With gold continuing its climb to record highs, more and more investors are looking to take physical possession of the precious metal.

In the past, most of them were content to bet on gold through futures contracts, shares of funds that buy gold, and shares of gold mining stocks

But now, with fears rampant about the safety of paper assets, many investors feel differently.

"There's much more demand from gold investors for allocated gold," Jonathan Spall, product manager of precious metals at Barclays, told The Wall Street Journal.

"People are attracted to hard assets outside the banking system which do not represent a credit risk to anyone."

Some investors are even worried about gold stored at a bank.

"They want it in a vault somewhere," John Hathaway, senior managing director of Tocqueville Asset Management told the Journal.

"That's just a sign of the level of distrust that people have with the banking system."

To be sure, there are costs to holding your own gold. One is insurance. Another is that you may need to have your gold re-authenticated before selling it.

Regardless of how investors want to hold gold, they continue to buy it. The precious metal has surpassed $1,260 an ounce, with no ceiling in sight.

“Gold is the ultimate currency and the ongoing global currency substitution in favor of gold will continue,” Bayram Dincer, an analyst at LGT Capital Management, told Bloomberg.