In India, to be precise – gold investments would take us down the lane of tradition and belief. When we are from India – gold investments aren’t new to us. Investing in gold dates back hundreds of years. Apart from gold being part of our investments and savings for years – gold is known to be one of the best paths to invest.
Moreover – it is one of the best assets when it comes to being a hedge against inflation. But today, we are way past getting gold in just the form of jewelers, coins, and bars. Since everything happens online – this too could happen online. You read that right – your gold investments could be made online. Now, all we have to do is find out how.
There are several kinds of gold investments that you can do online.
Gold Investments that you can Make Online
Here are some of the best gold investments you can do right from where you are – all you need is access to the internet and some KYC documents:
1) Digital Gold
You have mostly heard about digital money, and that is mostly what we use today. Who wants to carry around a wallet full of stacked-up cash when you can carry even more than that in your phone or card. In a very similar way, who wants to store physical gold jewelry, coins, or bars when you can just store them digitally without having to safeguard them yourself. Digital gold is a very recent development and has also gained wide popularity. You can buy digital gold on platforms that provide it. You can either choose to buy in grams or rupees starting from 10. But, make sure you buy them from the most authentic websites.
2) Sovereign Gold Bonds
A Sovereign Gold Bond is supervised by the RBI, and it was also introduced by the Indian government in the year 2015. SGBs aim to provide an alternative option for the investment in physical gold. These bonds typically come with a lock-in period of five years and can redeem after that period.
3) Gold Schemes
Usually, jeweler chains and traders would come out with many gold schemes from time to time for their customers. It is for you to invest a certain amount of money in a scheme, similar to a SIP, for a period of time. After maturity, you can take out the lump sum money in the form of gold. Now, the best part about this is that you would get to do it online through the portal of the jeweler.
4) Gold ETFs
Gold ETFs or exchange-traded funds are traded on stock exchanges like shares and primarily feature physical gold and stock of gold refining or mining as the underlying asset of investment. You can find these ETFs on reliable platforms and trade them through a Demat account.
5) Gold Mutual Funds
They are the mutual funds that are managed by AMCs and follow a fund of fund form. They would primarily invest in Gold ETFs, and you can invest in most of the Gold Mutual Funds through a reliable AMC.
Why Invest in Gold?
Have you ever thought, when there are so many investment tools you can choose from, why choose to invest in gold? Don’t think about that anymore – here is why you should be investing in gold in the first place.
– Gold is known to be a safe option to choose.
Well, how often do you see the prices of gold falling? Not quite that much, right? It is quite safe to invest in gold also because it is one of the oldest and most sought investments in the market. This is one of the best assets that help you beat inflation.
– It is an easily accessible source, and you will find it simple to liquidate.
Gold is like money in your purse. It has no lock-in period or loss if you liquidate it fast. There are no highs if you come out of a bond or scheme, but other than that – it is easier to liquidate than stock or some piece of property.
– It is stable.
When you compare it to the stock market and more, you know that gold is much more stable, and it can give you the returns that you were always looking forward to.
Are There Risks in Investing in Gold?
Just like any other investment, gold has a small amount of risk involved. Let us get to know it.
Some key risks in gold investments:
Physical gold – It could be stolen or lost and sometimes could have issues revolving around purity. But, when it comes to buying digital gold – you would not face either of these issues.
Other forms of investments could slightly fluctuate because of market volatility. But, as already mentioned – this is a rare case scenario. Gold has not been known to go down often and has always protected its investors against growing inflation rates.
Conclusion
Online investments in gold are starting to outnumber the physical buying of this precious metal – thanks to the internet and looking for convenience at where we are. Some part of your portfolio needs to have gold in it. This gives you the hedge against inflation and is also known to be one of the safest investments you could have. This means you would not be putting all of your eggs in one basket.
