Gold is a valuable asset no doubt. For the fact that it is easily movable and can be liquidized. So you have beautiful jewellery to rock, save yourself the stress of wearing costumes that could cause you rashes and also have something to fall back on, on rainy days.

Although you would need to invest in quality gold if you hope to get a valuable return in the future. Quality as to the rarity in finding it, the well defined cut and shape.

The best way to invest in gold accessories though is to buy in bar or coins. This usually contains a higher percentage of gold, up to 99%. Investing in gold jewellery, the best gold to buy as jewellery is the 22 karat gold as the gold content in it is high, 92%, as well as the 24 which has up to 99.99% gold content.

Gold jewellery is a combination of other metals and gemstones to improve the quality and appearance. That is why we have 10 karats, 14karat, 18karat gold, these are the common ones; the amount of pure gold they contain differ. For instance, 14k gold contains 58.3% of pure gold while 24k gold contains 99.99% of pure gold.

You need to keep a closed mouth and be involved in every step of your gold business.

How to tell if gold is real

• Examine the gold surface to see if there is any sign or mark that indicates the karat value. They should be seen and easy to read. That is the hallmark of jewellery. For gold, the numbers you can see are 375, 500, 585, 750, 916, 958, 999. 375 means the jewellery contains 37.5% of gold, 500 means the jewellery contains 50.0% of gold and so on.

• Jewellery with a high gold content will not stick to a magnet. Go around with your magnet when going gold shopping. The magnet test is not 100% accurate. Just because a piece of jewellery does not stick to the magnet does not mean it is pure gold but real gold will never stick to a magnet.

• Fake or impure gold darkens in vinegar very quickly, all you need to do is to drop the jewellery in a small amount of vinegar for about 5 minutes. You might not be able to do this at a jewellery store.

• The Acid test is widely used by gold dealers. Rub your gold on a testing stone and apply a 14k acid, if there is no change on the mark made on the stone then your gold is 14k gold. If the spot starts to bubble, smoke or turn green then your jewellery is fake. If the mark disappears then you may need to apply a 10k acid as your gold might be a 10k gold.

Ensure though, that your gold is clean before carrying out this test.

Remember expensive gold does not mean real golds. Did you learn something, do share it with us.