The banks are safe now but you'll only get 1/2 to 1% over inflation at best. I recommend a no load gold stock mutual fund called USERX
http://www.usfunds.com/marketing/tiffany_gold/gold_tiffany_v3.asp
It is rated the top performing fund for this year.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/partsub/funds/topfundresults.asp?Category=All&Symbol=$HF
Gold stocks will rise more in % than gold will and will lose more % if gold goes down. So unless you have gold stocks already this would be a great way to go unless you want to search out gold stocks on your own.
JMHO, I believe gold will correct down to $610 to $630 and then it will rise. It may consolidate for a period of a month maybe 2 before it begins its next leg up. For gold stocks I believe the bottom may very well be in but if not I don't see a lot of downside risk. Gold and gold stocks are very volatile right now.
You are very wise to have physical gold.
That's what I plan to do, buy some ingots when the price drops a bit. More as a hedge against some real disaster in the economy than anything else.
No way would I invest in a gold stock mutual fund. You cannot get out of a mutual fund intraday. Instead, go with an exchange traded fund referred to as an ETF where you can place sell stop limits (or buy stops if short). IAU and GLD are two to look at.
You're losing money in the bank once you consider that the government, since Clinton, underreports the inflation rate by about 2.7% per year. A substantially higher inflation rate than most are aware of, a declining dollar due to supposed conservatives spending like unrestrained liberals, and a high demand for commodities from emerging second- and third-world countries are what's pushing the price of Au up.
If you are a believer in open and responsible government here at home, don't buy Au. If you believe emerging countries will be content with economies far less lavish that what we currently enjoy, don't buy Au.