How to Make Money Buying Scrap Gold

Even though news reports say that the economy is recovering, the price of gold doesn't show it. It has been as high as $1800 an ounce, and now is a great time to get into the cash for gold business. To avoid being swindled, there are some things you need to know: what constitutes "scrap gold", where to sell it, who to sell it to, and the price you should get for the gold.
What is Scrap Gold?
Before doing anything else, you need to know what scrap gold is. Strictly defined, it's any gold that has been discarded and is suitable for reprocessing. Any leftover gold that can be smelted and reforged is scrap, such as bent, broken and tangled jewelry, casting gold, cluster rings, dental work, gold dust and flake, pins, brooches, sheet, solder, and even gold-plated chips and CPUs.
How Much is it Worth?
To determine the value of your gold, you'll need your math skills and a scale (preferably one of the type used by jewelers, but a kitchen scale will work as well). Most dealers and refineries transact gold on a pennyweight basis, so if you're using a kitchen scale, you'll need to convert from grams or ounces. One ounce is the same as 20 pennyweights, and 1.5 grams is equal to one pennyweight. Once you have weighed your scrap gold, check the spot price. That figure is in ounces, so divide it by 20 for its pennyweight value or by 31.1 for its gram value. Keep in mind that the spot price is for pure gold; scrap is never pure (24 karats). You won't get the entire spot price, but you'll have a rough estimate of your profit.
Selling For a Profit
Now that you've assembled your gold and figured its worth, you can decide where you'll sell it. There are two main places that buy scrap gold: dealers and refiners. Dealers are middlemen who buy gold and sell it to refineries, but you can avoid their fees by selling to the refiner directly. Refiners are those cash for gold companies we've all seen on television, offering to buy scrap and unwanted gold. Look in your local phone book for refiners; they are also readily available online.
When preparing to buy gold or sell it for a profit, remember to deal only with established, reputable companies. The importance of dealing with a good company is nowhere more apparent than when selling gold by mail. Most good companies will have a website with a gold calculator so that you'll have a rough estimate of how much you will make; the best companies even offer a price guarantee. Following the advice given above can help you avoid many of the traps and pitfalls of the "cash for gold" business.

Selling Gold for Cash

Gold comes in many forms and most people have treasured items they could never exchange for anything. This is because of the value that comes attached to the precious metal and the class it gives to the owners. It is however easy to find that such items get spoiled or become useless with time but the fact is that they are still valuable and you always have the option of selling them for money.
The gold items are mostly in form of jewelry and there are lots of willing buyers in the market even if they could be broken. You can get good money for any piece of gold that you have to your possession. The gold prices in the market are soaring and you can always take advantage when you feel the price will reap great returns to you. The gold buyers or dealers will always be willing to buy the gold from you and will offer amazing ways of paying for the items after they have been received and tested as well as weighed.
When selling your gold, it is important that you find a dealer who offers convenient and secure way of sending the items as well as receiving your payments for them. Most of the dealers will offer options from which you can choose. To get the best value for your gold, you will need time to search for the best deals in the market. You can relate what the dealers have to offer in relation to the current value of gold. There is always the option of waiting till the prices improve to get the best from you precious metals. When looking to sell gold, you can choose to either go directly to the dealers or conduct the whole affair online. Most people prefer the online option since it is free from stress and is quite easy. It also eliminates time wasting which comes with moving from one store to another trying to negotiate the prices. This is because you will get all the information you need from the sites before deciding whether you are selling or not. You will also have an easy time comparing between what the different dealers have to offer and then picking a deal you feel is best for you.
The online option of selling gold for cash also comes with its risks and it is important to take every essential aspect into consideration for best results

Why Is It Wise To Buy Gold?

Gold has been one of the most desired among precious metals across the centuries. Right from the Egyptians, the Romans, and the Greeks, right up to present day cultures around the world, people have had an extreme fascination for gold. The use of gold can be seen in coins, art and jewelry, down through the ages. The beauty as well as the physical and chemical qualities of gold have made it a highly desirable precious metal.
The daily benchmark price of gold is determined by a process known as the London Gold Fix. It is done by The Bank of Nova Scotia, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank AG London, and HSBC, which are the five members of the London Gold Market Fixing Ltd. The London Gold Fix is done twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, when the US markets open.
It is a wise investment decision to buy gold because this precious metal is the only currency that has never failed over the 5000 years of its use in history. All other currencies used by people over the ages have failed, but gold is the only one that has stood the test of time. Unlike other currencies using coins or paper, the value of gold has held steadily throughout the ages. Therefore, gold is seen as a more reliable means to pass on wealth from one generation to the next.
Gold can act as a very effective hedge against inflation. Whenever the cost of living in a country rises, the price of gold tends to rise along with it. When inflation hits, the value of gold almost always goes up. Apart from being a reliable investment during times of financial crises, gold is also known to retain its value during times of geopolitical uncertainties. During times of war and political unrest worldwide, people tend to use the relative safety of gold for their investments.
There is an extreme shortage of investment-grade gold available today. If all the gold in the world is equally divided and distributed to every single person on the planet, each person would get just a third of an ounce of gold
The price of gold is often revalued to account for the excess currency in a nation. As of today, gold would have to be revalued at $15,000 per ounce to account for all the dollars printed by the Federal Reserve of the United States. Since gold is an anonymous and completely private investment, it is an extremely portable and convenient form of investment.

Why You Should Be Investing in Gold Now?

Most investors split the money over some kind of mix of stocks and bonds. They usually intend that the stocks will be a portion of their money that is expected to grow, while the bonds produce slower growth but, by comparison to stocks, are virtually guaranteed to maintain and increase their value. While these categories of investments have their place in a portfolio, too many people are overlooking the potential benefits of Investing In Gold.
Gold is a metal that has been precious to humans for as long as history has been recorded. A Gold Investment, therefore, is basically guaranteed to always have some value. While a company can declare bankruptcy or a municipality can potentially default on its bonds, gold has had value to people for thousands of years and there is absolutely no reason to believe that this is going to change. In fact, the value of a given quantity of gold more than doubled between 2005 and 2010. This made Buying Gold not only a very secure investment, but one that outperformed the vast majority of the stocks available on the market!
Most of the main financial benefits is that gold is not impacted by a company's profits or lack thereof. When you're dealing with stocks, many times these shares can have huge shifts in value simply because a company performed better or performed worse than was believed. This can wreak mayhem on the value of your total investment portfolio, especially if your portfolio is heavy on stocks.
Potential investors should take the time to learn about the option of a Gold IRA or 401k. Essentially, the government allows for people to invest in gold through their tax-advantaged retirement accounts. In this case, the individual does not end up being in possession of the physical gold. Instead, for so long as it is part of the retirement account, it must be held by a depository that is approved by the IRS. Once a person reaches retirement age and is taking withdrawals from their accounts, of course, they are free to either have the physical gold shipped to them or to have it sold on their behalf.
Investing In Gold is a great way to add additional diversification in a very secure form to a retirement account. Anyone who is concerned about being sure that some of the money that they are putting aside for their retirement is not at risk of being completely lost can benefit from getting an account that permits them to hold this asset.

Investing in Rare Earths

Not as volatile as gold and silver and much healthier than bonds, stocks and shares, REE are a great investment for the discerning investor seeking something more stable yet highly valuable and in demand.
Rare Earths come under the umbrella of Strategic Critical Minerals.
Strategic Critical Minerals (SCM)
Strategic Critical Materials are those minerals that are highly sought after in industry, electronics and the auto field and without which many devices could not operate including planes, cars, TVs, mobile phone in fact practically anything manufactures has one strategic critical element or another.
Included in SCMs are the Rare Earth Elements (REE) also. There rarity of these is in the distribution of them on the planet and the cost of extraction but also the fact that China has a near monopoly on them and their criticalness to the electronics, military and other areas of industry make them an excellent target for private investors if they could only get their hands on them.
SCMs include such minerals as antimony, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesium and tungsten as well as the rare Earth Elements.
Rare Earth Elements
Rare earths are really rare at all. Most of them (with the exception of the radioactive promethium) are quite plentiful in the earths crust but they are spread out so thinly that it is very difficult to mine them economically.
The main rare earths are:
Lanthanum Oxide
Cerium Oxide
Neodymium Oxide
Praseodymium Oxide
Samarium Oxide
Dysprosium Oxide
Europium Oxide
Terbium Oxide
These are used in various industrial and technological areas such as:
Cobalt Lithium-ion batteries, synthetic fuels
Gallium Thin layer photovoltaics, IC, WLED
Indium Displays, thin layer photovoltaics
Tantalum Micro capacitors, medical technology
Antimony ATO, micro capacitors
Germanium Fibre optic cable, IR optical technologies
Platinum (PGM) Fuel cells, catalysts
Palladium (PGM) Catalysts, seawater desalination
Niobium Micro capacitors, ferroalloys
Neodymium Permanent magnets, laser technology
The Rare Earth Elements (REE) A number of critical applications
In addition China is holding on to what she has got for her own use.
REEs have been on a rising trend for several years and with the continued expansion of the industrial and technological arenas looks set to continue being in great demand for many years to come.
Only recent has it become possible for the individual investor, as well as institutions even, to obtain a selection of 'baskets' of rare earth and strategic critical elements.
These can be purchased and are stored in a secure ultra secure vault, operated by Zurcher Freilager AG who have been in operation since 1923. Its majority stock holder is AXA & Winterhur; one of the most distinguished financial institutions in Europe.
The vault is located within the Entrepot, a tax and duty free zone where your metal assets can be stored without any time limit and the metals can be resold and converted into cash at any time, although a minimum 5 year commitment is highly recommended.