You may or may not have thought about investing in gold or silver before now, but with all the recent hype about gold prices, you may be considering it.  Over the past year, gold is up 52% and has held above $1100 per ounce this week.  If you have never even considered investing in gold, I provide 6 reasons for investing in gold in this article.  If you can’t afford to invest in gold, then you should consider investing in silver instead.  Either way, gold and silver serve as a way to preserve purchasing power over the longer term.  But, how do you go about investing in gold?

There are several different ways to invest in gold from gold mining stocks, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds to futures, options, and physical gold.  This article will focus on purchasing physical gold for you to hold in your hand and store in a safe or safety deposit box.  I have had the opportunity to purchase both gold and silver.  I have purchased from dealers as well as online.  I prefer purchasing gold online due to the huge convenience factor.

There are several different national dealers which maintain online operations that will allow you to purchase your gold online.  Kitco.com, the Northwest Territorial Mint, and the American Precious Metals Exchange (Apmex.com) are just some of the sites that sell gold coins and bullion online.  My personal experience involves Apmex.com.  I chose that site several years ago since at the time, many of the other sites would not allow credit card purchases.  I found the prices competitive with the other sites and in fact cheaper than many.

It was easy to purchase my gold online.  I simply ordered what I wished, placed it in my cart, and paid with a credit card.  I chose to insure my package (duh!).  Within about 4-5 days, the mailman left a little note in my mailbox saying there was a package for me at the post office.  On a few occasions, I was at home and able to sign for the package without even going to the post office.  As mentioned, the convenience was wonderful.  If you have never purchased gold or silver, I would suggest that you start considering it.  Start with a few ounces of silver.  I like the Canadian Maple Leafs.  Get a feel for ordering and start protecting your wealth with precious metals.  A decade from now, you will be glad you did.