Investors who sell shares in commodity ETFs that hold physical gold or silver can be taxed at a long-term capital gains rate of 28% for investors in tax brackets. Many people don’t understand the differences between buying physical gold, silver, or other precious metals and buying paper metal products such as gold or silver-based ETFs. Here, we’ll look specifically at the differences between owning physical metals and owning stocks in the gold-based ETF GLD or the silver-based ETF SLV. The fact that investors can’t even own gold is bursting with irony
.
There are plenty of ways to get involved with metals such as silver, gold, palladium, and platinum. There are commodity futures, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Investments in the physical metal, however, can be very appealing to some investors who want to diversify their investment portfolios. Even if a gold coin is issued with a monetary face value, its market value is linked to the value of its
fine gold content.
In other words, by buying GLD shares, you could potentially profit from a rising price of gold and potentially lose money if the price of gold falls. The aforementioned Aberdeen Standard Gold ETF Trust was developed to track the price of physical gold bars. The gold market is highly liquid and there are a number of ways investors can invest in this precious metal, including holding physical gold (in other words gold coins and bars) and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The VanEck Gold Miners ETF strives to replicate as accurately as possible the price and return performance of the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index (GDMNTR), before fees and expenses, which is intended to reflect the overall
performance of companies active in the gold mining industry.
The iShares Gold Trust is designed to generally match the daily price movement of gold bars, and the shares are backed by physical gold. The term “Sprott ESG Approved Gold” refers to gold that is physically indistinguishable from other gold, but which has been procured and produced in a manner that meets the ESG standards and criteria used by the sponsor (the “ESG Criteria”), which should provide investors with a higher level of ESG verification, disclosure of the origin of the recovered metal and includes an assessment of mining companies and mines. The aforementioned SPDR Gold Shares ETF is designed to reflect the spot price of gold bars, and the fund holds 100% physical gold holdings in HSBC’s vault in London. For investors interested in adding an environmental, social and governance (ESG) component to their gold investments, the Sprott ESG Gold ETF (SESG) offers this feature and is the world’s first ETF to source and refine gold exclusively from recognized leading ESG
mining companies.
This creates a scenario in which investors essentially hope that the statement they receive about their gold ETF investment is true, especially since they’ll never see any of the gold they supposedly invested in. While gold is often seen as a safe investment, gold and other metals are not immune to price declines. This ETF was designed to enable investors to participate in the gold market without having to accept the actual delivery of the gold or deal with other potential obstacles such as custody or transaction costs. There is no central list of gold dealers approved by the regulatory authority, but just like other companies, there are some gold dealers accredited by the Better Business Bureau
.
ETFs give investors access to gold while avoiding the costs and inconveniences associated with premiums, storage costs, and security risks associated with holding physical gold. The transaction costs associated with gold ETFs are often lower than the costs of buying, storing, and insuring physical gold. Despite the fact that gold ETFs work more like stocks than actual gold investments, the government doesn’t regard them as stocks when it comes to taxation
..
