You are correct. Coins are traded without a delay.
Bars (unless they are individually serial numbered, and you are selling them back to the seller) are more difficult to sell.
I only have gold coins as a hedge against a collapse of American Society. Plus I love to roll around in them. But Guns are actually a better investment. Since after the collapse you can use the guns to acquire food, water, slaves, etc.
I have been thinking about buying gold and silver myself. The advantage of buying bars to coins is that bars will be cheaper in the long run if you are purchasing a decent amount.
There are exchange traded funds that mirror price of gold with their share price. Seems safer than storing/transporting it yourself. Unless you're preparing for some cataclysmic collapse of the economy and you need the gold to barter for weapons so you can start a militia, in that case, stock up.
I'd stay away from ETF's many big hedge funds are selling them for physical gold and if there's a run on gold they won't have the material to cover. Here's a interesting read that covers some of this:
Now what should you buy? Many feell buy the cheapest bullion product out there K-rand comes to mind. That's fine but you better get it from someone like APMEX since their so much fake stuff coming from china. This goes for classic US gold too ($20 lib/saint or 10 dollar libs).
In the past the $20 libs and saints were $50 to $100 over melt but now it's more like a couple hundred so it's not the deal it once was. You had collectors value in these coins.
Bars are okay in the smaller sizes but stick to name brands they don't need to be assayed unless they are real large. I wouldn't mess too much with them though since the gold can be shaved or turn out fake.
My advice is buy the 1986 up $5 comms which are right at 1/4 ounce of gold and sell many times at or below spot on Ebay. Make sure you get the goverment issued COA and box or the coins are graded by PCGS, NGC, or ANACS. PLEASE DO NOT CONFUSE THESE WITH THE $5 GOLD EAGLES, THEY ARE ONLY 1/10 AN OUNCE. THE COMM'S ARE RIGHT AT 1/4 OUNCE.
The 1983/84 $10 comm (around 1/2 ounce) always sells for under spot and it's a very good deal (all the 5 and 10's are 90%). Look at the first spouce if you perfer a 24k gold coin but some of these are way too much, the common ones seem like an okay deal.
Now with all that said I say don't over look silver I believe is will out pace the gold price by quite a bit at this point and can be purchased as you get the money. Always average don't just drop 10 grand in one day on them. Expect huge swings as this thing blows (+/- $100+ in one day). The paper market really trys to effect the golds price but as it fell last time physical material didn't follow as usual with large margin from paper gold/silver.
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