Best Way To Invest In Gold

  If you have been thinking of investing in gold, congratulations. Why? It shows you think long-term. The truth is that gold has always been a 'safe refuge' for investors during times of economic uncertainty. As awesome as global stock markets have been performing lately, the old saying of 'what comes up must come down' definitely applies not just to the physical and natural worlds but also to the finance world. Stocks often go through boom and bust cycles. Inflation is always lurking in the background threatening to reduce the value of your hard-earned cash. Governments are not immune from devaluation. These are the key risks investing in gold protects against. You would do well to diversify your investment portfolio by investing in gold. With that said, there are so many ways to invest in gold and precious metals, for that matter, out there. How do you pick the 'best' way to invest in gold.

The problem with defining 'the best'

Let's face it, 'the best' is a very subjective and slippery term. Maybe this is why salesmen love using the phrase 'the best.' Hearing 'the best' makes you feel good but chances are you're just letting your impressions and assumptions regarding the meaning of this overused and abused phrase get the best of you. The sad reality is that what is 'best' for your might turn out to be a disaster for someone else. And vice-versa. Moreover, you can't base your investment decision on what is 'best' for a salesperson trying to get you to invest in a particular gold investment option. The good news is that there is a powerful way to define what is 'the best' when it comes to your gold investment options: focus on your needs. That's right-by focusing on what your particular investment needs are, your risk profile, the amount of time and management you're willing to put into your gold investments, and other factors, you can come up with the best range of options when it comes to owning gold. Keep your needs in mind when examining the different gold investment options listed below.

Direct ownership: Physical gold

There is a certain psychological benefit to being able to physically handle the gold you are investing in. Unlike stocks which give you a legal share in a corporation, when you buy direct physical gold, you get to handle the gold. You get to touch it. You get to see it. There is a psychological benefit to this. You simply and directly feel you own something valuable. So far so good, right? Well, the downside with owning gold directly is that you have to worry about robbers. If you think your gold bullion is valuable to you, it is doubly more valuable to people who want to rip it away from you. You have to invest in a home safe or pay to have your gold stored somewhere. Also, you have to get the proper insurance for your gold bullion investment. When it comes time to sell, you would need to pay assay fees so the company (most people usually sell to a company that buys and sells gold when they liquidate) can be sure that you're selling real pure gold bullion. Keep these details in mind. They definitely add to your cost. Also, there is a psychological price to having physical gold in your home-you can lose sleep due to the risk of crime.

Direct ownership: Gold coins

The great thing about owning gold coins is that you get to play two investments in one. First, you're obviously investing in the gold market. At the very least, your gold coins will be worth the price of the gold they contain. Gold prices can change dramatically and you can definitely play the gold market by buying gold coins. The second market you're investing in when you buy gold coins is the collectible coin market. Gold coins get their value from two sources: the amount of gold they contain and the premium collectors pay for the coins. This is a serious consideration. Why? When you buy your gold coins, you actually pay the base gold value and a premium for the coin. This can be a serious headache when you try to unload your gold coin collection. You might end up losing money if the price of gold remains stable or the same and the collector premium of your coins don't go up.

Gold ETF

Investing in gold exchange traded funds is the safest way to invest in gold bullion. Imagine getting into physical gold without having to worry about burglars or paying all sorts of fees for the storage and insurance of your gold holdings. Exchange traded funds work like mutual funds. They are traded based on net asset value (NAV). Gold ETFs only have one asset and one asset alone: a fixed amount of gold bullion. You basically buy the Gold ETF and play it like a stock investment: buy low and sell high. The advantage to this way of owning gold is that it is very liquid. You can easily buy to get in and sell to get out. The biggest advantage to ETFs is that they make investing in gold very easy. The downside is that you don't get to physically handle your gold investments. Another downside is that the price of the ETF is tied to the price of gold solely.

Gold mining stocks

One of the most interesting ways to play the gold market is to invest in gold mining stocks. You get rid of the headaches of physical and ETF gold investments by investing in gold mining stocks. Your stock might go up higher than the appreciation of gold prices. Why? Your stock might enjoy a 'market premium.' This is the extra value placed by the market for hot stocks. With gold mining stocks you essentially get the benefits of playing in the gold and stock markets. The downside, just like with playing the stock market in general, is picking the right company to invest in.

Thanks to ETFs and a robust stock market, getting into gold investing is easier now than ever. Keep the investment options' pros and cons firmly in mind when planning your gold investment moves.

Gold Reason No. 1: Don't Ignore Inflation: The stock market panic of 2008 sent commodity and stock prices - which includes the price of oil - much lower. That launched a huge debate whether deflation or inflation would be the final result. Remember, since 2001 - under estimated price inflation of 2.5% - gold managed to rise 400%. The Federal Reserve is expected to keep short-term rates near zero through 2013 & 2014 leaving the door ajar to ignite more inflation.

To shorten the recession, quantitative easing (massive printing of dollars) exploded the monetary base. As of October 2008, in only four months, the central bank doubled the U.S. money supply, going way beyond anything done in the nation's history.

On a worldwide basis, central banks have printed up an unbelievable $12 trillion worth of stimulus money, which is Robbing us-the citizens, by greatly decreasing the purchasing power of the dollars already in existence-the dollars in our paychecks and bank accounts.

Most economists agree that [inflation] will win out over deflation eventually.

Gold Reason No. 2: Demand is Exploding: The largest investors - pension funds and hedge funds - are making larger investments into gold. Their highly-paid investment advisors must be telling them [inside Info] the rest of us are not hearing about?

The popularity and success of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that invest in and hold Gold proves this 'major trend.' The world's largest ETF containing 1,100 tons of the golden metal, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD), is the sixth-largest holding account of gold bullion. Investors never had an easier, nor quicker way to own gold. (via the Internet, on their laptop)

This is not just a U.S. phenomenon. Pursuant to the World Gold Council, world-wide gold demand increased 15% from the second quarter to the third last year (2012).

China & India = Growing Demand!

With a population over 2.5 billion citizens and a deep cultural affection for gold, Asian countries are driving more global demand in a big way. China encourages its citizens to buy more silver and gold and goes a step farther by providing them checking accounts linked-to-gold. China is currently neck-to-neck with India as the world's largest consumer of gold. A growing middle class whose members are experiencing rapid rises in disposable income are a major driver that's bullish to keep pushing up the price of gold. (the continuing 'population expansion' guarantees more gold-buyers)

Gold Reason No. 3: Central Banks are (new) Net Buyers: India's recent purchase of 200 tons of gold from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was the probable reason that pushed gold up over the $1,200 level in December, 2012. Even more importantly is the major reversal that has witnessed the world's central banks switch from being net sellers into becoming net buyers of gold. It will have been the first time in 20 years banks turned into "gold buyers", as central banks have been net sellers of gold since 1988. More "buyers" equals MORE DEMAND for gold.

Gold Reason No. 4: The Pending Currency Crisis: Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain -The "PIGS" - are in very bad fiscal shape. They are not the only ones. Iceland is considered nearly-bankrupt. The United Kingdom, the United States, and other economies are struggling on, barely able to grow their GDP any at all. That grim reality ignited a 'crisis of non-confidence' regarding fiat currencies in the minds of most citizens and investors. (*) "Paper-Money is nothing more than paper and ink, backed by the faith and credit of the issuer." When investors discover their faith in the issuer is greatly weakened, the value of the currency falls lower. Another potential trigger to spark a currency crisis is additional sovereign-debt downgrades from ratings agencies. Under those conditions, the ultimate store of value, - Gold - which is the oldest form of money on earth - will soar higher, as citizens and investors alike take actions to protect their dwindling purchasing power.

Gold Reason No. 5: Don't Wait for the Mania Stage: The gradually building gold bubble that carry's gold prices to all-time-record levels will eventually inflate in three distinct stages. In Stage One, the process starts with currency devaluations which will be driven by growing investment demand. (China & India & their citizens buying up 100 tons a year!) In Stage Two, gold prices will experience a stratospheric ascent repeating the late 1970's all over again. In Stage Three, will be the mania phase, when everyone and their grandmother are jumping in cause they see gold running uphill with price escalations. Truly, those investors who got in early (gold about $1,000 an ounce) could make fortunes as the price of gold balloons to $5,000-an-ounce and beyond.

Many economists predict the $5,000 price will be reached in the third and final phase, if not before. When the price of gold enters the mania phase, like it did back in 1977-79, it will act like it has a jet pack strapped on its back. Today's market price ($1,200 an ounce) will be dwarfed by the high levels gold prices climb to eventually.

Remember, the whole world-wide gold industry only has a total market value (capitalization) [below] the total value of Walmart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) (about $200 billion). So when the crowd jumps in (mania phase), most of the "big money" to be made quickly will be with investments in the stocks of 'gold explorers and producers', where 1,000% returns could be common, figured from today's prices ($1,200 for Gold; $20 for Silver).

(*) These Demand-reasons explain why gold prices are poised to surge higher from here.

And while I predict gold will reach the $5,000 range eventually, that leaves plenty of room for investors to profit by entering at current levels (Dec, 2013).

Is It Time to Make Your Move?

Everyone should hold some gold in their portfolio, no matter their risk tolerance or age. Owning some physical coins or bars makes economic sense, but it's a little complicated to enact inside most retirement accounts.

That's why 'explorers and producers' of the gold sector promise the biggest payoffs. Production costs usually rise, as gold prices rise, while profit margins are expected to expand even faster. Once your friend's conversations turn to gold, for any one of the reasons I described above, gold stocks will erupt and then streak for record highs, just like they did in 1977-79.

When is this likely to happen? In a few years most likely. No one ever knows for sure with speculative frenzies or bubbles.

When this happens, gold will likely create a new generation of millionaires, possibly some new billionaires goldlieb.de. Although the mania stage is several years away, the smart investor will recognize the importance and the potential of investing in gold or silver [today] while prices are lower.

There is little doubt today's $1,200 gold price will eventually look like an outrageous bargain.

Our advice is: If you own gold, gold shares, silver, or silver shares, hang onto them and buy even more on the price dips. In the years to come you will look like a hero to your family for your far sighted investing acumen and have a great legacy to leave them.

Make Your Customers Chase YOU!

How would you like for people to happily, even gratefully, stand in line to give you most of their disposable income? That might seem like an impossible dream, but you can arrange it. All you have to do is get your prospects to chase you rather than vice versa. In the marketing field, whoever's being chased has all the power in the relationship. The chasers have an air of desperation about them; we've all seen it. Well, desperation is a position of weakness, never an attractor factor.

In order to get people to chase you, you have to make yourself chaseable. That is, you have to arrange some combination of factors that they find very attractive about you, your company, and your products or services. There are plenty of things you can do to accomplish that, and in this article, I'll provide three overall strategies to work with. As you'll see, all three tie together quite neatly.

The first strategy is Two-Step Marketing, where your goal is to separate out the relatively few people who best fit your offer. Step #1 is to send out a marketing message; it can be through direct mail, the Internet, TV, radio, or whatever. The medium isn't as important as the strategy itself. You just start with a low-cost or no-cost offer to the marketplace you serve, one that your best prospects will find attractive. This causes them to raise their hands, self-qualifying themselves by saying, "I'd like to learn more." In Step #2, you follow up with the smaller group of high-quality prospects who have identified themselves.

With this approach, you're essentially asking people to take an action to prove to you that they seriously want the benefits provided by your product, service, or company. This approach works like magic, because it lets you focus your advertising budget on follow-up marketing activities within that smaller group of better prospects. It also makes those people feel that they sought you out, even though you made the initial offer. Selling is an emotional game, and in their excitement, the best prospects will forget that you attracted them with your sales copy in the first place.

Therefore, they perceive that they're choosing you rather than you choosing them. That's essential to the selling process, because once they start chasing you, you have a real advantage over them. Think about all the times when you've been high-pressured by some salesperson. It made you want to run away, didn't it? Well, forcing someone to run away from you is hardly advantageous to the marketer. It smacks of desperation.

People love to buy things, but they hate to be sold. What's the difference? Very simple. When someone buys something from you, the perception in their mind is that they've chosen you, rather than you pressuring them. Allowing them to exercise the power of choice makes all the difference in the world to them. They want to buy the things they choose rather than having someone chase after them, begging them to buy.

The more you understand the dynamics of Two-Step Marketing, the more you'll see that it's a superior strategy. It lets you build a mailing list of the finest, best-qualified prospects, people who are most likely to end up becoming your very best customers and clients. It lets you do a more effective job of building relationships with that self-qualified minority, because it lets you spend more money on each person -- which makes it easier to convince them that your product is worth far more than the asking price.

The second strategy is to become an expert in your market. Authority is one of the six basic factors of influencing people. Most of us are raised to respect authority. We listen to what the authorities say, and their opinions matter more to us than almost anyone else's. So you have to become an authority and expert, in order to take advantage of that tendency. This is a great way to separate yourself from your competitors, since it helps you convince your prospects that you can give them what they want the most. The good news is, it's easy to become an expert. The hard part is convincing yourself that you have to. Once you get past that, the process can be fun, fulfilling -- and extremely profitable.

When your prospects perceive you as an authority, they'll not only gravitate toward you, they'll spend more money with you more quickly, and will continue to do so. Your prospects are more confused and frustrated than ever these days, given the overcrowded, over-hyped world we live in. For them, the good news is that they have more choices than ever before; the bad news is that all of those choices have left them feeling overwhelmed.

What do people do when they feel all this pressure? They look for the fastest, easiest way to relieve their emotional pain. One of those ways is to find an expert. They place great value on the opinions of anyone they perceive as a true authority -- which is why they're willing to give their money to those who rise above the crowd and take bold actions proving their expertise. Experts in every field have loyal fans who chase after them every day. Some even have to hire people to keep their admirers away from them.

By and large, perception is reality; and when you're perceived as an expert, you have tremendous influence over the hearts and minds of your best prospects. That will drive people to seek you out and want do business with you. Now you can build more profit margins into your products and services, and people will be more than happy to pay those premium prices, because they have faith that they're dealing with an authority. This helps eliminate the emotional pain that comes from their marketplace confusion. By becoming an expert, you're not just helping yourself -- you're helping your market, too!

This confusion is a growing trend, by the way. The marketplace will continue to become more saturated, and the average consumer will continue to face more and more choices on how to spend their money. This will cause more people to seek out experts.

So how do you become an expert? I've already told you that the decision to do so is the hardest part. Make that decision today. Convince yourself that you need to shift the balance of power in the marketing equation so people are chasing after you. Once you've convinced yourself of this vital necessity, all you have to do is implement my third strategy to accomplish it.

That strategy is to become an information marketer. Information marketing is a broad topic that covers many exciting subjects, and I only have enough room here to show you the tip of the iceberg. But in every case, the process involves developing information-based products and services that provide a tangible value to your market. These can be books or reports, audio programs, seminars, workshops, DVD programs, consulting services, coaching programs -- the ways you can deliver information are nearly endless, and there are many subtle variations. It's best to use a powerful combination of all these and more. For example, you can hold special events for your best clients, customers and prospects, teaching them the things they need to know the most.

Just don't get hung up on the format. I've been selling information since 1988, and the field changes constantly. It's honestly the most exciting, rewarding, challenging, and profitable kind of business to be in. Information marketing can be used in all kinds of traditional businesses to help attract and retain the very best prospective buyers. It's an easy format for establishing your credibility as an authority in your field -- which you are, aren't you?

Google "information marketing" on the Internet. I guarantee that you'll be amazed by the number of results. This is a truly exciting and lucrative way to make money. It can provide huge extra profits for your existing business, or it can become your main profit center.

Those are the three basic strategies you should use to get people to chase after you, and I hope you can see how well all three tie together. Now, let me give you a few stories of how other very smart marketers are using these strategies to attract prospects.

The first is a well-known marketing expert who claims he charges $5,000 an hour for one-on-one consulting. Now, I've known about him for decades now, and I've even paid him thousands of dollars over the years for his products; but I've never been willing to pay him $5,000 an hour or anywhere close to that, and I'm not sure anybody really has. And yet he claims to charge $5,000 an hour; and by doing so, he can take the position that he's the world's most expensive marketing consultant -- which is not a bad position to find yourself in.

When he has a seminar, he can charge people thousands of dollars to attend, because essentially he's positioned himself as somebody who's worth thousands of dollars an hour. If you're able to spend a few days with him (in a room filled with hundreds of other people!) you may feel you've received more than your money's worth, because you know his claims. He's also positioned himself as the marketing consultant who refuses to fly. So if you want to buy some of his time, you're going to have to fly to Los Angeles to meet with him -- because he's not going to fly to where you are.

There are plenty of marketing consultants out there, and the irony is that many of them do a poor job of marketing and are struggling to survive. That seems odd and even funny to me, because here they are, claiming they can help people increase their sales and profits -- and yet their own sales and profits are barely enough to keep them afloat. This gentleman in LA doesn't have that problem; he's made millions of dollars and positioned himself as a real expert. Of course, he has also developed hundreds of different products over the years: books, reports, and all kinds of recorded seminars that you can purchase for a fraction of his normal "$5,000 an hour" fee.

He's got huge numbers of people chasing after him. That's why whenever he holds a seminar, hundreds of people pay thousands of dollars each to attend. Is he really that much smarter than the rest of us? Probably not. He's smart enough to position himself as the expert in the field, but he's definitely not worth that much when there are thousands of other marketing consultants who know just as much he does, and who will work very hard for you for a fraction of that price.

But again: perception is reality. When people discover (by reading his own sales literature!) that he charges $5,000 an hour, they think to themselves, "Jeez, he really must be worth it," and then they send away for one of his low-cost packages. Next they find out that they can attend a 2-3 day seminar where they can get dozens of hours of his expert time, and they flock to his seminars. He has a loyal following. Whether he's smarter than all of the other marketing consultants or not, his most loyal clients swear by him and pay him a fortune.

The next example comes from the late, great Gary Halbert, who was infamous for showing up at his own marketing seminars with hats and T-shirts that said "Clients Suck!" Think about how rude and offensive that is. People were paying thousands to attend his marketing seminars, only to be hit with that on arrival. But Gary could get away with it. He was an obnoxious loose cannon -- and all his loyal clients were convinced that he was a genius. Well, we all know that we let people we think of as geniuses get away with things other people can't.

Authorities also have certain liberties the rest of us don't have (which is another reason why you should position yourself as an expert). Gary would get up in front of dozens or hundreds of people at his seminars wearing the message "Clients Suck!", and proceed to tell them that he was so sick of helping all his clients make so much money, and how they never followed his advice even though he helped them make millions, and he had to fight them every step of the way. He kept saying he was never going to take on another client again... so people worked very hard to convince him to take them on.

The more he ranted and raved about all the millions of dollars that he made for people despite their refusal to follow his advice to the letter, the more people wanted to become his clients. He did a marvelous job of positioning himself as a genuine expert and brilliant marketer -- which he was. Once people were convinced of that, they were willing to put up with his outrageous antics.

Another super-successful consultant started out as anything but. But back in his early days, when he was barely able to pay his bills, he'd routinely tell new prospects that his calendar was booked solid for weeks... even when it wasn't. He was desperate for money, but he never, ever let that desperation show. When he'd get someone on the phone who wanted to purchase his consulting services, he'd tell them, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm booked up solid for the next three weeks straight. I might have an opening after that. Let me look... oh yes, I do have an opening on Tuesday the 27th at 3 PM. Will that work?" Even though it was all a marketing tactic, his prospects perceived that he was in high demand, and it made them want him even more.

One more example: there's a semi-famous copywriter who successfully promoted a very detailed information marketing course covering everything you have to know in order to create your own highly profitable ads and sales letters. He's worked with some of the top consultants and other experts in the field, and has written copy for all their best clients, so he has a proven track record and a reputation as something of a whiz kid. Well, his program was huge -- hundreds of pages thick -- and included numerous audio recordings where he freely shared the tips, tricks and strategies he used.

At a cost of several hundred dollars, his information product was a steal, given all the time-tested secrets he shared. So lots of people purchased it... and when they saw just how complicated it all was, many turned right around and paid him thousands of dollars to write ads and sales letters for them. You may think that sounds ironic, but this fellow knew precisely what he was doing. He provided so much detail that it overwhelmed most people. It ended up being easier to hire him to use his methods than to try to emulate him.

Each of the preceding examples represents a case in which consultants combined Two Step Marketing and information marketing to position themselves as experts, in such a way as to get the very best prospects to chase after them. But don't think that this will work only for people like them; these methods are universal, and can work in any type of business. These strategies are limited only by your imagination.

Here's an example of a traditional business that uses this strategy to rake in huge profits. There's a gentleman on the West Coast who sells sheds and other small prefab buildings. You've seen companies like his in your area. People buy these structures because the quality of the construction is fairly high, while the prices can be quite low. So they're popular businesses, and he has a considerable amount of competition. But he's using the power of all three of the strategies I've outlined in this chapter to rise above his competitors and prove to buyers that they should choose his company over all the others. He'd had already been in business for a few years when he discovered the power of information marketing. He sent out several announcements to his customers, saying he was sponsoring a contest in which he would compile the best stories of how his customers were using his prefabricated buildings.

Because it was fun and creative, and because people wanted to win the contest, dozens wrote in about how happy they were with the building that they'd bought from his company, and how they were using it to save money instead of wasting it on storage fees, and in general discussed the creative ways they'd found to use his products to enhance their lives. He compiled the stories into a nice little booklet that he then offered through Two-Step Marketing absolutely free, entitling it something like "57 Ways That My Small Buildings Can Help Improve Your Life."

Because his customers were trying to win that contest, they put a lot of effort into those stories, and the stories oozed credibility. There were also pictures throughout the booklet of the structures that the customers had purchased, and of the customers themselves. He offered it absolutely free through radio ads, TV ads, and in the newspaper and direct mail, and it made him a fortune. How? Because the people who took action to receive that booklet were already prime candidates for the products his company produced. People loved reading the stories and looking at all the pictures, and it became an extremely powerful sales tool he used to convince people beyond any doubt that his company was the best choice. They then chased him because they felt his products could improve their lives, just like they had improved the lives of those 57 satisfied customers.

Those are just a few examples of how you can reverse the power in the mercantile equation so that people chase you instead of you chasing them. The very best prospective buyers in your market love to buy things, and they're already searching for the benefits your products, services, and company offer -- but they still hate to be sold. They want to make the decision to seek you out, so the more you let them do that, the better off you are. It doesn't matter that you made the first move; they could have ignored it. Instead, they sought you out. You never chased them eisberg-seminare.de. This lets you charge more money for your products and make more sales faster. In the process, you'll build a loyal following who will continue to do business with you, and only you, for years.

So think very deeply about the ideas I've outlined in this article, and begin to use this powerful strategy to reverse the power in the marketing relationship. Get all your best prospects and customers to chase after you instead of you chasing after them. When you do that correctly, people will be happy to give you their disposable income.