What's the best way to invest in Gold?

Gold is not an investment in the same way that you think of stocks and bonds. Is it the thing to get right now - YES! As inflation kicks in with the rapidly growing TARP funds and other hocus pocus money creation going on we may slip into hyper inflation. Gold will go up too. But what gold will really do is maintain its purchasing power relative to what you want. Its not so much that the price of gold goes up its that its relation to other things creates that look. There are multiple ways to invest in gold. First of all, there is bullion - if you go that route look at coins minted by governments or bars that have assay cards. If you buy bars without assay cards make sure that they are either PAMP Suisse or Credit Suisse. Those have ID numbers stamped on them otherwise you will have to pay to get the gold tested before selling in orderto make sure its authentic. You don't have that problem with gold coins. Beware of fakes or copies. If you go with coins look out for the premium over the daily spot price. Right now it can be high. A lot of regular vendors are out of stock and thus are marking up their prices hence the "premium". Ebay has some good deals but watch out on the shipping costs. Also note that the smaller the size coin the greater the premium over spot. A 1oz might go for $950 but a 1/10 oz goes for $140. If you bout 10 1/10 oz coins it would add up to $1400 an oz. versus the $950. Forget numismatic or collectable value as when people are scrambling to sell it won't matter. The only exception may be a St Gaudens gold coin from that late 1800's to early 1900's. Watch out fof fakes or copies. Buy only PCGS or ANACS certified coins in that case.

Then you have paper gold. Perth mint certificates are an option but they start at $10,000. You are buying a receipt for gold at the Australian mint and rumors are that they don't have the gold to back up the certificates that they have been selling because when people have wanted to cash them in for real gold they get put off for months. Sounds like a ponzi scheme. Then there are outfits like Goldmoney.com which is offshore. You wire over money to your accoun and then then put gold into your account either in London or Zurich. They handle silver too. You want to sell, you sell and they wire the money back. The transfer fees could hurt on small transactions. They used to go directly to checking accounts but the US govt gave them a hard time because its offshore. If you go that route make sure that you report owning the account to the Treasury dept around tax time to avoid trouble. Mind you it is a paper asset and is subject to vanishing. You don't have it in hand and it could disappear.

Then you have gold stocks. Majors, juniors and explorers. This is where some heavy money will be made in gold. First it will go to the majors and then trickle down to the explorers where the biggest gains will happen but that also has the greatest risk as there is a lot of junk out there. Look to Kinross in the majors. Get advice here only from the pros like Doug Casey or Rick Rule. There is a lot of fools gold amongst the real gems.

Right now there is a lot of manipulation in the gold market by some big players. Some govts may be involved or their central banks too. On the COMEX where gold futures are traded you can actually watch as people sell gold off at what must be for losses on purpose. Asian trading drives it up and when it gets to NY it is driven down. Gold is an indicator of perceived inflation or coming inflation. Govts don't want people to think that way as it makes them look less stable. The juniors and explorers are being pounded by unremitting naked short selling on the Canadian exchanges. The share prices are being surpressed no matter how much good news an explorer puts out. The only exception in the last few years was Auralian which made a huge discovery and took off about 1000% up until it was whacked down in time and then pounded by geopolitical events and then bought on the cheap by a major (Kinross I think).

Gold in your possession is not subject to the outright shennanigans of the players IF you hold it for the long term. But remember, if it goes real high then get rid of it as it will not go up forever. Don't get attached to it. Its only to help you preserve your purchasing power. Who knows it may be the only way to pay for food in the future if the dollar becomes worthless. Sorry if its a lot to swallow but its important to do your homework on this. You'll be amazed at what you will uncover.