Where can I buy Gold bars?

Many banks will have a supply. And if you want to shop around, go to your local jewellery store, they often have a stash of gold bars in their vaults
 
Quote from ozzy:

Several Reasons:

==> I plan to squirrel away stashes of gold here and there just in case of armageddon
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I don't know why anyone would stash gold in case of armageddon. Who would accept gold in such a situation? To me food, water, medicine and most importantly weapons will be what matters. Maybe your definition of armageddon is different from mine though.

Google TEOTWAWKI for more info.
 
How Do I Secure Physical Gold?


Often new gold investors are worried about having any gold at home. They fear that thieves will come and liberate their gold from them. While theft is definitely a small risk, it can almost be eliminated by taking two easy steps.



First, if you are buying gold for investment reasons, tell absolutely no one about your purchase. Don’t tell your friends, don’t tell your neighbors, don’t tell your co-workers, don’t tell your kids, just be quiet about it. You could live in the most run-down shack in town and have $1m worth of gold sitting in your basement and no one outside would have a clue unless you told them about your gold investment. 95% of the chance of theft can be eliminated if you are very subtle and discreet and keep your investment absolutely private

http://www.zealllc.com/2002/gold101.htm
 
If you are going to store precious metals, hard currency, etc, then you should have a high quality safe installed, along with a top notch security system.
 
Quote from mschey:

If you are going to store precious metals, hard currency, etc, then you should have a high quality safe installed, along with a top notch security system.
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For hitech thieves these type of safe will be a piece of cake. what u need is a pot of clay, that will go undetected as a useless pot, and u can bury that in your backyard, or just put it in basement and pour some concrete on the pot.
 
Quote from Lefty62151:

You're buying a commodity that you have to pay to store (unless you keep it under your mattress). Also you are buying near a recent historical high. The investment pays no interest. I would rather trade them than buy em. Good luck

Lefty.
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you will miss the rocket move.
 
You should try one of the bullion banks and see what they say - usually they have tonnes of 'em and are happy to sell - Chase, Soveriegn Bank, maybe BofA.

If you need a safe, buy a used, fire-proof one - they weigh about 500-600 pounds, will withstand fire etc and it takes 3 or 4 men to move one cause they're small and have no handles.
 
Quote from winter:

I don't know why anyone would stash gold in case of armageddon. Who would accept gold in such a situation? To me food, water, medicine and most importantly weapons will be what matters. Maybe your definition of armageddon is different from mine though.

Google TEOTWAWKI for more info.
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Armageddon in this case is probably the US dollar crashing (hyper inflation, wheelbarrows of money needed to buy anything). Or perhaps some very strict exchange controls and/or government seizures, bank runs, etc. The kinds of things you read about in far off 3rd world countries.

In a nuclear/end of the world armageddon, I'd rather own canned food, water, first aid kit, a radiation suit, an underground shelter, and a few weapons :) No time for gold.....
 
I think that many people choose to disregard the kind of "event risk" which is associated with holding USD denominated assets right now.

It seems that for some the mentality is "so what if USD lost another -50% of its value? Some tourists would cancel their trips abroad" (quoted from letter copied below). If one agrees that with this thinking, then surely there's no reason to hedge USD exposure.

I'll copy here a letter from StLouis's Fed Research Officer Mr Neely of 2 weeks ago:

The following was published by Central Banking in its April 19 Newsmakers update:

PBOC governor Zhou Xiaochuan has insisted that the PBOC’s task in future is mainly to improve the mechanism in the shaping of the RMB’s exchange rate rather than simply adjusting the exchange rate itself.

That hard line will not please the US Congress or the US Administration which has demanded an "immediate" revaluation of the RMB.

Why China should change its domestic policies just to please the US Congress is a mystery. With its huge reserves financing unpopular US defence policies, China is rather in a position to tell Congress to cut the US budget deficit - or else!



Central Banking received the following dispatch the next day from St. Louis Fed Research Officer Christopher Neely:

Sir/Madam,

I take issue with your assertion (Newsmakers April 19) that Chinese official purchases of U.S. assets provide sufficient leverage for the People's Republic of China (PRC) to dictate U.S. budget policy. An informal analysis will show the thesis to be fallacious.

What happens if China dumps U.S. securities on the market in an effort to influence U.S. policy? U.S. long-term interest rates will rise and the dollar will fall. For argument's sake let's assume that the value of the dollar declines by 20-50%. (It could be more.) In that case, imports become more expensive to U.S. consumers and investors and U.S. goods become more competitive on world markets. U.S. consumption and investment fall and net exports rise commensurately. U.S. output and employment might actually rise from the net export effects but the net effect will probably be a wash.

But the value of Chinese foreign exchange reserves fall in value by 20-50%. As their present level of foreign exchange reserves is about $600 billion and their GDP is around $4.5 trillion in PPP-adjusted terms, the PRC loses $100-300 billion almost immediately, about 2 - 7 percent of their GDP. That is an enormous loss for any country, especially when it is the price paid for the bizarre goal of influencing another country's budget policy.

Reserves figures: http://www.chinability.com/Reserves.htm

GDP figures: http://english.people.com.cn/200408/05/eng20040805_151944.html

So, US takes a decent sized fall in consumption--nothing earth shaking--while the PRC loses 2-7% of their GDP in wealth. The last time the dollar lost half of its value on FX markets (1986-1987) hardly anyone in the United States noticed. A few tourists canceled their trips abroad.

Is this a credible threat on the part of the PRC?

I submit that if the PRC had anything like that sort of pull in Washington, Taiwan would already be governed by the PRC. Further, Tokyo has long had similar holdings of US assets and has never been able to dictate policy to Washington. Neither can Washington dictate to Beijing or Tokyo just because the US is an important trading partner. Nations are remarkably stubborn about those things.

There has been actual research on just such a possibility. Croke, Kamin and Leduc at the Board of Governors have written on the subject of sudden current account adjustments.

Blanchard, Giavazzi and Sa have written a related paper on the likely course of the dollar as the U.S. current account adjusts.

Croke, Kamin, Leduc: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=678945

Blanchard, Giavazzi and Sa: http://www.nber.org/papers/W11137

The whole idea that official asset purchases are important enough to dictate budget policy is silly. The PRC's stance on North Korea, for example, is far more important to Washington than the holding of a few hundred billion in Treasuries.

Further, how does the writer justify describing Chinese exchange rate policy as "domestic?" What economic policy is less domestic?

Central Banking Publications should aim to critically analyze conventional wisdom.



Sincerely,

Christopher J. Neely
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