For centuries, major proportion of investments were in gold. Rulers and Kings issued gold coins and mudras and their treasury was full of jewels made of gold and gems. Gold investments proved as the solid long term investment. And it will add value to one's portfolio especially in bear market.
Conventional way of buying physical gold is beneficial only for ornaments. Now we have more modern way of gold investments like gold Mutual Funds, ETFs, E-gold, and gold schemes offered by Indian government.
• Gold Mutual Funds - Gold Mutual Funds don’t buy gold directly but invests in stocks of companies engaged in gold mines and gold ornaments making firms.
• Gold ETFs - Gold ETFs are open ended mutual fund scheme that invests the money in gold bullion.
• Gold schemes - Government of India announced 3 schemes for saving gold. Gold Monetisation, Scheme, Gold sovereign scheme, and the Indian Gold coin scheme.
Investment in gold is profitable and risk free on following grounds :-
• Inflation Hedge - Value of gold rises with rise in inflation. During inflation investment in gold is the best option for investors.
• Liquidity - There is always demand for gold. Day or night, inflation or deflation you can sell gold within a short notice.
• Valuable asset - Gold will not depreciate in any time. You can have moderate returns in long time. But possessing gold gives a secured feeling.
• Risk is minimum - The risk of occurring loss is minimum if you buy E- gold or ETFs. While selling gold ornaments one can face loss due to making charges and other tactics followed by jewelers.
Investment in gold is for the people who are nervous to take risk and who have weak kidney and heart. If you are strong and your purpose of investment is making huge profit in the long run then gold investment is not for you. You can better invest in stock market and acquire wealth. Even for ordinary people the investment in gold should have some limitations as the returns from gold will be in singular digit only.