It seems that gold may finally be getting its mojo back. With global growth starting to slow, worries abroad beginning to make themselves known, and cracks in the U.S. starting to form, gold could very well be getting its shine back.

The yellow metal is considered the ultimate hedge against market volatility and disaster thanks to its store of value and precious nature. Already as the markets have swooned this year, gold prices, when measured in non-dollars, have risen. If the markets see another Lehman Brothers-style event, which could happen given some of the data starting to bubble up, then gold should pop upwards. Which is exactly why you hold it as a diversifier.

Secondly, gold does well in periods of inflation. And while that hasn’t happened yet, some analysts still are pointing to the billions in easing programs that are undergoing in many nations. Those monetary programs have the potential to create big-time inflation down the road.

At the end of the day, adding some gold to your portfolio may not be such a bad idea considering just how long the bull market has raged. And the easiest way happens to be through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Here’s how to do it.

There’s plenty of hefty costs associated with owning physical bullion and gold coins. From shipping and insurance costs to storage fees, it can get pretty expensive. And that doesn’t include the mark-up some dealers will charge above spot prices.

However, there are now numerous ETFs that represent a share of gold bullion stored in a vault on behalf of investors. They tend to track gold prices pretty closely as they represent a 1/100th or 1/10th of an ounce of gold. These include popular ETFs like the $25 billion SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) or the $6 billion iShares Gold Trust (IAU). As for costs, buying an ETF is as easy as clicking the “buy” button with your mouse in your brokerage account. Additionally, the management expenses of owning these gold funds are low and much cheaper than going the physical-in-your-hand bullion route.

But if you do want to have that glittering gold in your home, the Merk Gold ETF (OUNZ) does have a provision that allows investors to take physical delivery of their share of the ETF’s gold.

Like most of the commodity sector, gold is primarily traded via futures contracts and options on those contracts. But futures trading can be a complex undertaking for retail investors. There are high fees associated with the asset classes as well as high initial investment costs. Luckily, ETFs can be used to bet on gold futures without dealing with many of the hassles of direct futures investments.

However, futures ETFs aren’t without their quirks either. For starters, many are treated as “commodity pools” for tax purposes. That means you’ll get a K-1 statement come tax time. Secondly, and this is the big issue, depending on how the underlying ETF rolls its futures contract, backwardation or contango can hurt returns over the long term.

The PowerShares DB Gold ETF (DGL) and UBS ETRACS CMCI Gold Total Return ETN (UBG) are two of the more popular options.

Investors may want to consider the miners of the precious metal as well.

Gold miners offer a few unique traits for portfolios. Due to a miner’s production cost structure, often with considerable fixed expenses, the firms that dig the yellow stuff out of the ground can act as a leveraged play on gold prices. A 1% increase in the price of gold will often equate to a greater than 1% increase in operating income.

Finally, many of the top-tier miners do something that physical gold doesn’t do, pay dividends. While dividends have been cut in the wake of low prices, any return to the former highs of yesteryear and gold miners could be raising their payouts.

Sister ETFs Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) and Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) are the two most popular ways for investors to get their gold miner fix.

While adding gold as a hedge is important, if things get wonky, a small gold position probably won’t do the trick. With that in mind, investors may want to boost their portfolio’s golden potential. The ETF boom has allowed investors to do just that without having to use costly margin loans via new leveraged ETFs.

While adding gold as a hedge is important, if things get wonky, a small gold position probably won’t do the trick. With that in mind, investors may want to boost their portfolio’s golden potential. The ETF boom has allowed investors to do just that without having to use costly margin loans via new leveraged ETFs.

These ETFs promise to pay 2x or 3x the daily movements of their underlying indexes. They accomplish this by betting on swaps, derivatives, and other securities to synthesize a position in gold or gold-related equities. However, they are risky and any downtrend could crimp their returns, by a lot. Additionally, the daily reset nature of these ETFs means they can deviate wildly from their underlying indexes. But if gold is trending upwards, they can provide a powerful boost to a portfolio.

There are leverage ETFs that cover miners such as the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3x ETF (NUGT) and the Direxion Daily Jr Gold Miners Bull 3x ETF (JNUG) as well as gold futures pricing funds like the ProShares Ultra Gold ETF (UGL).

With the markets getting sketchy and some cracks beginning to form in the global economy, investors may want to take a look at gold. The yellow metal should provide protection if things get really hairy. The aforementioned types of ETFs make adding that position easy.

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