How to Invest in Gold, and What Each Step Costs You

You invest in gold by owning the metal itself. If you have retirement savings to put to work, a gold IRA lets your IRA or an old 401(k) own physical coins and bars, held for you at a depository. You can also buy bullion coins and bars outright. Every route costs the spot price of the gold plus a dealer premium.

Three ways to invest in gold

There are three, and they all come down to holding metal with a known weight and purity. That's what bullion is. The U.S. Mint defines a bullion coin as one "valued by its weight and fineness of a specific precious metal," which sets it apart from collector coins priced on rarity and condition.

Plenty of owners use more than one. Someone might keep a few coins at home and hold most of their gold in an IRA. How you split it is up to you.

You'll also hear the term paper gold. It means financial products that follow the gold price without handing you any metal. This guide sticks to the metal.

The four coins most gold investors buy

Most U.S. buyers start with one of these four. Each issuer states the gold content, so you know exactly how much gold you're paying for.

The Gold Eagle and the Krugerrand are 22 karat. They still hold a full ounce of gold; the extra weight is alloy, which the U.S. Mint says makes coins "that resist scratching and marring." The Buffalo and the Maple Leaf are 24 karat, close to pure. Our gold coins guide covers more coins, and gold karats and purity explains the numbers.

One thing surprises people. The U.S. Mint doesn't sell bullion coins to the public. It sells to a network of "authorized purchasers," they sell to dealers, and dealers sell to you. The Mint prices them at "the prevailing market price" of the metal "plus a small premium to cover minting, distribution, and marketing costs."

Where gold bars fit

A bar is refined gold stamped with its weight, its fineness and the refiner's name. The big ones trade in London: the LBMA sets Good Delivery bars at 350 to 430 fine troy ounces each, with a minimum fineness of 995.0 parts per thousand. The bars sold to individual buyers are far smaller, made by the same kind of accredited refiners.

Bars give you gold by weight with less design work per ounce. Coins come in exact fractions of an ounce and carry a government's name. Both are bullion. See gold bars for sizes and PAMP Suisse bars for one refiner's range.

How does a gold IRA work?

It's a self-directed individual retirement account that owns physical gold. Normally the tax code treats an IRA's purchase of a "collectible," which includes metals and coins, as a distribution. Section 408(m) of the Internal Revenue Code carves out certain coins and bullion. IRS Publication 590-A says an IRA "can invest in one, one-half, one-quarter, or one-tenth ounce U.S. gold coins," and in "certain gold, silver, palladium, and platinum bullion."

For bullion, the law points to the minimum fineness a futures exchange requires for delivery. COMEX gold futures require gold that assays "to a minimum of 995 fineness." The bullion also has to be "in the physical possession of a trustee," so in practice it sits in a depository under the custodian's name for your account. Our gold IRA coin checker shows which coins and bars qualify.

Opening one

1. Open a self-directed IRA with a custodian that holds precious metals.
2. Fund it. The IRS doesn't count a direct "trustee-to-trustee" transfer between IRAs as a rollover. A rollover paid to you must generally be completed "by the 60th day after the day you receive the distribution," and you get one IRA-to-IRA rollover in any 1-year period.
3. Pick the coins or bars. The custodian buys them from the dealer for your account.
4. The metal ships to the depository and shows up on your statement.

To give you one set of published terms: Augusta Precious Metals has a minimum investment of $50,000, and shipping and transit insurance are free to all customers. Its fees are $50 one time to open, $125 a year administration (custodian) and $100 a year storage, and it offers ZERO setup, custodian and storage fees for up to 10 years. Its preferred custodian is Equity Trust and its preferred depository is Delaware Depository. There's more in our gold IRA guide and self-directed IRA for gold.

What you pay at each step

You pay going in, while you hold it, and on the way out.

The CFTC puts the pricing rule bluntly: "A dealer will always sell metal above the spot price and buy it back below the spot price." That gap is the spread, and "Each dealer sets its own spread." The CFTC also lists storage, insurance and administrative fees as things to ask about, and suggests getting every fee in writing before you pay. We'd do exactly that. Our premium calculator turns any dealer quote into a premium in dollars and percent.

Selling and taxes have their own rules; see selling gold and gold taxes.

Price over spotSee what a dealer is really charging above the gold price.

Can you start investing in gold with little money?

Yes. Gold is sold by weight, so the piece you pick sets the size of the purchase. Spot is today’s spot price per troy ounce today, and a tenth-ounce Gold Eagle holds 0.1 troy ounce, so its metal value is a tenth of that. The Gold Maple Leaf goes smaller still, with a 1/20 oz coin.

With a few thousand dollars you're into one-ounce coins or bars, or a handful of fractional coins. Some owners buy one coin at a time on a schedule. That works, but each purchase pays its own premium, so get fresh quotes every time.

Retirement money is a different route: a gold IRA funded by a transfer from an existing IRA or an old 401(k). Some providers set minimums; Augusta's is $50,000.

There's no rule about how much gold a person should own. That's your decision.

Buying gold, step by step

1. Check the spot price. The CFTC calls spot "the cash price for immediate delivery of physical metal." Our live gold price shows it per ounce, gram and kilo.
2. Pick a coin or bar by weight and fineness, and know its exact gold content before you compare prices.
3. Ask a few dealers for the total price, the premium over spot, shipping, and what they'd pay to buy it back. Our gold dealers guide lists what to check.
4. Pay, and get the delivery date and insurance in writing.
5. Store it at home, in a bank box or in a depository (see gold storage). IRA gold goes to the custodian's depository.
6. Match what arrives to your invoice, and keep the invoice, since it records what you paid. See how to tell if gold is real.

Gold value calculatorAny weight, any karat, at today's spot price.

What first-time gold buyers ask

How do I invest in gold as a beginner?

If you're investing retirement savings, look at a gold IRA: it lets an IRA or an old 401(k) own physical coins and bars. To buy gold outright, start with a well-known bullion coin such as the American Gold Eagle or Gold Maple Leaf, bought from a dealer at spot plus a premium. Ask for the total price and the buyback price before you pay.

What is the best way to invest in gold?

If you want the gold itself, it's bullion coins, bars or a gold IRA. Coins and bars at home put the metal in your hand. An IRA holds qualifying metal for you inside a retirement account. Lots of owners do both.

Can I invest in gold with little money?

Yes. The smallest Gold Eagle holds a tenth of a troy ounce, and the Royal Canadian Mint makes a 1/20 oz Gold Maple Leaf. You pay the metal value plus a premium.

Can I hold physical gold in my IRA?

Yes, in a self-directed IRA. IRS Publication 590-A allows U.S. gold coins in 1, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/10 ounce sizes and certain bullion, and the IRA trustee or custodian has to hold it.

How much does gold cost to buy?

Spot (today’s spot price per troy ounce today) times the gold content, plus the dealer's premium and any shipping. The premium calculator shows what you're paying over spot.

Should I buy gold coins or gold bars?

Both are bullion priced on gold content. Coins come in exact fractions of an ounce with a government's name on them; bars come in a wide range of weights from refiners. Pick by the size you want and the price you're quoted.

Sources and fact-check10 primary sources, checked October 17, 2026

1. U.S. Mint: United States Mint Bullion Coins
2. U.S. Mint: Bullion Coin Programs (American Eagle and American Buffalo specifications)
3. Royal Canadian Mint: 2026 Gold Maple Leaf 1 oz bullion coin
4. Rand Refinery: Products (Krugerrand)
5. South African Mint: 2026 coin range (Krugerrand mass and diameter)
6. LBMA: Good Delivery Rules, technical specifications
7. CME Group: Gold futures contract specs (grade and quality)
8. 26 U.S. Code section 408(m), via Cornell Legal Information Institute
9. IRS: Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements
10. CFTC: 10 Things to Ask Before Buying Physical Gold, Silver, or Other Metals

We check every figure against the original source: the mint, the regulator, the exchange or the company itself. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.