Though it is over 150 years old, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Gold Bug may make a fun gift this season. With the gold price hitting near-daily records, the story about the hunt for a buried treasure after a bite from a gold-coloured bug has topical appeal and is said to be one of the first uses of the description for gold lovers. Other gold-themed gifts might include gold coins or stakes in gold funds, which are surging in popularity.
Five years ago, gold funds were also causing ripples of excitement. Investors were, for the first time, able to buy gold via an instrument traded on the stock exchange, avoiding the complications of futures or of deciphering mining company strategies. Offered by the World Gold Council and State Street Securities, the gold exchange-traded fund launched in 2004 has proved a winner. Now with assets of more than $40bn, it has made money every year and, for those investors who took stakes at the beginning, it has made them more than 150 per cent.
