I believe that mining stocks are a better way to own precious metals for multiple reasons. Although it is not as "fun" as having the physical metals at home to play with, mining stocks are provably better investments for the long term. Below are the 5 year charts for both the gold spot price and the share price of Newmont Goldcorp, the largest gold miner.
As you can see, the gold price has risen 33% in 5 years while the share price of NEM has increased by more than 100%. This is also excluding the cashflow from dividends that investors receive. Obviously, mining stocks are a better investment and this comes down to leverage. For every move to the upside in spot price, mining companies get higher and higher earnings which compound over time. While it is not a bad idea to have some physical bullion or coins, I believe that it is foolish to disregard owning mining companies purely because of ignorance or a disdain for financial markets. Let me know your thoughts.
Not financial advice.
I'm steering clear of the miners for a while. Most of them are closed or almost closed. When they announce earnings we can probably look for some at discount prices. Wheaton is another good one with more diversity than being just a miner.
I think I'd be a nice little diversification play to hold some First Majestic shares too.
Gold mining shares are the only "paper" assets I will still hold. They've taken a beating in Australia but are absolutely cracking value right now.
Holding stock is not better than holding assets. Now is a good time to start buying mining stocks though because physical assets are not able to be acquired. Mining companies will start looking for more unobtainium the higher the price goes. Because the premium has already decoupled from spot this won't take very long. By the end of this year after the next bear season I bet the bull will be on parade for a long time.