Topic: How To Invest

Hi, Pat: Could you give me your current take on the Central Fund of Canada? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Central Fund of Canada, $12.69, symbol CEF.A on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 254.4 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; www.centralfund.com), is a closed-end mutual fund that holds gold and silver bullion. It now holds 57.4% of its assets in gold bullion, 41.9% in silver bullion and 0.7% in cash. Central Fund trades at a 10.9% discount to the per-unit value of the assets it holds. It has a 0.32% MER, and the units yield 0.09%. If you want to buy gold or silver, we recommend staying away from 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 premium built into the price of, say, a futures…