"If you prefer the security of owning physical gold as your personal property, then the second step is to decide whether you want to keep your gold investment at home in your house, or will you use a specialist service to safeguard your bullion for you?\n\nA decision to keep gold in your house will restrict you to buying 'retail' gold investment products. Whether as gold coins or small bars, these retail units can cost you significantly more than the value of their bullion content, and they will also return less than their bullion value when you sell. The gap between these purchase and sale prices, known as the 'spread', runs from 3-4% on gold kilobars (currently costing almost $135,000) through to 15% on some bullion coins.\n\nFurthermore, hiding high-value assets in your house involves some difficult decisions around trust. You can't claim insurance on stolen gold if you didn't declare that you were holding it. But if you do declare that you are keeping gold at home, your insurers will probably demand that anything over a few thousand dollars-worth needs to be kept in an insurance-rated safe fitted by a professional. Your insurers will also likely raise the cost of your annual home insurance premiums."