For what its worth...and I am not expert by any means, but I have bought GTU instead of GLD. I know some of you are saying "quit talking about that Susan" as I mentioned it earlier including my research indicating that it seems to be a better holding from a tax standpoint (although if in your 401K not a problem), and more conservative with the fund actually holding the gold in Canada and subject to audit. (I do love Canadians) I have been tracking the premium on it as its a closed end fund and when the premium is low I find it a particularly good time to buy as then you get the bump not only in the gold price but also in the premium when it goes up to where it normally trades. (Has been at a 8% premium so I you can see why I thought 1.7% was great) For example, on Monday after it closed the premium to net asset value (NAV) was only 1.7% which was really really low for it so I bought some (since I also believe long term in gold) and even though GLD went down that day, GTU closed up. Just some food for thought in case you want to track it to get a better feel on whether it might be something you invest in at some point.