Alternative To Physical Metals

Alternatives to PM's?
Obvious to me!
Numismatic items all the way.
Have done so for more than 50 years, and have never stopped learning. First love is ancients. Spent 2-3 years learning about ancients before buying my first one.

Yes, I do have some ounces of Platinum, but that stuff will go to my kids, when they need it.

I just want to make a note that kitco pools say that they are unallocated accounts. It means that there could be some credit risk if there is insufficient precious metals set aside to back all the accounts. There is nothing wrong with taking on credit risk as long you understand it. Given the bid/ask spread, transaction fees, and premium to take physical delivery, I would probably either invest through an etf that is fully backed by physical metal, or buy the etf as a placeholder for now and switch over to physical later when premiums are lower. Bid/ask spreads for precious metals etfs are tiny compared to the pool accounts. The one potential benefit of using the pool account over the etf, if you eventually intend to own physical metals, may be its tax efficiency. There may not be a taxable event to take physical delivery from the pool account but there might be with selling the etf reinvesting in physical bullion. Make sure to consult with a tax professional doing either transaction.