Australian dealer ABC Bullion has come up with what it claims is the first dollar averaging approach to allow retail investors to buy physical gold or silver via a direct payment from a bank account. This is, in effect, a savings plan allowing investors to buy as little as A$50 worth of gold each month, rather than saving up for a kilo bar of gold.  The gold and silver is then stored at Custodian Vaults, a high security purpose built bullion vault located in Sydney, that is subject to independent quarterly audits.  Jordan Eliseo, chief economist for ABC Bullion called this "a set and forget strategy" and an innovative way of bringing gold to the market, asserting it made good business sense on both sides of the transaction.  ABC Bullion is keen to clear up a misperception among retail investors that gold is a very difficult asset to get into; and says Australians across the board should be encouraged to save. Eliseo said the spread was built into the initial two per cent charge on the purchase price that investors pay. He asserted this was competitive with fees charged by super fund managers for investments in other asset classes. The sales pitch is that the gold price has risen by an average of 8.5 per cent to 9 per cent per annum over the last 15 years. There are other options, of course, for gold bugs wanting a closer to direct commodity exposure, including cards run through offshore bank Euro Pacific group, and at least four ETFs in operation in Australia, one which is run by ANZ and another one by the Perth Mint which in theory would deliver underlying physical gold in certain circumstances.