Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: What do you think of Central Fund of Canada? It holds silver and gold bullion.

Article Excerpt

Central Fund of Canada, $17.01, symbol CEF.A on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 238.3 million; Market cap: $4.1 billion) is a closed-end mutual fund that holds gold and silver bullion. It now holds 54.3% of its assets in gold bullion, 43.3% in silver bullion and 2.4% in cash. The fund has an MER of 0.38%. The units yield 0.06%. Central Fund trades at a 7.4% premium to the per-unit value of the assets it holds. We advise against buying closed-end funds at a premium, so we don’t recommend buying units of Central Fund. If you want to buy gold or silver, we recommend staying away from buying gold or silver bullion, coins (unless you collect them as a hobby) or certificates representing an interest in bullion. That’s because commodity investments like gold and silver bullion do not generate income. Instead, they come with a continuing cash drain for management, insurance, storage and so on. You either pay these costs directly or through a..