The new Merk Gold Trust (OUNZ) is the first gold exchange-traded fund to let investors take physical delivery of gold when they sell their shares. That’s right: Someone will deliver gold bars and coins to your door.
This ETF appeals to investors who want to know they can get their hands on gold at any time -- say, in a market panic. For paranoid types, it offers an extra level of assurance that the gold is actually there in the vault. Investors who opt to take delivery of the gold fill out an application, which their broker submits to the fund's trustee bank. Once that's done, the gold arrives, in most cases, UPS next-day delivery. Aside from the London bars in the vault, investors can choose from this lustrous menu:
