Gold Bars - Where To Buy and How To Invest

Gold bullion bars have a few advantages over coins.

First of all, the premium markups on bars are less than on coins. For example, as of this writing, a once ounce gold bar at GoldSilver is approximately $37 less than a 1 ounce gold eagle coin.

So if you plan on buying a lot of gold, this can add up to significant cost savings.

Another advantage to gold bars is that you can buy higher ounce bars. For example you can get 1 ounce, 10 ounce or up to 400 ounce bars. (You can't buy a 10 ounce gold eagle coin!)

And the higher ounce bars you get, the cheaper per-ounce cost you'll pay

So for example, as of this writing a 10 ounce gold bar at GoldSilver is about $7 cheaper per ounce - so if you were to buy 10 ounces of gold, the 10 ounce gold bar would be $70 less than buying 10 - 1 ounce gold bars.

So if you're looking to buy a lot of ounces of gold, bars are the most cost-effective option.

On the other hand, if you are planning to take physical delivery of your gold bars, when you go to sell them back, the dealer will probably insist on having them assayed for purity - which can cost you time and even money.

A further advantage (and a way to save even more money) when buying bullion bars is that you can sometimes buy portions of gold bars from sellers like Goldmoney and have them stored for you in a safe, insured vault. There are several advantages to this.

First, you save a lot of money on markups and get your gold for spot plus a very small premium. Second, there's no minimum purchase - so you don't have to buy an entire bar at once.

Third, the gold is stored for you so when you go to sell it back to the dealer, you don't have to have the gold assayed for purity. You can have cash in your account in minutes.

Lastly, you can choose to store your bullion bars in an offshore vault - meaning it's out of government reach - should they decide to try and confiscate your gold.

So those are some of the benefits and drawbacks of buying gold bars. For a list of places to buy bullion bars, see below or visit our page on Where To Buy Gold.

Where To Buy Gold Bars:

GoldSilver

Offers some of the lowest premiums on gold bars including 1 ounce, 10 ounce and 1 kg bars. Offers physical delivery and U.S. vault allocated storage.

Goldmoney

Offers very low premiums on gold bars stored in offshore vaults including London and Switzerland. Can also get other precious metals like silver, platinum and palladium. No minimum investment required.

Apmex

American Precious Metals Exchange offers a wide variety of coins and bullion, including bars up to 400 ounces. They offer physical delivery to your home.