Anyone here got a BullionVault account?

[TimberWolf]

True money has certain properties: it's durable, portable, divisible, homogenous and scarce.

Those are fiat currencies too IMO. Energy is the base currency which they loosely represent. People, not least economists, have long since not learnt this.

[icarus]

So you're swapping bits of paper promising to be worth £££££ with another bit of paper promising to look after a fraction of a block of gold.

What's the difference?

True money has certain properties: it's durable, portable, divisible, homogenous and scarce. Gold has all of these attributes. Fiat paper money ("it's money because we say so") has all the attributes except the last one. They can print more dollars; they can print more pounds; they can print more euros; they can print more yen. But they can't print more gold.

If you believe that your certificate is negotiable for gold (as old fashioned paper money was) then you believe your gold certificate is real money. If you don't trust that you will be able to enforce contracts in the future then you should either hold physical assets yourself or grab your gun and head for Montana.

[PerlOfWisdom]

If you don't know the difference, I suggest you not worry about it.

HTH

Very witty, and it only took you 10 mins to think it up.

[DimPrawn]

So you're swapping bits of paper promising to be worth £££££ with another bit of paper promising to look after a fraction of a block of gold.

What's the difference?

If you don't know the difference, I suggest you not worry about it.

HTH

[PerlOfWisdom]

So you're swapping bits of paper promising to be worth £££££ with another bit of paper promising to look after a fraction of a block of gold.

What's the difference?

[DimPrawn]

What's wrong with taking physical delivery in your Swindon stately home?

Safes full of diamonds. No room for gold.

[bobhope]

What's wrong with taking physical delivery in your Swindon stately home?

[icarus]

Are you covered if they go bust (due to the economy tanking, what you are insuring against) and they do a runner with your loot though? I'd rather store it in in my own vault.

This is what they say:

" Each working day, BullionVault will send an encrypted, electronic copy
of all client identities, public nicknames and their balances both to its
auditors (Albert Goodman) and to ViaMat, our professional vault operators.

Without the decryption key, neither our auditors nor ViaMat can interpret or
use this data to "unlock" the Daily Audit. The key is held by BullionVault's
lawyers, with a copy in both their London and New York offices.

Our lawyers are under instruction to release the decryption keys as follows:

1. Only to BullionVault on request, unless it is no longer operating; in which case
2. To our auditors, unless they are no longer operating; in which case
3. To a liquidator, unless one has not and will not be appointed; in which case
4. To ViaMat itself.

Such a chain-of-failure is highly unlikely, of course. But this new
procedure ensures that a full record of your property ownership would
survive BullionVault's annihilation."

[DimPrawn]

Are you covered if they go bust (due to the economy tanking, what you are insuring against) and they do a runner with your loot though? I'd rather store it in in my own vault.

You actually own the gold and if your store it in your own vault, you have to prove the gold is pure and untampered with, which is very costly, everytime your wish to sell some. Plus, smaller amounts of gold cost a lot more, so you end up having to buy a large bar at a time.

Do some research. I've got no issues with BullionVault, just whether a gold backed ETF is a better way of trading.

[TimberWolf]

I currently have about 2kg through BV. Seems like a pretty reliable service. Commission is fairly steep - you need the price to rise about 2% just to cover your costs. Plus I think it's about $4 a month in storage charges. But what would you rather have? A scarce store of value, or some pieces of paper that Gordon Brown is busily photocopying every day?

Are you covered if they go bust (due to the economy tanking, what you are insuring against) and they do a runner with your loot though? I'd rather store it in in my own vault.

[icarus]

I currently have about 2kg through BV. Seems like a pretty reliable service. Commission is fairly steep - you need the price to rise about 2% just to cover your costs. Plus I think it's about $4 a month in storage charges. But what would you rather have? A scarce store of value, or some pieces of paper that Gordon Brown is busily photocopying every day?

[DiscoStu]

I'm currently the proud owner of two whole grammes of gold at BV. Haven't really done any trading so I'm not going to be much help, sorry!

[Moscow Mule]

I have an account but never use it. So, no, not me.

[DimPrawn]

I have always traded gold using an ETF, but as the ETF is priced in USD there always seems to be a ripoff exchange rate involved.

BV say they trade GBP at the std exchange rate.

Anyone bought and sold physical gold via BV?