Investment products dedicated to gold offer solutions for protecting and enhancing your assets. These products fall into two main categories:

• Immaterial or "paper" gold refers to any type of gold-backed financial product. In this case, there is no direct ownership of the golden metal. These financial products are varied, complex and generally offered by specialized banks: gold certificates, gold index funds (ETFs) and gold contracts.

These instruments provide exposure to the gold market without the constraints of storage or insurance. However, they involve a counterparty risk and lack the absolute security of hand-held metal.

-Physical gold is, by definition, tangible and in the direct possession of the investor. This category of gold can itself be subdivided into two variants:

• ingots and bars
• Investment coins

When it comes to physical gold, each format has its own specific logic:

- Bullion is massive, expensive and offers, above all, a concentration of value and capital protection.

- Bullion coins, and even ingots, offer flexibility and greater accessibility thanks to their lower cost.

As you can see, the diversity of investment products in physical gold in particular means you can build a strategy tailored to a multitude of objectives: protect your capital against inflation, diversify your assets, avoid systemic risks, or speculate on gold price trends.

But before taking the plunge, it's essential to ask yourself the right questions: what's my budget? What is my investment horizon? Do I need liquidity quickly? Am I sensitive to the historical or aesthetic aspects of gold?

Keeping abreast of the latest developments will help you to better understand the different gold investment products, their characteristics, advantages and limitations. These are all essential elements in developing a serene, coherent and successful acquisition strategy.

In the following sections, we'll look in detail at the main options available for investing in gold today, to help you make an informed choice in line with your wealth ambitions.