Gold has a long history as a secure investment that dates back millenia. Unlike many other investment types, gold never loses all of its value. Even though the price of it often fluctuates, it always remains a very valuable material. Gold is also normally very easy to sell, and sells quickly. There’s a widespread interest in investing in gold bullion, and in how one goes about it. Goldbroker.com and Bullion Vault are two companies which offer the opportunity to buy, sell, and store gold bullion, along with silver and platinum, and Goldbroker also offers palladium. Here’s what the process entails.
The investor starts by opening an account through the website of Goldbroker or Bullion Vault. There’s no charge to open the account, and both companies offer both personal and company accounts. Once the account is opened, the two companies differ on what to do next. With Goldbroker, the account has to be verified before it’s funded, whereas with Bullion Vault, the account is funded before it’s verified.
The account verification is done at Goldbroker by providing them with idenfitication and proof of address. For a company account, the idenfitication and proof of address is required from the CEO, and additional documents are also needed, including the certificate of incorporation or registration, memorandum and article of association, certificate of incumbency, description of the company’s activities and origin of the funds, and the banking information.
For Bullion Vault, the account verification is done by providing a copy of a photo ID and a bank statement from the account from which the wire transfer was made funding the account. Bullion Vault warns that deposits and withdrawals to the Bullion Vault account can only be made to and from the bank account from which the initial deposit was made. Unlike Goldbroker which asks for numerous documents for a business account, Bullion Vault only asks for proof of the business as a legal entity such as a certificate of incorporation.
With Goldbroker, once the account has been validated, Goldbroker will help the investor put together an investment roadmap. At this point, the investor sends the funds to Goldbroker by wire transfer. After Goldbroker receives the funds, which takes from 1 to 5 business days depending on the location of the investor, Goldbroker sends the investor a confirmation that they’ve received it, and then fulfils the order based on the investment roadmap.
The bullion will be stored in vaults in New York, Toronto, Zurich, or Singapore, depending on the investor’s preference. The investor also has the option of storing the bullion divided amongst more than one location. Storage fees range from 0.95% to 1.5% per year. If less than €20,000 worth of bullion is being stored, there’s a storage account maintenance fee of €110 per year. The investor receives ownership certificates which verify ownership and which list the serial numbers of the bars and/or coins. Alternately, investors who are based in the US or in France can have the bullion shipped to them to store at home.
The minimum investment amount at Goldbroker is €10,000 ($12,374 US, based on the exchange rate in April, 2018). Accounts are available for residents and companies located in the vast majority of countries in the world, and transactions are accepted in Euros, US dollars, British pounds, and Swiss francs.
Unlike many bullion providers, Bullion Vault offers the option of investing in smaller amounts of precious metals, starting at one gram. Bullion Vault accepts deposits in US dollars, Euros, British pounds, and Japanese Yen. Once the account is funded and validated, the investor can buy the bullion directly through Bullion Vault’s website. Bullion Vault also offers a Regular Gold Investment Plan, in which the investor makes monthly payments, and the gold is bought automatically.
Bullion Vault offers the investor the choice of storing the bullion in vaults in London, Zurich, New York, Toronto, or Singapore. Commissions are a maximum of 0.5% and the storage fees are 0.12% for gold, with a minimum of $4 per month. Bullion Vault also offers the option of a service in which they will send you an SMS for any withdrawals, so that you’ll instantly know if there are any unauthorized withdrawals.
Both Goldbroker and Bullion Vault offer the opportunity to sell the gold through them when the time comes. With Goldbroker, the investor places a sell order through the account’s messaging service for the items that he wants to sell. Goldbroker sends the investor a confirmation that he has to sign and send back in order for the bullion to be removed from the vault. Once Goldbroker has sold it, they send the money to the investor by wire transfer. Goldbroker charges a sales commision of 1% with a minimum commission of €75.
With Bullion Vault, the investor can either place a sell order to sell it at the best price or offer the bullion at his own price on the live order board. As with Goldbroker, withdrawals from the account are sent by wire transfer.
That was a brief overview of how gold is bought, stored, and sold by investors. More information is available on the websites of Goldbroker and Bullion Vault.