Compressed-Village said:
Thinking about adding some gold. No, I dont want ETF, miners stocks, or gld equities for a little diversification.
Rather, gold bars, the real physical metal. Just to add some 5-10% to my networth for diversification.
Where and how with a reputable dealer.
Never done this before.
...speaking as an amateur (not professional collector)...
For retail, I buy from Liberty Coin in Signal Hill. They have another location in Huntington Beach. From personal experience, their gold prices are often better than mail order.
For gold bars I like Swiss Pamp in 2.5 gram, 5 gram, 1/2 oz and 1 oz bars. The Lunar year of the Rat 5 gram gold bars are $300 and make great gifts. I don't recommend Pamp 1 oz silver bars, they cost almost twice as much vs Silver Eagles, so unless if you're collecting the Silver Lunar New Year set, you might want to get something else for silver.
For silver, APMEX has good price via mail order, but you have to factor in payment method and shipping premiums.
At retail stores often the cheapest silvers they'll sell you are silver rounds. These are like the round silver eagle coins but minted by variety of sources. Although silver rounds cost less, most investors prefer 1 oz American Silver Eagles or Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins. Bulk buyers get these in 100 and 500 coin boxes.
If you want to order 500 coin box, you can also try calling Lionel at So Cal Coins and Stamps in Downey to see if they can get you better price. Keep in mind that physical gold/silver requires physical protection. You may need bank safety deposit box, insurance, home safe (bolted down or to wall studs), or some kind of hidden safe at home.
When buying pay attention to metric vs imperial weights. For example US and Canada still use 1 troy oz (31.1 grams) while other countries like China mint their silvers in 30 grams weight. Many older coins also have lower purity rate (for example, British gold sovereigns).