Can you buy and own an ounce or bar of gold at home? Where can I buy this? – René Masson
It is entirely possible to hold gold at home in the form of bars, which is expensive, or in the form of coins, which are much more accessible to ordinary people.
The Royal Canadian Mint strikes gold bullion coins. These are the famous maple leaves, recognized throughout the world for their high purity of 99.99%.
They are offered in 2 ounce, 1 ounce, ½, ¼, 1/10 and 1/20 ounce and even 1 gram coins. 1 ounce wafers and 1 kilo and 400 ounce bars are also offered.
The investor who wants to hold gold for investment purposes and not to satisfy his passion for numismatics will avoid acquiring collector’s coins sold directly by the Royal Canadian Mint. The price demanded for these exceeds their value in gold. When resold, it will be difficult to get back your initial investment.
Maple leaves are distributed through resellers authorized by the Royal Mint. Their contact details can be found on the Crown corporation website. For the purposes of this article, let’s name the chain of gift and collectibles stores L’Imaginaire and the boutique Monnaie Collection Royale of André Goulet, from Shawinigan.
On the L’Imaginaire website, a 1-ounce maple leaf sold for $2,762 on Friday, September 22. There are no sales taxes to pay. Purchase by credit card is not permitted. Payment by debit card is accepted.
Investing a small part of your assets in gold is a recognized way to diversify your portfolio. The precious metal acts as a wealth insurance policy. Weakly correlated with stocks, gold often does well when the economy and financial markets derail.
The last few years demonstrate this. In 2022, stocks and bonds delivered negative returns, while gold appreciated 6.9% in Canadian dollars. Since 1er January 2023, its price continued to advance, by 4.2%.
Obviously, holding gold at home raises security questions. Great discretion or purchasing a safe is one way to reduce risk. Be aware that the typical home insurance policy offers limited coverage in the event of theft of precious metals. Better to find out beforehand.
Otherwise, renting a safety deposit box from the bank can be an alternative solution for some, but it involves recurring costs.
For those who lose sleep over the thought of keeping gold at home, purchasing exchange-traded funds invested in bullion offers a safe compromise. On the Canadian Stock Exchange, PHYS, from Sprott, and CGL, from BlackRock, are choices within reach of any investor.
Editor’s note: The author published the guide in 2021 Invest in gold, in collaboration with François Riverin, published by Éditions Guy Saint-Jean
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