Which Gold ETF is better -- GLD or IAU ?

FiveDriver

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I have shares of GLD, it's currently grown to about 3% of my portfolio.

Thinking about adding a little more, for insulation against global chaos. I see recommendations for IAU, the ETF that holds physical gold. There's also talk about the mini-shares GLDM, though I don't see a big difference in performance over time.

Any strong feelings about GLD vs IAU ?
 
Don't have any feelings about gold ETFs. I do have strong feelings about investing in gold at this time.

When Covid started affecting the economy, let's say April 1, 2020, gold was at $1,578. On December 29, 2023 it was at $2,062. That's a gain of 30.7% in 3.75 years, or an annualized return of about 8.2%.

In 2024 gold went up about 27.3%

Then in 2025 gold started climbing again, reaching it's all time high....today.

Is it really a good time to invest in gold?

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but I felt it needed mentioning.
 
I have never been too interested in gold but I do have a question: If GLDM holds physical gold, how is this going to benefit shareholders in the event of "global chaos?" Will the staff at GLDM stay at work cutting up bars? Will there be an operating armored car service that can deliver them to shareholders? Neither seems likely if in fact there is global chaos.

It seems like physical gold held by individuals would come closer to being a hedge. I have also seen credible arguments to the effect that using gold as a medium of exchange will be physically difficult for small exchanges though, so the individual with the gold had better have a significant amount of "small change" silver or possibly AR-15 ammunition too.
 
IMHO, if these morons start lobbing nuclear hand grenades at each other, neither these ETFs or the coins are going to give us shelter.

I'm just looking to ride the gold surge upward. Since my original ETF entry point is very low, an additional buy today would not bring the average price up too much.

I have some physical coins in hand, just in case we really need to buy passage on the last tramp freighter out of Charleston Harbor.
 
... I'm just looking to ride the gold surge upward. Since my original ETF entry point is very low, an additional buy today would not bring the average price up too much. ...
Not sure I understand why your average price is something to be considered. Can you explain?
 
I happen to prefer broad index investing. Sector investing is too specific and anything related to gold (in shares) seems overly speculative to me (no criticism.)

A small amount of PMs in a safe deposit box or buried in the back yard, etc., makes at least some sense as PMs tend to be negatively correlated to both bonds and equities and have the "insurance" value of being desirable in a crisis (no, not the end of the world, Armageddon, total societal break down, etc.) I'm not a "prepper" (though I keep food/water for hurricanes and dock strikes.)

Just my 2 cents worth and YMMV.
 
I use OUNZ. Supposedly you can redeem for physical, so (in their opinion) there isn't a capital gains tax... you bought 10ozs worth, they deliver 10ozs. However I expect the premium would be eye watering.

GLD is getting a lot of chatter right now about JPM has custody of all of it's physical and doing shenanigans with APs borrowing shares and then taking delivery due to England being empty. That's all BS for other reasons. But when I compare OUNZ to GLD in my watch list OUNZ does a little better even though they're based on the same commodity.
 
I have shares of GLD, it's currently grown to about 3% of my portfolio.

Thinking about adding a little more, for insulation against global chaos. I see recommendations for IAU, the ETF that holds physical gold. There's also talk about the mini-shares GLDM, though I don't see a big difference in performance over time.

Any strong feelings about GLD vs IAU ?
If you are going to buy the ETF in a taxable account, you have to track/ adjust the cost basis every year. So to keep it simple, I would just add more GLD.
 
If I invest in gold ETF, I'd choose IAUM for low expense ratio.
Are there any other differences in the mini-shares ?? The expense ratio doesn't make a big difference with the amount I hold, but I may convert if there are no other issues with mini-shares.

This small tranche (3%) is held in my IRA, so cost basis is an issue.
 
Are there any other differences in the mini-shares ?? The expense ratio doesn't make a big difference with the amount I hold, but I may convert if there are no other issues with mini-shares.
As far as I know there is no much difference, except that IAUM launched in 2021 (relatively new) and tracking LBMA gold price PM index (which is basically a price of unallocated gold delivered in London), while IAU tracks gold bullion directly. The return of IAUM is slightly better but not much different either.
 
Most of what I see about holding physical gold is a hedge against inflation or global chaos, societal breakdown, wide spread natural catastrophes, etc. If things were that bad I don't see where the advantage would be. The downside I see, other than what has already been mentioned, is finding someone wanting to trade for food that would be the most important commodity. Why would they want to diminish their food supplies for their survival. I would think a hidden supply of dried beans and rice for personal use would be more valuable.
If the gold were in the form of a stock, MF, or ETF I would think the market would have ceased to exist and there goes your access to your gold shares. Cash would probably be almost useless by then too.
Owning a little physical gold would be more like owning gem stones or other PMs - pretty to look at but not digestible.
Since I have limited years and had a good run I would just as soon call it a day in the event the world has one foot in the toilet.
 
Most of what I see about holding physical gold is a hedge against inflation or global chaos, societal breakdown, wide spread natural catastrophes, etc. If things were that bad I don't see where the advantage would be. The downside I see, other than what has already been mentioned, is finding someone wanting to trade for food that would be the most important commodity. Why would they want to diminish their food supplies for their survival. I would think a hidden supply of dried beans and rice for personal use would be more valuable.
If the gold were in the form of a stock, MF, or ETF I would think the market would have ceased to exist and there goes your access to your gold shares. Cash would probably be almost useless by then too.
Owning a little physical gold would be more like owning gem stones or other PMs - pretty to look at but not digestible.
Since I have limited years and had a good run I would just as soon call it a day in the event the world has one foot in the toilet.
With due respect, you are making the classical "straw man" argument that there are only two situations: Good times or Armageddon. So far, we've never experienced Armageddon, but we have experienced (well, maybe not personally, but as human beings) things like WWII, the Great Depression, powerful nations "reconstructing" less powerful nations with new boundaries and sometimes new names, regional conflicts with "ethnic cleansing" and other "disasters" that were NOT the end of the wold and that were, for the most part, survivable by humanity in general, though not always survivable by all those affected.

You're point is well taken that PM's can't be eaten, but gold has been used to bribe one's way out of a really bad situation. PMs have, indeed been used to buy dear goods under black market situations, and PMs HAVE (sometimes, perhaps often, but not always) preserved wealth - especially during times of high inflation.

But less dramatically, PMs have been shown to correlate very negatively with both equities and fixed income. I can't give a citation but I have often seen treatises of general financial strategy in which a 3 to 5% commitment to PMs in a portfolio beat the more normal XX/YY equity/bond portfolio. If interested I'm sure you can find citations.

I have no "dog" in the hunt and would never suggest that anyone "should" invest in PMs. I've found them useful in my portfolio - especially back in the Great Recession.

Here is a site (yes, it is biased so take with at least 2 grains of salt) that show some data about performance of PMs during recession. Believe or don't at your discretion. I present only as one side of the argument (the OTHER side in this case).

 
Most of what I see about holding physical gold is a hedge against inflation or global chaos, societal breakdown, wide spread natural catastrophes, etc. If things were that bad I don't see where the advantage would be. The downside I see, other than what has already been mentioned, is finding someone wanting to trade for food that would be the most important commodity. Why would they want to diminish their food supplies for their survival. I would think a hidden supply of dried beans and rice for personal use would be more valuable.
If the gold were in the form of a stock, MF, or ETF I would think the market would have ceased to exist and there goes your access to your gold shares. Cash would probably be almost useless by then too.
Owning a little physical gold would be more like owning gem stones or other PMs - pretty to look at but not digestible.
Since I have limited years and had a good run I would just as soon call it a day in the event the world has one foot in the toilet.
This is assuming that things go in the toilet and stay there. As well as a barter item/means of exchange during the dark days, PMs will bridge some of your savings into whatever economy eventually rises from the assets.
And like any investment strategy one has to diversify: beans, bullets, bullion, bandages, booze, and barter items.
 
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