Investing directly in the purchasing of physical gold is one way to make a safe investment. Buying gold bullion in the form of bars or gold coins, which can be purchased from the U.S mint or any mint of the coins origin country. Gold coins come in fractions or multiples of one troy ounce.

Buying physical gold is a security investment and not a short term profit investment. The reason for this is because there is a premium placed on gold. It is usually marked up one percent over the market price. Thus in the short run profit is not likely. But gold is great as a hedge against inflation and as a form of security from debt.

In the event of a financial crisis something of value will be needed as trade for goods and services. Paper money will be of no value for it is not backed by anything really these days. Gold still holds value and will never lose all of its value at any time, and during an economic downfall will gain more value. Thus people who own physical gold will have a valuable form of money.

Another investment in gold would be to invest in gold stocks. When buying shares in a gold company (this usually takes the form of a mining company) they represent secure investments in a publicly traded company. The person is buying ownership in the company and if profit is made by the company then the share holder will take part in the distribution of profit.

Many companies offer dividends, which are payments to investors even when the company is not growing. Dividend payments are typically no higher than two percent. Cash dividends can be reinvested in a company to purchase more shares and thus compound returns.

Many investors purchase a fixed dollar amount of shares, thus when shares are higher less are purchased and when shares are lower more shares are bought. An investor then profits from a theory known as dollar cost averaging.