How to Buy Gold

How To Buy Gold, Privately Or Via A Pension In Ireland

Caveat Emptor. If you wish to buy gold you need to do your research. There are a plethora of risky ways to buy gold and it can be hard to distinguish. Ireland has no real history of wealth, at least not on the scale of our nearest neighbour and certainly not on the scale of older wealth economies like Germany or Switzerland. As a result most financial services in this country are provided by decidedly amateur operators – the Gold industry in Ireland is no different.

Recently, Ireland has seen a few new entrants into the market by small, often one man, companies selling coins and bars. If dealing in sizeable sums and your life savings you need to be sure that the company you are working with has a track record. It is not prudent to entrust some of your life savings to non professional, start up companies with little experience in the industry.
Some have jumped on the band wagon seeing it as an easy way to earn a shilling and for some precious metals are a side business.

Some offer artificially cheap prices and then sell you far more expensive rare coins or collector coins with questionable resale values.  First and foremost do not buy off internet market sites like ebay or done-deal unless from an absolutely trusted source. You may get a gold bar at a very low cost, but you have no idea of the provenance of that bar. It could have come from the proceeds of crime or it could be fake or both! There are some very good operators too, but it is imperative that you only deal with long established, reputable companies.

Here at GoldCore we are proud to say that we are the oldest and by far the most trusted dealer in Ireland. When it comes to gold we literally wrote the book. We are trusted by governments and large institutions alike. If you have any questions do not hesitate to pick up the phone to us.

Taking Delivery of Gold

Investment gold is VAT free within the European Union – making gold attractive to investors in Ireland who can take delivery or store investment gold without VAT charges.

Some Irish clients prefer personal possession of their bullion and these clients take delivery of their coins and bars. Gold for delivery in Ireland will range from 1oz coins and small bars, up to 1kg bars (32.15 ozs) and even the large 400 oz good delivery bars that are preferred by central banks and some institutional investors. It is essential to ensure that you have a secure storage location and adequate insurance if taking delivery of your gold.

GoldCore Secure Storage

GoldCore Secure Storage enables Irish clients who do not wish to take personal possession of their gold to store it in GoldCore’s secure vaults in the safest jurisdictions in the world. GoldCore utilises the precious metals storage facilities of industry leading suppliers Loomis International and Brinks.

Precious metals held by GoldCore on behalf of GoldCore clients remain the property of the client, we simply act as your custodian under a bailment system.
Clients who wish to visit the vault where their gold is being stored are welcome to do so, by prior arrangement and in the company of a GoldCore representative. Clients who wish to pick-up their gold from where it is being held are free to do so.

It is important to be aware that you do not have to buy bullion from Goldcore to avail of our secure precious metals storage facilities. Existing owners of bullion can simply transfer their bullion from private possession or existing storage to the ultra safe GoldCore Secure Storage.

Steps:

1. Research the gold market and the recent price ranges. Also research your purchase and the preferred product format, coins or bars or a combination of the two. It is important that you familiarise yourself with the various options involved and to do due diligence on the potential companies that you are considering buying from.
2. For purchases through GoldCore, go to www.GoldCore.com, create your own secure online account with your own highly secure login and password, and then after following the account funding steps. You can then buy bullion coins and bars for home delivery.
3. Alternatively, call GoldCore’s Bullion Services Team for advice and a quotation.
4. When you are happy to proceed, simply transfer the required funds to your GoldCore multi currency account. You will receive an acknowledgement from us, stating that we have received your funds. Thereafter, you can make your online purchase. If you are not transacting online, then one of our bullion services team will call you to discuss your order and ensure that you are happy to proceed to the order stage of your quote.
5. Funds lodged into your GoldCore account remain yours until you agree to proceed to the purchase stage. Up until the purchase transaction is executed, your funds remain in a segregated client funds account and you can have your funds returned to you.

Gold for Companies

Companies in the Ireland can avail of GoldCore’s complete suite of products, whether you want to take delivery of bullion at your company offices, invest through the Perth Mint Certificate Programme, or choose to store your bullion with us at our secure international storage locations in GoldCore Secure Storage. The application process is simple. Please contact the Bullion Services Team to discuss your options.

Adding Gold to a Self-Administered Pension Plan

In 2005 GoldCore was instrumental in securing Revenue Commissioners approval for gold as an eligible investment within Irish self-directed pension schemes.

Following an approach from GoldCore, Revenue ruled that if gold bullion was held at ‘arms length’ via a gold certificate, then it would not be deemed as a ‘pride in possession’ article or ‘tangible moveable property’, and so would fulfil Revenue requirement that pension assets must be under the control of the pension trustee and not the scheme member. After liaising with GoldCore and the Perth Mint, Revenue agreed that the Perth Mint Certificate Programme fully met the eligibility criteria.

Therefore, since 2005, Irish citizens have been able to hold investment grade gold bullion, via gold certificates, within both Small Self-Administered Pension Schemes (SSASs) and Self Invested Pension Plans (SIPPs). This allows these scheme members to avail of the diversification benefits and return potential of gold bullion in conjunction with the numerous asset class diversification and tax benefits that these self-directed pension schemes provide.

Gold certificates can also be held in Approved Retirement Funds (ARFs) since the Revenue rules on approved investments extend to ARFs in addition to other self-directed schemes. ARFs are self-managed funds used after retirement and can offer the wide selection of investment options open to SSAPs and SIPPs.

GoldCore is the sole authorised dealer in the EU for the Perth Mint Certificate Programme. Please contact our bullion services team who will take you through the steps required to add gold certificates or allocated gold to your pension plan.