BullionVault Explained

 This article is about investing in one of the biggest online Gold investment Websites - BullionVault.

Founded by Paul Tustain, BullionVault sits somewhere between Goldmoney, for safety and Gold storage, and the trading services mentioned earlier.  Bullionvault is UK-based, although an additionally interesting feature is the ability to store your gold in their New York, London or Zurich gold vaults.  Dependent on which country you are a citizen of, you will probably feel most comfortable placing your gold outside of that country so that is not subject to your local government jurisdiction, so top marks for considering that feature.

An interesting aspect of the three separate vaults is that these could be considered as separate currencies in their own right.  For example, if at some point in the future there was a repeat of the 1930s US Gold confiscation, gold stored in a New York Vault might become priced significantly lower than gold stored in a Zurich vault, as US holders try to sell and place their gold outside their own jurisdiction.

BullionVault allows you to buy and sell Gold on their impressive looking trading platform, where buyers and sellers of gold from each vault can meet and state their required selling/buying prices, so if you are more inclined to hold gold, occasionally sell on a dip, then buy in again later, then this could well be the best service for you.

Their fees for transactions and monthly storage are really low too, so they are very worthy of investigation.  The storage fee is currently $4 per month fixed, regardless of holding size, and only payable for the months in which you held Gold.

Again, Bullionvault has proved popular with Gold Bugs accumulating gold for the future financial crisis they believe is in the offing.

Payment into BullionVault is by bank transfer.  Payment out is by bank wire transfer to your chosen bank account.

In recent years, they introduced a silver option.  That they took so long may have been something to do with BullionVault being UK-based and the UK charging VAT on silver sales, which could, to many observers, seem to be another example of government getting in the way of free trade.

E-Gold explained

E-Gold was one of the first organisations to offer internet, or electronic gold. It was started up by a Dr Jackson who strongly believes in the gold story, and that gold is due a comeback as the trusted medium of exchange. E-gold started out in the USA and have since moved their jurisdiction to Nevis in the West Indies.

They offer deposit facilities and also heavily promote the use of e-gold for payments.

People conducting business on the internet may find an e-gold account especially useful because of its slant towards being used as a medium of exchange, and even traditional businesses in countries with high inflation could use it in future to agree prices with customers in terms of gold regardless of what happens to their national currency.

E-Gold have had such success with Gold, that they are now offering e-Silver, e-Platinum and e-Palladium too.

The process for transferring money into and out of E-Gold involves the use of separate payment providers. Authorised and recommended organisations are listed on their website. There is a fee of approximately 2% for transfer of funds in and transfer of funds out, plus you may also be liable to local bank fees. Different payment providers seem to have different fees, so it is well worth finding the best one for you. This system is quite flexible in that you can use a variety of payment systems to transfer money in or out, such as a credit card or Paypal account.

E-Gold also charge a storage fee for the days in which you own precious metals within their system. This is currently 1% per annum. This system of charging could work well for smaller amounts, or where your metal is used as a medium for exchange and thus many days your account holding is zero.

Overall, E-gold is an excellent service, with excellent levels of confidentiality you'll never find with a bank these days. Both they and Bullionvault seem like decent operations, with much security behind them.

Invest Gold UK

This blog has been created in conjunction with the new gold investing book How to Invest in Gold and Silver, and website available at Invest Gold UK.

Hopefully it can become a forum for free and open Gold and Silver investing discussion.