Important gold buying tips: Sovereign Gold Bonds vs Gold ETFs vs jewelry, bars, coins. Watch video

Buying gold? As the festive season approaches in October and November, gold buying is expected to pick up. Even as gold prices or gold rates climb up, it is important to be aware of the various avenues when it comes to investing in the precious metal.
Should you opt for gold jewelry, gold coins, gold bars or virtual/digital gold options like gold ETFs, gold mutual funds, sovereign gold bonds (SGBs) or Paytm and PhonePe gold? In this week’s episode of TOI Wallet Talks, Navneet Damani, Head of Research, Commodities & Currencies, Motilal Oswal Financial Services simplifies the decision making process for you.

Watch the video above to know what the pros and cons of buying gold jewelry, gold coins and gold bars are. Also understand why digital gold options like SGBs and gold ETFs are likely to offer better returns.
“If you want to wear jewelry, if you want to flaunt it, then it makes sense to invest in jewelry, otherwise gold bars and coins are a better option as far as physical gold is concerned,” Damani tells TOI.
Damani explains historically which gold investment bet has yielded exceptional returns and how one has to be careful to calculate a reduction in returns owing to any management fees that may be applicable on a gold instrument.
When it comes to Paytm gold or PhonePe gold, Damani says the regulatory framework is different from ETFs and sovereign gold bonds. “The access here is that they invest in physical gold. They have it backed by a large participant. But, I would rather reckon that if you want to invest in these formats, then making investment into an ETF or mutual funds makes more sense,” he says.
Watch the video above to see how Damani ranks physical gold (jewelry, coins, bars) vs Sovereign Gold Bonds vs Gold ETFs vs Gold MFs and why he believes that people are increasingly making a shift towards digital gold.