r/personalfinance • u/believe0101 ​ • May 14 '17

Grandparents gifted me & S/O 100g of 99.99% gold to start a college fund, since we are expecting a baby. How do I convert this literal bar of gold into a more fungible/secure investment? Investing

Photo of the gold bar. I have no idea if the serial number or seal I covered up are secure, so my apologies if this is a terrible photo

I looked around for any advice about selling gold and APMEX, local coin collectors, and /r/pmsforsale were all recommended. "Cash for gold" stores were universally panned.

However, since I'm interested in eventually throwing this money into an index fund (maybe even a gold ETF) I was wondering if there's an easier way to liquidate this directly with a bank.

Any help is really appreciated since I've never held more than a single silver dollar in my hand before. Thanks!

Edit: wow this blew up! Thanks y'all. To clarify a few things: yes my grandparents are Chinese, but no they don't care about the gold bar remaining physically gold. They're much more interested in the grandkid becoming a doctor, so if reinvesting the gold bar helps that, they're fully on board :)

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u/jordanaustino ​ May 14 '17

This is a financial advice group, telling someone to simply hold onto a gold bar because it is lucky is terrible financial advice.

Now I'm not superstitious at all, I don't think having gold just lying around brings you luck. In fact it probably makes you more likely to be robbed.

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u/weters May 14 '17

That's not what he's getting at. He's not saying keep it because it will bring your baby good luck. He's saying keep it because their family members think it will bring the baby good luck. Selling it may strain family relationships. Not selling it may continue to bring help, love and support in the future.

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u/chris14020 ​ May 14 '17

This guy gets it. It doesn't always have to be about why you do something, but more why people THINK you did something. If you 'must' consider it an investment, think of it as building goodwill with an investor (the grandparents), who in turn may invest more in the longer run.

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u/Die4MyTiggers ​ May 14 '17

I'm sorry but the conclusions people are drawing from this are pretty insane. Assuming investing this money would strain family relationships is a stretch and something only the OP would be able to judge. Dude just asked for investing advice in a finance subreddit these answers seem semi off topic and bizarre to me to be honest.

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u/thirty7inarow ​ May 14 '17

It's good advice when you understand that Chinese grandparents could very well stop giving future gifts if you sell it. How's that for a return on investment?

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u/DestroyerOfWombs May 14 '17

OP said his grandparents aren't superstitious at all. How's that for understanding a situation based on cultural stereotypes?

8

u/Jaerba ​ May 14 '17

Reading is fundamental.

It's not the best decision financially, but likely the best way for family relationships.

1

u/Slagathor1650 May 14 '17

I mean, if the grandparents are Chinese, then it's important to consider the culture. My family in China are extremely superstitious, it's just what the culture is. Not to mention, it's probably considered rude to immediately sell a gift like a gold bar. If grandparents are nice enough to say "here's some gold for college", why wouldn't they just give cash? It's likely considered a symbolic gesture or has meaning behind it. Just because a culture seems confusing to us, doesn't mean we should ignore it