Why investing in Gold is the right place to put your money

Gold ETF, Gold Prices, Bars Silver/gold, Investing Gold Bullion

Investing in Gold is what is being talked about on talk radio, magazines, websites celebrities, analysts and investment gurus are putting their money and their dollars:

Find out what Jay Bryson, has to say www.bloomberg.com Tim Middleton wrote and article about instead of buying mining stocks or bars of bullion, smart investors will put money into funds that own the metal. A weaker dollar has helped make gold a better buy these days. A weakening dollar is driving gold's price higher.

These days it's easier than ever to invest in gold. Though gold-focused mutual funds used to own mostly companies involved in mining gold, there are now funds that own bullion itself, including the popular StreetTracks Gold htm has enjoyed an 8% price advance

The exchange-traded fund, or ETF, is a safer step into gold investing than mining stocks or the mutual funds that own them. Stocks are highly leveraged against the price of gold and thus rise and fall much more than the metal itself. You can be right on the direction of gold's price and still lose with mining stocks.

Gold's fundamentals are strong. Two of the world's largest producers Newmont Mining NEM and Barrick Gold ABX reported sharp earnings gains in February, but both warned of slowing production due to increased operating costs.

as rich as they used to be," says Douglas Groh, a senior analyst for Tocqueville Gold Fund TGLDX. Meanwhile, demand is surging.

Markets such as India and China, where gold ownership has largely been confined to jewelry, are easing barriers against investing in bullion. Oil-rich nations are beginning to shift reserves from U.S. dollars to the euro, which isbumping up against a record value versus the greenback.

That weaker dollar is another reason gold, a traditional store of purchasing power, is gaining ground. The increase of its price has been less pronounced in other currencies.

Significant increases in the price of gold bullion are anticipated by gold shares three to six months in advance. That didn't happen this winter and early spring. The prices of shares and bullion have moved together. Groh says that is a demonstration of the raw market power that StreetTracks Gold has seized.

It has become the investment of choice among gold's fans.As noted, gold stocks are much riskier than the metal. Miners have enormous expenses and therefore often hedge production by selling future output at today's prices, foreclosing future gains.

Owning bullion directly, rather than through an ETF, isn't practical for individuals. We would have to pay to transport and store the metal, costs which for us would be significant but, on an ETF's vast scale, are trivial.

StreetTracks Gold has a competitor, iShares Comex Gold Trust IAU but the latter fund has less than 10% of the assets of the former. Trading on correspondingly lower volume, that means iShares is more expensive to buy and sell than StreetTracks.