Certificates of deposit are probably ok. It's just an opinion,...

Certificates of deposit are probably ok.
It's just an opinion, but with gold you tend to want the greatest certainty. It's sort of a bedrock asset for bad times. How certain can you really be with a contract that's drawn up by legals and accompanied by verbal assurances? Gold and silver are meant to be the ultimate tangible exchangeable assets.

Allocated gold is expensive to keep, and certificates of unallocated gold have come under criticism from people who know the business, like James Turk. He implies there are little loopholes, whereby the gold might be loaned or sold with the intention of replacement later. A government guarantee, such as the Perth Mint has, strengthens the security, but might still turn out to have clauses that allow them an 'out' from delivering physical if you want it. There might be circumstances where you wouldn't be happy with a settlement in paper or digital money.

If you can find a safe location for physical, or preferably a few locations and divide it up, then physical is best IMO. The way I'd prefer, if that's not feasible, is James Turk's service at goldmoney.com. I'm registered with goldmoney.com, but haven't used it yet - it takes some time to fully set up an account.