Try www.tulving.com. He would probably be interested in buying your bars.

Originally posted in thread: 579

I've purchased and sold gold over the years. I am very satisfied with Centennial Precious metals. You can check out their website at www.usagold.com. Ask for Jonathan Kosares.

If your children are still receiving gold from their aunt, if they can, they should express their preference for one ounce gold bullion coins like the American Eagle or Buffalo. I believe they are more saleable.

But if their is somebody in the family that would like them, they should pay 1% over spot price to your children. Then your children would get a little better price, and those buying would only be paying 1% over spot, instead of around 5-8 percent when purchasing from a gold firm. Take out the middle man and keep the gold in the family. It isn't a bad conservative long term investment to hold onto if you can.

all the best,
Joe E.

Originally posted in thread: 579

Does anyone know of a good primer on buying US gold coins ? I know absolutely nothing about buying and selling gold coins.

Can they be held in an Roth IRA?

Thanks,
Dave

Originally posted in thread: 579

I can't imagine why one would want to place gold coins in a Roth. Roths (and IRAs, generally) are to allow for tax-advantaged compounding of assets.

With bullion/coins, all you need to do is buy some, store them safely, and wait. There are no taxes to pay while you wait. Sales of bullion are a 'reportable event' by the coin dealer only over a certain dollar amount ($10k per day, I believe).

In addition, bullion is one of the few assets which can be considered 'private money' -- that is, not listed on a bank or brokerage statement and so NOT reportable to Uncle Sam. So no party (the Govt, the broker, etc) need know about these. Why would you want to unnecessarily alert the Govt you have these? Our Govt has issued edicts in the past which confiscated bullion held by the public. They cannot confiscate if they don't know you have it.

I like gold coins, but keep them safely stored.

If you insist on putting gold in an IRA, you can buy GLD (the gold ETF). But I don't recommend it.

I recommend placing hi-income paying, tax-inefficient securities in your Roth. Let the income compound and grow over time to generate a good level of income for you in retirement.

Buy and keep gold OFF your broker statements and somewhere safe and private.

Originally posted in thread: 579

IRA's need "custodians" like Fidelity, Vanguard, Morgan Stanley, etc etc. You see on your IRA statements "FBO" For the Benefit Of; the custodians name first, then the FBO, then your name.

So, would you expect the IRA custodian to put the gold bars in their office safe and each month take the bars out, weigh them and then report the value of gold bars on your monthly statement?

Originally posted in thread: 579

Howdy,

Thought I'd chime in.

Check out : http://www.apmex.com/ as they have about the best prices I've found, also buy and have a link on the left side of the page about gold in your IRA. Yes, you can do it, but it's NOT easy. It has to be thru a 3rd party, plus forms, etc. I wouldn't do it myself and I'm particularly long precious metals in various ways.

With gold bars, if they're name brand and stamped, you can probably sell them directly for around bullion price ($665 per ounce).

As for buying bullion, I like the American Eagle series in uncirculated condition (not proof which are special coins for collectors only available from the mint). Again, apmex has about the best prices I've seen, but shop around.

Silver eagles come in 1 oz the size of a silver dollar. You can get a roll of 20 for about $300. It'll come in a plastic tube and be about 3" tall.

Gold and platinum eagles come in 1 oz, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/10 oz sizes. A roll of 10 oz gold eagles will be about 1/5" tall and the size of a quarter and cost about $7K, a roll over 10 1 oz platinum will be about $14K. This means that you could have quite a lot in bullion stored in a shoebox. I do NOT like having bullion warehoused and insured by someone else. I want it in my grubby little paws. This means stashing it somewhere around the crib or getting a safedeposit box.

For investments, you may want to considere the bullion ETF's - GLD or SLV (couple of other gold ETF's). These are ETF's and so traded like stocks, and only invest in bullion - not mining stocks. However, their gains are taxed at 28% as collectibles per the IRS so you want them in a deferred account. An alternative is the Central Fund of Canada CEF a closed end mutual fund that invests in gold and silver bullion at about a 60/40 split. It is taxed at 15% at this time as the IRS has never ruled on them.

Precious metal mutual funds are either mixed pm's or pure gold. I prefer the mixed as you get coverage of silver, platinum, palladium, etc. These funds own shares of mining company stocks for the most part, rather than bullion. They are taxed at 15%. My favorites are Vanguard VGPMX (closed), Tocqueville TGLDX and US Global UNWPX (I own all three).

Or you can buy individual mining stocks. These can have great leverage during a bull market, but can hand you your hat during a bear. I own a bunch - AUY, GG, SLW, PAAS, SSRI, AEMLW, PAL and BNV. I also own some penny miners - both OTC and pinkies.

All this said, I think it's prudent for a person to have some small % in precious metals - say 3-5%. More than this is speculation - which is OK, but still speculation.

For more about gold and silver try www.kitco.com or www.gold-eagle.com.

peace,

rono

Originally posted in thread: 579