Hi there,
Whether or not you are a beginner has no bearing on the answer. It really comes down to the time and effort you have to conduct due diligence on individual stocks, and risk tolerance among many others. In terms of the exposure, holding the physical metal itself and/or an ETF that tracks the price of gold is carries the least risk. Then, risk for ETFs and stocks are are follows. The reasons why i lump ETFs with stocks, is because you can get an ETF that tracks small caps, which would be risker than a senior producer like KL and ABX. So, an ETF in of itself does not make it less risky - it comes down to the holdings.
High to low risk:
- Exploration & Development companies
- Junior producers and/or one mine operators
- Mid-Tier producers
- Senior producers
- Streaming companies
This is highly generalized, but this is typically the order of risk tolerance. In your case, ABX and KL are senior producers and in theory should carry less risk than mid-tiers, junior and E&Ds. They are however more risky that streamers, ETFs that tracked the price of gold, and ETF that tracks senior producers. Why? Because one that tracks seniors spreads out your risk among many different companies. I'd argue they are however, less risky than an ETF that tracks juniors.
Another factor to take into account - dividends. Many of these companies are now paying growing dividends. Typically, if you hold an ETF that pays a yield, it won't move much. However, if you hold the company itself, you reap the full benefits of a growing dividend.
Finally, ETFs are great for investors who don't have the time, or don't want to put the effort into doing their due diligence on individual equities.
Of note, I recently picked up KL on the latest downtrend and am also long Alamos Gold.
Mat