"Gold and silver are naturally not money, and money is naturally gold and silver." Gold and silver have been responsible for functions of money for thousands of years, and they are still the main body of national reserves. With the opening of the China-Shanghai Gold Exchange, individual investment in the gold market is just around the corner, and gold will completely fall from the "sky" to the "ground".

China people have been advocating gold culture since ancient times. Speculation in gold was once a common investment method in old China. In 1930s and 1940s, Shanghai was the financial center of the Far East, which was known as "the gold of the whole world gathered here".

At present, jewelry is the main gold consumption in China, accounting for 96% of the total market. With the liberalization of the market, it is more convenient to buy gold and the price is more reasonable. China people's preference for saving some gold bars and nuggets to preserve and increase their value will be greatly stimulated, and residents' demand for investment, preservation and speculation in gold will also be met. Experts estimate that the annual consumption of gold in China should be above 500 tons in the next few years.

Then, what are the types of gold that investors can trade in the future and what are their characteristics?

The varieties of gold trading mainly include gold bars, pure gold coins, gold souvenirs and gold ornaments. Here we introduce the characteristics of these four gold transactions in detail and analyze their advantages and disadvantages.

gold bar

Strip gold is the most common kind of gold investment. The production and processing costs of gold bars and nuggets are usually relatively low. The gold bars manufactured by advanced molding technology have exquisite patterns and are suitable as gifts or decorations. The price is 2 per gram higher than the quoted price of raw gold to 3 yuan. Gold bars are cast into standard grams, commonly known as "small yellow croaker". There is no trace of processing, and the premium per gram is only one or two yuan, which is more suitable for personal gold investment.

Due to the low processing cost, the advantage of investing in gold bars and nuggets is that the extra cost is not high, mainly referring to some commissions. After the personal business of China gold market is liberalized, residents will be able to buy gold bars at prices close to the quoted prices of raw materials through the counters of shopping malls and banks, and the price will be much lower than that of gold ornaments, which will make it a reality for working-class people to invest in gold.

Gold bars and nuggets are highly mobile. Under normal circumstances, it can be easily bought and sold anywhere in the world, and transaction tax is not levied in most areas. At present, China's four major state-owned commercial banks are allowed to handle personal gold investment business, and the personal gold investment products developed mainly include physical gold delivery and gold passbook (also known as "paper gold"). The method of buying and selling gold is similar to the counter transaction of book-entry government bonds. In addition to financial institutions, individuals, enterprises, institutions and legal entities with valid identity documents can open personal gold speculation accounts in the four major banks in the future.

165438+1At the end of October, the first batch of gold investment products appeared in the media and launched marketing strategies. The smallest one is only 10g, and the market price is more than 800 yuan, but the largest one weighs 12.5kg, which is beyond the scope of personal investment. If there is a disadvantage in investing in gold bars, it is that investors like them so much that they take up more cash.

Pure gold coin

There is little difference between investing in pure gold coins and investing in gold bars and nuggets. When investors buy pure gold coins (that is, ordinary gold coins) in gold shops and banks that have obtained market access, they should pay attention to whether the denomination is cast on the gold coins. Usually, pure gold coins with denomination are more valuable than pure gold coins without denomination.

The advantage of investing in pure gold coins is that investors have more choices because the size and weight of pure gold coins are not uniform, and a small amount of money can also be used for investment. The liquidity of pure gold coins is also very good, and there is no difficulty in realizing them.

But its shortcomings are also obvious, mainly because it is more difficult to keep than gold bars and nuggets. For example, pure gold coins can't collide and deform, so try to keep the original packaging, otherwise they will bargain when they are sold and realized.

Gold souvenir

Gold souvenirs mainly refer to various gold commemorative coins (stamps). China modern gold and silver commemorative coins have been the focus of investment in the coin market since 1979 was issued. Strict material selection, difficult technological design level and manufacturing technology, and relatively small circulation make commemorative coins (stamps) have the aesthetic characteristics of works of art. Gold souvenirs have relatively high investment value because of their rich themes, patterns, numerous meanings and unique national culture.

Only one gold commemorative medallion issued by China Gold Coin Corporation, with the year number of "2002" and the weight of 10 kg, was sold at a high price of10.2 million yuan in Shanghai at the beginning of last year.

However, investment in gold and silver commemorative coins should take into account its disadvantages, that is, the premium of commemorative gold coin series in the secondary market is generally high, often far exceeding the value of gold and silver materials themselves; The overall operation feature of China gold coin market is "short cow and long bear". Once the market is hot, investors will suffer heavy losses. In addition, the policy supervision risk of China's postal currency (card) market is also great. In addition, the investment in gold and silver commemorative coins must have a good professional knowledge reserve compared with the investment in pure gold coins or gold bars, otherwise this investment behavior will easily become blind.

gold ornament

Since 1982 China resumed the sales of gold jewelry, the annual sales volume of gold jewelry has increased from 0.7 tons at the beginning to 200 1 year, and the gold consumption of jewelry ranks fourth in the world, with nearly 1,000 varieties and styles. Of course, the retail market of gold products is not only gold jewelry, but also utensils and handicrafts.

In fact, few people will invest in gold jewelry, because from the perspective of investment, the rate of return on investing in gold jewelry is poor, but gold jewelry has outstanding advantages of high practicality and aesthetic value.

Experts believe that investment in gold products, generally do not choose gold jewelry. The main reason is that the bid-ask spread of gold jewelry is large, and the price and value of many gold jewelry vary greatly. Because as a gold product, pure gold is too soft, and all the gold ornaments sold in the market are K gold. In addition, goldsmiths or jewelers have to spend a lot of energy processing everything from cooked gold to gold ornaments. After production, it will be taxed as a handicraft, and all expenses will be amortized into the cost. When they reach the buyers, the profits of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers will increase. In the end, the price of gold ornaments will greatly exceed the price of gold itself. In addition, gold ornaments will be worn to varying degrees in people's daily use. When the old gold ornaments are sold, the price will naturally be much lower than when they were bought.

From the perspective of investment, the most obvious shortcomings of gold ornaments are relatively high purchase cost and poor liquidity. Although there are limitations, gold ornaments can still partially achieve the purpose of investment preservation after realizing their use value, which is a major feature that distinguishes gold ornaments from other investment varieties.

Supplement: There is no such rice gold.