It is extremely difficult today to be duped when buying gold jewellery. With all the mandated requirements that jewelers have to adhere to, your chances of being cheated is very less.

1) Purity

Always ask and enquire about the purity of the metal. As we all know that the highest form of gold purity is 24k. However, it is not possible to make gold from 24K and the metal is brittle. This means that you have to mix alloy, which allows you to make gold in 22k and 24k jewellery.

2) Do not buy gold jewellery as an investment

Any and every kind of gold jewellery will have making charges. This can be substantial. When you sell you do not get the making charges back. This means that as an investment, be prepared to get less as you get only the price of the gold. Look for gold biscuit and gold coins, which can be a better proposition as an investment than gold jewellery.

3) BIS hallmarked jewellery

You must look at hallmarked jewellery, before buying in India. Remember, that the Bureau Of Indian Standards is the only agency for certifying gold. So, if you want to buy, make sure that it if certified by the BIS.

Check gold rates across cities and many jewellery shop

Remember, that even within cities, the gold rates may vary. Different cities have different gold rates, so before buying gold jewellery, check across shops. If you are buying large amount of gold and you are in Mumbai , your must remember that gold rates in Mumbai are the cheapest.

4) Look at other options than jewellery

As an investment, jewellery is a bad idea. Look at other options, including investment in exchange traded funds. There are a host of exchange traded funds that offer great investment opportunities.

They offer you several advantages including inability to sell, as they are in electronic form. They also require no safe deposit lockers, which means you also save on safety deposit locker charges.

5) Buy from a reputed jewellery

If you are buying jewellery , you can also look at buying from a reputed jewellery. These days, it is not like the yesteryears, where you can get duped easily, if you look for hallmarked jewellery. Still it is better to look at a shop that has proven track record and is pretty old in the business.

Where are gold prices headed in 2016?

Gold prices have shown some momentum in 2016, as compared to the last few years. However, it is highly possible that there may not be any sharp movement in gold prices in 2016.

The US Federal Reserve looks unlikely to hike interest rates this year, which could keep gold prices at slightly elevated levels. Strategy for gold investment should be a more of buy on decline strategy.

Also, if you are looking to diversify your assets, there would no better proposition than investing in gold.

GoodReturns.in