Gold in 2026: Physical Gold or ETF? The Smart Investor's Choice Revealed!

• Indian families traditionally prefer physical gold (jewellery, coins, bars) for emotional and cultural reasons, viewing it as insurance and social currency.
• Physical gold has drawbacks as an investment: making charges, purity concerns, storage costs, theft risk, and poor liquidity with buy-sell spreads reducing returns.
• Gold ETFs offer efficiency: electronic form, secure vaults, no making charges, tight spreads, instant buying/selling, and low, transparent expense ratios.
• Both physical gold and gold ETFs track the same underlying price; ETFs often deliver better realized returns by avoiding hidden costs.
• Gold ETFs are superior for portfolio diversification, risk management, and tactical allocation, allowing easier rebalancing and integration into investment plans.

Why It Matters: For investment and portfolio diversification, Gold ETFs are the more efficient and practical choice over physical gold.