Dumb question maybe - especially as I work in a bank, but how do I actually invest in oil as a non-wealthy investor?

Short of keeping a couple of barrels/ingots in the back bedroom that is!

The easiest way by far is just to spread bet what you think will happen. You think oil will go up then go long oil. You think it will go down then go short. Tax free and simple.

Isn't spread betting quite risky on the downside? Ie you can lose a lot more than you put in?

Fast easy way for Gold is to buy "GLD" ETF: it's a fund that just buys gold, however many argue physical ownership matters very much these days; so BullionVault or Goldmoney.
BullionVault charge by percentage commission (0.8% for small dealers) so it doesb't have to cost the earth; especially if you think the pound might tank by more than 0.8%!!!

Oil; not too sure; probably would also look at an ETF.

EDIT: of course, with an ETF in $ you assume the GBP/USD risk (some would call it an extra way to make money!)

if you've not got loadsamoney you could buy BP or Shell shares as quite a safe bet that gives you some exposure to the oil price. I believe BP is considered a basket case at the moment but things change.

For physical gold, i would stick with Bullionvault or Goldmoney if you don't want to keep gold at home. I would avoid the ETFs. They lease your gold to the shorters, so it helps drive the price DOWN. Not exactly fair. For gold exposure, you could also invest in a fund such as merril lynch's gold and general (which you can put into an isa), or by investing in gold shares directly (the ones that make up the HUI index are a good place to start)

With oil, it is perhaps easiest to invest in shares, rather than oil futures or ETFs - which have drawbacks like contango and the like. You can invest in oil companies such as BP and Shell, although i prefer to invest in oil service companies. This is because they get paid whether they find oil or not, so there's arguably less risk involved. Transocean, Schlumberger, Noble Energy, Baker Hughes are the big players in this area, and often outperform oil itself. Also, don't disregard natural gas. Undervalued at the moment, compared to oil.

Thanks

Just been looking at GoldVault - I am confused though as to why there is difference in the price between the US, UK, and Zurich markets? Should arbitrage ensure the prices are identical?

Marcos

I'm tempted to invest a fairly large % of my life savings (currently all in sterling) in gold; the only worrying thing is that with such a large rise last year could there possibly be a large fall? Is gold just ANOTHER speculative bubble like the housing market?