CANOE Money: - Investing in gold bullion made easier with new gold ETF listed on the NYSE

CANOE Money: - Investing in gold bullion made easier with new gold ETF listed on the NYSE(Special) - With the recent listing of a new exchange traded fund (ETF) for gold on the New York Stock Exchange, Canadian investors now have an easy way to invest in gold bullion – inside or outside of their RRSPs.

RRSP rules prohibit the direct holding of gold bullion. But since the gold EFT is traded like a company stock on a recognized North American exchange, Canadian investors can tuck away as many of the gold ETF shares as they want in their self-directed RRSPs, subject to the 30-per-cent limit on foreign holdings.

All it takes to own gold bullion in this way is a call to your full-service or discount broker (or a click of a computer mouse if you are set up for Internet trading).

Each share of the new gold ETF (symbol GLD on the NYSE) represents one-tenth of an ounce of gold and the ETF is properly structured to ensure the price of the shares closely tracks the price of gold bullion with no significant discount or premium.

If the spot price of gold is US$450 per ounce, each GLD share will be US$45 (possibly give or take a few cents for a few minutes until the arbitragers narrow in the difference).

The gold ETF is formally known as Streettracks Gold Trust (details at www.streettracksgoldshares.com). The main custodian holding the gold is HSBC Bank, one of the world's largest banks.

The gold ETF is a great trading vehicle for those interested in speculating on short-term swings in the price of gold, or it can be used for long-term investing.

With the annual management fees for the ETF only around 0.4 per cent, investors would actually be saving on the insurance and storage costs of holding gold bullion directly.