Physical Gold Vs ETFs- Which one should you pick?

Let’s look at the two main ways to purchase Gold in India:

1) Physical gold via jewelry or coins

2) Gold mutual funds or ETFs

Why bother about the form of Gold you purchase?

If the purpose is consumption, for e.g., a wedding, you should buy gold physically.

But if you are looking to accumulate gold for instance for the marriage of your children or for investment purposes, you should consider buying gold ETFs.

Buying gold is a hassle

You have to check numerous things before buying gold jewelry or gold coins such as hallmark certificates for purity and physically look for an choose the right piece which suits your needs. There is then a 20%-30% making charge involved. In comparison buying gold via an ETF is as simple as buying any other mutual fund. You can even buy just 1 unit of gold whereas even the smallest piece of jewelry weighs a minimum of 4 grams.

Gold ETFs are economical and easily liquefiable

The only cost investors have to consider when buying gold ETFs is a minimal fund management fee of around 1%. ETFs can be easily sold back at prevailing market rates. In comparison, when selling physical gold in the market you stand to lose up to 25-30% of your initial investment as making charges are discounted for and typically jewelers buy back gold at 2-3% below prevailing market rates.

Tax benefits

After an ownership period of 3 years, physical gold attracts wealth tax and VAT, neither of which happens when you own ETFs.

Storage is expensive

Buyers need to find safe physical storage such as bank lockers to store their gold and this may prove expensive. But for Gold ETF, storage is taken care of by the fund. Investors hold the gold ETFs in a demat account, and don’t need to bother about its security as in the case of physical gold.

Quality Assurance of Gold ETFs

Gold ETFs are backed by gold of 99.5% purity, so investors can be assured about the quality of gold.

Do not be misled into purchasing the wrong form of Gold.  Do consider your investment purpose carefully before heading out to purchase the shining metal.

The views expressed here in this article / video are for general information and reading purpose only and do not constitute any guidelines and recommendations on any course of action to be followed by the reader. Quantum AMC / Quantum Mutual Fund is not guaranteeing / offering / communicating any indicative yield on investments made in the scheme(s). The views are not meant to serve as a professional guide / investment advice / intended to be an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial product or instrument or mutual fund units for the reader. The article has been prepared on the basis of publicly available information, internally developed data and other sources believed to be reliable. Whilst no action has been solicited based upon the information provided herein, due care has been taken to ensure that the facts are accurate and views given are fair and reasonable as on date. Readers of this article should rely on information/data arising out of their own investigations and advised to seek independent professional advice and arrive at an informed decision before making any investments.

Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks read all scheme related documents carefully.