For any investor keen on buying gold, a cause of concern reported in the media over the last year, is the fact whether the gold exposure you are buying via Futures Exchanges is actually in physical existence. COMEX changed their physical delivery rules, such that if you are required to deliver gold on the futures expiry date, rather than being required to deliver the physical commodity, you are now able to deliver an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund). See here for a more detailed discussion.

Eric Sprott, of Sprott Asset Management, a Canadian Investment firm, decided to list in the USA a gold trust that actually guarantees the existence of the gold in the vaults. Launched in March, the ETF was flooded with subscriptions, to the point the price is trading at a 17% premium over the value of the assets held. See Sprott's website.

If you are going to invest in Gold, make sure you know where (whether?) the physical gold is actually being held, and not being lent out to various Institutions with short positions. Your risk may not be the value of gold, but the counter party risk that the gold can be returned.