, a decline from 4% in last years survey.

However, we doubt a survey of the general population would report that 21% of people intend to buy gold in the next 12 months! We doubt it would even be 2% of the general public.

Odds are, when it really matters, there still wont be many more people who own gold. Its more likely people will want to buy gold as or after the crisis reaches a peak.

So Many Questions About Gold Prices

What is the cost of gold jewelry? How does the cost of gold jewelry compare to the price per ounce of gold on the metals market?Are rings more expensive by weight than chains? What is retail markup? What makes one type of gold jewelry more expensive than another?

Here at we get asked and try to answer all kinds of jewelry questions. With help from my mathematically happening husband Jeremy, we take on these questions!

How Many People Own Gold New Zealand Vs Other Countries

How many people own gold? How does that number today compare to what it was historically?

A reader asked just that:

I strongly suspect that far fewer people historically by percentage are holders of investment physical precious metals and if so then it may hardly rate in the mass media. I would be interested in your opinion? M. B.

Or put another way what is the level of private gold ownership today? And how does this compare to what it once was?

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Only Invest Money You Dont Need For Five Years

We dont know when the system is going to crash. If you believe the people who are saying that the system is going to collapse in the next six months, youll make bad financial decisions. Dont believe them. Dont speculate.

Only invest money that you really dont need for at least the next five years. Anything can happen in five years. And in 2020, weve learned that anything can happen in five short months. While it is very likely that the price of gold will be higher in five years than it is today, its harder to know what will happen in the short term.

If you want a good return, youll need to wait at least five years. If the system crashes before then, you will be fine, but dont use money that you will need in three, six, or even nine months time because we dont know where the price is going in the short term.

An ounce of gold is always an ounce of gold, but the price of the fiat is what fluctuates. No matter what, there is a very high probability that, after five years, you will be really happy with your investment.

There is no telling what will happen to gold prices in the near future, but you can safely assume that your investment will have grown in five years time.

What Percentage Of New Zealanders Own Gold

In New Zealand there are even less figures available for gold ownership. As the market here is so small.

The closest we have seen are numbers for Australia as reported by Shae Russell in 2018. Her numbers show more Aussies own bitcoin than gold. And less than 0.5% of Australians own gold:

few people understand gold and even less own it.

Last year, I discovered that more people own bitcoin than physical gold.

Turns out, roughly 1% of Australians own some bitcoin.

Less than half that own physical gold bullion.

Through all my years of writing about gold, Ive often found most people dont own gold because they dont know why they should and where to start.

So it would seem reasonable to assume New Zealand private gold ownership is no higher than Australia. In fact wed guess that 0.5% owning gold would seem to be on the high side even. While we have certainly noticed an increase in first time buyers over the last 18 months. From our experience wed still be lucky if one in a hundred people we talk to know much about gold, let alone own any of it .

Read more: What Percentage of Gold and Silver Should Be in My Portfolio?

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Home Prices Measured In Ounces Of Gold

Home and gold prices are sensitive to interest rates and monetary policy. High interest rates are ananthema to the prices of gold and real estate.

Primary residences and gold do not produce income and therefore should not be considered investments, rather assets that unlike many other assets like automobile, have the ability to appreciate based significantly on monetary, fiscal and tax policies.

Low interest rates and loose monetary policy have lead to higher gold and home prices since 2000.

Gold and home prices, however, have diverged as the charts below show.

U.S. Home Prices in Dollars 1963-2016

Home prices have risen almost without interruption since 1963.

How Is The Price Of Gold Determined

Gold is a commodity that trades based on supply and demand. The interplay between supply and demand ultimately determines what the spot price of gold is at any given time.

The demand for jewelry is fairly constant, though economic downturns do, obviously, lead to some temporary reductions in demand from this industry. The demand from investors, including central banks, however, tends to inversely track the economy and investor sentiment. When investors are worried about the economy, they often buy gold, and based on the increase in demand, push its price higher. You can keep track of gold’s ups and downs at the website of the World Gold Council, an industry trade group backed by some of the largest gold miners in the world.

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How Much Gold Should I Have In My Portfolio As Opposed To Silver

Choosing between gold and silver ultimately comes down to investor preference. Some investors will use technical analysis to determine whether gold or silver is a better investment at that point. Others prefer gold, no matter what’s happening with the market, due to its long history as a store of value. Another strategy is to invest in mining companies or metals sector ETFs that offer diversified exposure to many different kinds of metals.

Only The Most Liquid Coins And Bars

You want to get as much gold for cash as possible. The main rule is to build up your liquid gold and silver stock. This means you should invest in legal tender coins such as the Maple Leaf, the Austrian Philharmonic, or the Australian Nugget. The main reason is that you dont want to run around with a kilo bar in a harsh crisis. Just make sure they are a legal tender and that they have a low fabrication fee.

For example, lets assume that you buy a maple leaf the coin from the Canadian mint. When you buy, the price of the physical ounce of gold should be as close as possible to the paper spot price of gold. That is always the underlying way you calculate the value of an ounce of gold.

Then, on top of that, you have to pay the fabrication fee and then you pay a brokerage fee for all the work the dealer has to do before you can get it delivered to you in person.

Whether you buy a gold coin like the Maple Leaf or the Austrian Philharmonic or the Australian Nugget , if you can buy them directly in a shop or an online store, make sure that you dont pay more than 5-6%. It really depends on the setup, but that is the general price range. As soon as you are happy with your stock of smaller domination coins, you can move up to bigger formats.

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Tips For Buying Gold In 2021

Dateline: Bogota, Colombia

The other day, I shared how I delayed receiving my second passport by making three basic mistakes.

One of those mistakes was simply not letting the experts be the experts. These days, I make great efforts to not only go to the experts and pay them for the true value of their knowledge and services but, when possible, I also curate the information I gain from my network to share it with you.

Not too long ago, my friend Claudio Grass an expert in the gold business shared the short version of his top ten tips for buying gold. Knowing the wealth of knowledge he possesses, I asked him to sit down for an interview so we could create the long version of that same list.

His insights into the world of gold did not disappoint.

Claudio built up a precious metal company called Global Gold several years ago that focused on trading and storing physical gold under Swiss law. After six years in the business, he resigned from the company in order to promote Switzerland as the best place to store physical money.

From his years of experience, he has created powerful connections with the best gold companies in Switzerland and Liechtenstein many of which were previously his greatest competitors. As a gold consultant, he is now able to refer clients to the right companies, helping them create tailor-made solutions for buying physical gold and storing it in the right jurisdictions to protect their gold investments outside the banking system.

Topics Covered

How Do Designer Jewelry And Custom Jewelry Prices Get Figured Out

Custom Made Engagement Ring

If you have a one-of-a-kind custom-made ring created for you, your price to be paid will be greater, than a ring of similar weight and style that was factory made. The cost of a custom made ring includes the time of t he designer to create it, as well as the wax carving or CAD/CAM creation, casting, polishing, setting and adding the special finishes or textures plus any engraving that make your ring unique.

A custom wedding or engagement ring has no economy of scale because it is one of a kind. So expect to pay more for the singular care that goes into its making.

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Why Is Gold Valuable

In ancient times, gold’s malleability and luster led to its use in jewelry and early coins. It was also hard to dig gold out of the ground — and the more difficult something is to obtain, the higher it is valued.

Over time, humans began using the precious metal as a way to facilitate trade and accumulate and store wealth. In fact, early paper currencies were generally backed by gold, with every printed bill corresponding to an amount of gold held in a vault somewhere for which it could, technically, be exchanged . This approach to paper money lasted well into the 20th century. Nowadays, modern currencies are largely fiat currencies, so the link between gold and paper money has long been broken. However, people still love the yellow metal.

How Many Silver Ounces To Gold Ounces Should Be Owned

I’m curious as to your opinions on how much silver you should own compared to the gold you own…lets keep it simple and use 1 ounce of gold as our staple..how many ounces of silver should also be owned?

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Originally Posted by gold stacksI’m curious as to your opinions on how much silver you should own compared to the gold you own…lets keep it simple and use 1 ounce of gold as our staple..how many ounces of silver should also be owned?For no particular reasons that I could justify or explain I own just shy of 33 ozs of silver for every ounce of gold. I continue to buy both but I don’t have a target ratio I’m trying to maintain.

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How Much Silver Should I Own

Have you ever thought about buying silver? Maybe youve gone to coin stores or visit the post office and wondered if you should buy some coins? Maybe instead you have concerns over the macroeconomic landscape. Is silver a good hedge against inflation?

Could owning silver be better than gold? All of these questions and more come up before inevitably asking how much silver should I own?

So if silver catches your fancy, there are obviously many things to cover. We are not investment advisors, but we are here to help explain some basic concepts. So where do we start?

One question is how much of our portfolio should allocated to precious metals, generally? We dont think that putting all your money into one asset is a good investing philosophy for most people. You want a level of diversification. The first way silver comes into the equation is that it diversifies you against certain risks. What kinds of risks? One if the risk of inflation and reduced buying power.

How much silver should I own outside of inflationary risks?

If you do not think inflation rates are going up over the coming years, what then? Well, many people see inherent risks in fiat currencies. Simply put, if governments keep printing money, countries could end up declaring bankruptcy and issuing new currencies. In some ways, this is much like mega-inflation.

How much silver should I own? Is gold is going up?

How much silver should I own in bullion, as opposed to other forms?

Streaming And Royalty Companies

For most investors, buying stock in a streaming and royalty company is probably the best all-around option for investing in gold. These companies provide miners with cash up front for the right to buy gold and other metals from specific mines at reduced rates in the future. They are like specialty finance companies that get paid in gold, allowing them to avoid many of the headaches and risks associated with running a mine.

Benefits of such companies includes widely diversified portfolios, contractually built-in low prices that lead to wide in good years and bad, and exposure to gold price changes . That said, none of the major streaming companies has a pure gold portfolio, with silver the most common added exposure. So you’ll need to do a little homework to fully understand what commodity exposures you’ll get from your investment. And while streaming companies avoid many of the risks of running a mine, they don’t completely sidestep them: If a mine isn’t producing any gold, there’s nothing for a streaming company to buy.

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History Of Troy Ounces

Even though no one can point to a specific year when or a specific place where the troy ounce system was born, its name seems to be taken from an old trade market in France called Troyes. Since this market was global at the time, it makes sense for them to have developed a global standard to trade with foreign merchants easily. This would allow everyone to agree on a standard price of gold per ounce.

Interestingly, the idea of the troy ounce might be even older than the Troyes trade market in France. Today, a troy ounce is equal to exactly one-twelfth of a troy pound. And the bronze bars used by the Romans in the Ancient Roman Empire weighed exactly 1 troy pound.

Coincidence? Many dont think so. Several people argue that the French might have taken the Roman weight as a baseline when coming up with their own system of standard weights.

Nonetheless, the precious metals weight standards we use today were first used in England in the early 1400s adopted from the French. The United States of America adopted this standard almost three centuries later in 1828.

How To Obtain Physical Certificates

In the United States, shareholders can contact the Computershare call center at or go to computershare.com and access a transfer form by creating an account.

In Canada, shareholders can direct their broker to withdraw units from CDS Clearing and Depository Services Inc. When the broker puts in the withdrawal, the transfer agent in Canada, TSX Trust Company, will issue physical certificates to the broker.

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What To Expect During The Crises

A major financial disorder will include inflation, of course, but itll be much more than that. The global economy is likely to undergo a series of crises, only one of which will be inflationary.

And those crises wont resolve quickly. As a result, we need to be prepared to weather all storms that hit our economy, markets and monetary system, even if they last for several years. Well be living through the entire transition period. And that means we may need to supplement, or fully support, our standard of living during that time.

It is with this reality in mind that the following tables were created.

I calculated how much gold and silver you would need based on two factors: 1) your monthly expenses, and 2) how long the crisis period lasts.

Heres the table for gold:

To determine how much gold you should buy, find the monthly expense amount that will support or replace your current standard of living, and then match it to the duration. If you want to supplement your expenses by $500/month and the crises last three years, you would need about 14 ounces of gold to get through it. If you want to cover $3,000 in monthly expenses, youd need 45 ounces to meet a crisis period of two years, and 90 ounces if it lasts four years. Those already well off or who want to live like Mike or Alex should use the bottom rows of the table.

Of course, we own silver, too. Here’s how many ounces youd need if youre using silver proceeds, again assuming the price keeps up with inflation.