As part of any balanced portfolio, including commodities such as precious metals can be a hedge when the USA dollar falls, or world politics become uncertain. I have used various ETFs such as GLD, gold bullion ETF and GDX, gold and precious metal miners ETF.
Lately, I have been concerted about our reliance on the internet and data centers for our brokerage accounts. Frequently, there is news of breaches of important web sites and databases that we rely on for daily existence. But, what would happen if the internet would be down for an extended period of time, or if your bank or brokerage firm had a data breach.
As part of diversification, I think it is a good idea to hold physical cash, in Euros or Dollars AND gold coins. Cashing being a tradable physical standard. Gold, in the event the cash market declines, making gold more valuable.
Check out the Monex Precious Metals web site, with information about pricing of the Canadian Maple Leaf 1oz Gold Coin. I have also found that Fidelity does offer trading in various standardized gold coins that include the Gold American Buffalo, Gold American Eagle and the Gold Australian Kangaroo