What Are The Best Gold Bars To Buy?
Since we have been learning that the trend among Gold buyers is to buy the cheapest Gold bars as measured in the cost of the Gold itself, we thought with the price of Gold dipping again we would look to find the cheapest place to buy Perth Mint 1 ounce Gold bars.
Why Perth Mint Gold bars?
Well, we like the tamper proof case and assay card. Any other 1 ounce Gold bar in .9999 fine you find that has an equivalent, whether it be Credit Suisse or an established refiner, I think that would be fine also.
Just whatever we do we know that we want to be able to find a willing buyer for our Gold bars without any requirement of assay and the associated delay and expense.
Buy Cheap Gold Bars?
Again, let’s be clear. We are buying cheap 24k Gold bars not from the standpoint that they are Walmart/KMart/Dollar store cheap, but just that we are paying no more for the actual Gold content than we need to.
The reason an investor would want to buy a Gold bar instead of a Gold coin is simply to save on the premium over the spot price of Gold.
Consider Buy Back Price Of The Gold Bars
While Gold bars typically have a lower premium over Gold coins, and therefore you can get more Gold for your money, remember that you will have to sell these at some point if your objective is capital gain.
So consider the buyback price of the Gold bar versus coins also.
Right now, we are seeing buyback prices of the Perth Mint one ounce Gold bar as ranging from $14 UNDER the spot price of Gold to $6 over.
Compare that to a Gold Buffalo which garners a much higher buyback price, based on PERCENTAGE of the spot price of Gold (currently, at least, we cannot guarantee the future), of 1.75% to 2.5% over spot!
Let’s Do Some Math
Let’s say we compare a one ounce Perth Mint Gold bar to a one ounce U.S. Gold Buffalo coin. In our example, we’ll use the spot price of Gold at $1310, and buyback price on the high end of each (currently, GoldMart). For discussion, we will sell the Gold bar and US Buffalo when the spot price of Gold is $2000.
| Comparison | Spot Gold | Perth Bar | US Buffalo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy Price | 1310 | 1332 | 1360 |
| Sell Price | 2000 | 2006 | 2050 |
| Profit | 690 | 674 | 690 |
| % Profit | 52.67% | 50.60% | 50.73% |
Notice how the bigger percentage return on your money is with the US Gold Buffalo. Now it’s not a HUGE difference, which really makes me want to boil it down to other decision making factors as to whether you opt to buy a Gold coin like a 24k US Buffalo or a 24k Gold bar.
I did NOT choose the US Gold Eagle because, like the Krugerrand, it is NOT 24k – and that matters more to Asian buyers I am told, it’s not much of a factor here in the U.S. What you want to watch for is the premiums on the Eagle vs the Buffalo, though. Years ago we had to pay more for the Buffalo and buy back prices were higher. Now, not so much and premiums can go either way – we’ve seen periods of time when the Eagle had a higher premium.
I suppose that alone may be a reason not to “bet” on coins over bars, at some point maybe the buyback will be equal. Probably boils down to supply and demand, which can be fickle. Perhaps it is best to buy the most Gold for the money, which would be the cheaper Gold bars.
So Where Can You Buy Cheap Gold Bars?
As we have discussed before, when you want to buy cheap Gold bars whether a CombiBar or a Perth Mint Gold bullion bar, there are other costs to consider besides the cost of the product:
- Shipping & Insurance
- Minimums that allow free shipping (and insurance)
- Payment cost (is a wire transfer required? – do you have a way to get free wire transfers, like a Schwab brokerage account?)
- Hassle of doing business
- Will you know exactly which day it will be delivered so you are home?
- Will you have to drive to the Post Office and wait in line to pick it up, with others watching?
We aren’t going to cover all of these factors here, everyone has a different situation and tolerances. If you are retired, for instance, you may not care if you have to be home a certain day or if you have to drive 40 minutes round trip to the post office and maybe stand in line for a while.
Here Are Some Of The Cheapeast Gold Bar Prices We Found
This table is for a Perth Mint 1 oz. Gold bar, or an equivalent in some cases. We are going to “assume” free shipping where possible, so this is a quantity of more than 1 bar (at least at these Gold prices), in this case 5. Some firms may give price breaks at larger quantities.
Some firms will accept a personal check (some within price limits) that can eliminate the wire fee but delay the shipment by as long as 10 days.
That’s one factor we did NOT put in the table, and that’s how soon you will receive your product. From what we can tell, Texas Precious Metals will win that race and Northwest Territorial Mint may lose by a LARGE factor.
Spot Gold: $1309
(Table information provided for discussion purposes only, not a recommendation to buy or sell anything from anyone!)
| Vendor | Gold Bar Ea. | Minimum Free Shipping |
Shipping | Wire Fee | Total Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoldMart | $1333.90 | $7500 | $20 (5) | $25 | $6714.50 |
| JM Bullion | $1338.30 (8) | $2500 | $0 | $25 (1) | $6716.50 |
| Gainesville Coins | $1336.90 | n/a | $32 (2) | $25 (3) | $6741.50 |
| Hard Assets Alliance | $1339.80 | n/a | $65 (6) | $0 (7) | $6764.00 |
| Texas Precious Metals | $1344.40 | $6000 | $0 | $25 | $6727.00 (10) |
| Apmex | $1345.50 | n/a | $25 (9) | $25 | $6777.50 |
| Northwest Territorial Mint | $1350.3 | $0 | $0 | $25 | $6776.50 |
| GoldSilver.com | $1355.70 | $0 | $26 | $25 | $6829.50 |
Table Notes:
1) They do accept direct deposits to their bank account if you have a free way to do that
2) Shipping does NOT necessarily go up as more bars are purchased!
3) $2000 minimum order for a wire transfer purchase
4) Buy more, shipping is free
5) GoldMart offers $19.95 shipping at $2500; No shipping calculator without signing into account
6) Shipping estimated based on phone call to customer service
7) ACH Deposit
8) JM Bullion offers to price match, never tried though
9) Apmex offers flat fee shipping
10) Price reflects $20 Texas Precious Metals coupon code exclusive for BuyAndStoreGold
Again, let us stress that YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
If you take JM Bullion at their word and try to get a price match, they might very well sell the cheapest Gold bar instead of GoldMart.
Of course, at that point it may again be decided by other factors, such as deliver time, ease of doing business or whether you already have used one of them in the past.
Summary
Don’t just go looking for the cheapest Gold bars to buy without first considering whether or not a Gold coin may fit your investment objectives better, and maybe even be more “recognizable” to more people.
Then, take into account other costs and hassle factors when deciding where to buy “cheap” Gold bars. And make sure they the best Gold bars available in that they are sealed, tamper proof and with assay cards!
