Invesco Physical Gold ETC

What this fund is

Invesco Physical Gold ETC is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) from Invesco, traded under the ticker 8PSG (ISIN IE00B579F325). One trade buys a whole basket of holdings, so your money is spread out instead of riding on a single company. In plain terms it is about tracking physical commodities like gold or oil, which often move differently from shares and are used to spread risk or hedge inflation, spread across its target market. Rather than a manager picking stocks, it simply replicates the LBMA Gold Price (PM) index — the passive, low-cost approach, and its largest holdings include SPOT PHYSICAL GOLD.

It is typically held as a diversifier — a slice that behaves differently from mainstream shares — rather than as a portfolio's main engine. Its ongoing charge (TER) is 0.12% a year — about €12 a year on a €10,000 holding, taken automatically from the fund. It is a distributing share class — dividends are paid to you as cash rather than reinvested. It holds the underlying investments directly (physical replication); it is domiciled in Ireland and UCITS-regulated, a European standard built to protect everyday investors and trades in USD.

Its price has swung about 33.2% over the past year — a gauge of how much the value moves, not a judgement of quality. It launched in 2009. As with any investment, its value can go down as well as up, and past performance is not a guide to future results. (Fund data sourced from Invesco.)