Sure, but all that paper gold isn't really gold. From TFA:
> The gold market seems split at the moment: while the price is falling, meaning there are more sellers than buyers, everything I read on Twitter is that physical gold is nearly unobtainable – many banks and refiners have run out of inventory. Apparently there has been a surge in retail demand for gold coins and bars at the same time as the price has been falling. It seems that the “paper” market, the futures and ETFs, is determining the price and does not reflect the heightened demand on the street for hard metal during this time of insecurity.
So the price of physical gold is much higher, for anyone who wants it, anyway.
Paper gold, like $GLD and $IAU, is safer than hoarding physical gold, since many vaults can't be trusted. They are scams at many levels: coin purchases, physical vaults, fraudulent miners (remember Bre-X).
If one wants to buy 2 lbs of gold jewelry, or even wear a 'gold shirt' every day, that's fine. One such gold shirt guy, Datta Phuge, in India got beaten to death. Another gold man in Hyderabad, who wears 2.5 lbs gold all the time, need four buddies around whenever he goes out.
Or go the wild west way: buy guns, live in a bunker.
I don't live in a bunker, but I do have some gold and silver, in a box under my bed. There's also a loaded shotgun under the bed, with dual pistol grips and laser sight, loaded alternating slugs and buckshot :)
> The gold market seems split at the moment: while the price is falling, meaning there are more sellers than buyers, everything I read on Twitter is that physical gold is nearly unobtainable – many banks and refiners have run out of inventory. Apparently there has been a surge in retail demand for gold coins and bars at the same time as the price has been falling. It seems that the “paper” market, the futures and ETFs, is determining the price and does not reflect the heightened demand on the street for hard metal during this time of insecurity.
So the price of physical gold is much higher, for anyone who wants it, anyway.