Buying Digital Gold:

I was not aware that investing on or buying digital gold is this easy until yesterday. May be, I had overlooked the possibilities available in front of me.

Who Does Not Want To Invest / Save Money?

Every one of us saved money in our childhood. Do you remember those 1 rupee coins given by our parents and grandparents to us for doing an awesome job? Though they gave it to us at that time as a token of appreciation, they thought us the importance of Money.

To buy Gold does not need you to step into a Jewellery showroom. Yes, it is no longer required. People say it is good to buy gold on Saturdays, Akshaya Tritiya etc. But, my say is – to invest now and save money by buying Gold, you do not need to wait for an Auspicious day. That too, when you wanted to make the transactions as low as rupee 1.

Do you remember the old fable Grasshopper and the Ant? It is never early to save for the future.

All you need is your cell phone with the app Paytm installed in it or a personal computer with internet connectivity. Buy digital gold on the go while you are on travel, having lunch, watching favorite sport what not. With the help of Paytm app and internet connectivity, it is just a few seconds task.

We spend at least INR 50 -100 daily towards buying unhealthy junk food and snacks. It is rubbish if we say to ourselves that we don’t have money and time. Spending half of that snack cost would earn you Gold.

Here is what I did today morning.

I bought Digital Gold from Paytm for INR 50. In my current situation, I can very well buy gold daily for the same value or for INR 10. I know it will not have a big value now. But, there will be sometime this small investment I make now would help me may be to buy something.

Buying Digital Gold via Paytm:

With Paytm, you can buy, sell, and store pure gold. The yellow metal which we buy reside in the most secure MMTC-PAMP ( India’s only internationally-accredited refinery ) without any fees. If you are not comfortable to own it as a digital gold, you can very well get it delivered in a physical form at your home. This is possible only if you have got the gold accumulated to 1 gram. Not only this, we can also get the digital gold converted to cash when required. Kindly note that the buyer needs to furnish certain details if they buy gold worth above INR 20K and pan card details if the worth is above INR 50K.

Better To Know:

• You can buy gold in grams or rupees.

• The live rates are available in the app.

• Price inclusive of duty, taxes, exclusive of making charges are delivery charges are being updated regularly. Note that the live price is valid only for six minutes.

• You can make the transactions round the clock and any day in a year with no exceptions like public holidays and weekends.

• The gold price drop and hike determine your profit and loss.

• Your account becomes inactive if there are no selling/buying for a period of six months. One can claim the accumulated amount by providing required verification documents to MMTC-PAMP.

• If the account holder is no more, then the legal heirs have to inform the same to Paytm to get the accumulated holdings and account closed. Remember, the ownership is non-transferable.

• Buying Digital Gold via paytm is not for people who want to accumulate gold for more than 5 years. The account is valid only for five years and you need to sell your gold after 5 years.

• Paytm plays the role of a mediator to disperse money to MMTC-PAMP.

The Plus & Minus Which I See:

Plus:

1. Brings the habit of saving in us.
2. Helps us to increase and manage wealth for a shorter period.

Minus:

• The account tenor is only for 5 years. Once after that, you need to sell.

• There is no section to nominate dependents. Yes, the heirs can claim the accumulated gold from MMTC-PAMP but I do not think it would be easy in the process.

• Your account gets locked or closed if no transactions made in six months period.

• Buying digital gold is fine but I do not think selling would provide any kind of major gains on our investment.

• One cannot buy and sell gold on the same day.

• We will not earn any interest towards the accumulated digital gold.

• There is a convenience charge involved for every transaction. Especially while selling, this charge seems to be high when compared to what you are going to get. This is ridiculous.

• Selling price is less.

• The customer service does not seem to be great.

• We do not get any kind of documents for the transactions made. We need to depend only on the SMS and emails received.

Other Available Option:

Using digital gold to buy appliances like Televisions etc can get us cash back of certain value.

My Suggestions:

1. Please do not jump into a conclusion and buy gold for larger values. As I said above, the gain towards selling does not seem to be very good.
2. Go through the terms and conditions of Paytm Digital Gold before investing or buying Gold.
3. Paytm digital gold is not regulated like other options.
4. Consider investing in gold via other bonds which SEBI monitors.

My Point:

It is easy to earn money but to save money is what is difficult.

Consider this mode of buying gold for very smaller investments. Do not try for more gains by investing more. Remember, as I told in the beginning, use the snack or similar money on to this instead of placing higher denominations.

Disclaimer: I am no way related to Paytm or any other firms mentioned in the article above. Some of the benefits and the drawbacks mentioned above are as per my understanding of the terms and conditions and from the knowledge gained from sources on the web.