I have been looking at alternative investment from my portfolio for quite some time, and one of them is precious metals. I wasn’t sure what was the best way to get vested in this precious metal.
You know how, when you were younger, senior folks/parents/relative, they always ask you to buy gold and keep? saying, gold will go up, blah blah.. But how to you actually do it? Do you buy physical gold from the shop and keep in closet? buy the gold ETF? so many different types of gold, how to choose?
Talked to a friend who was using the OUB GSA and I set my heart to go down to the nearest UOB branch to sign up for the OUB GSA when i read an article from one of the bloggers about BullionStar and got interested. did some digging, and found that it actually simplifies a lot of the stuff which I initially had questions about.
I dropped them an email to ask about the usual stuff… and within a 2-3 days, i usually get a reply from their CSO. I was sold on their product, and 2 weeks of back and forth, signed up with BSP. The registration was completed in 5 minutes, tops? and best of all, they had a FREE 10gr BSP silver!
why it suits me (and may differ from individuals):
- looking for alternative investment
- I already have a USD cash account, and have been thinking how to maximise the returns, instead of sitting idle. I can always sell it and have the monies back. pretty liquid. (BSP allows to buy in EUR/USD/SGD and upon selling, you can select the currency you want to have it.)
- the storage fee is calculated on a daily basis. (not monthly. unlike the banks security deposit, i think?). once you have no holdings, they stop charging you, which to me sounds quite fair
- tax free
- They are just two different ways of measuring weight, gram and troy ounce. Prices on the spot markets for precious metals are set in troy ounce. A 100 gram gold bar equals 3.215 troy ounces. gram makes it “cheaper” since the unit of measurement is “smaller”
- physical outlet exits
- the interface is simple enough to navigate for buy/sell
Cons:
- no dividend. purely capital gains: buy low sell high
- not MAS regulated. (this rang some bells in my head initially, but so far, most of the review and information that i have seems to be quite positive)
- only one outlet. have to make a trip if decide to draw out the physical gold. (website mention they can deliver to any part of the world. But would you do it? I probably won’t)
Because, my initial plan was to invest in gold, and not silver (darn, why didn’t they give free gold instead?!!) .. i sold my silver straight away and the money has been in my BSP account since.
**Disclaimer.: I have a vested interest in BSP product, and there is an affiliate referral program going on when you click on it. Don’t take my word for it, and please do your own due diligence on the product. If you are interested, click FREE 10gr BSP silver!
foolish chameleon 