>> IAG <<
I assume you meant IAU, the gold ETF that tracks the bullion price like IAUM and GLD do. The main differences are the expense ratios, and IAUM wins there -
GLD --- 0.40%
IAU ---- 0.25%
IAUM - 0.09%
Another difference though will be the bid/ask spread when you buy or sell the ETFs. The GLD should have a much tighter spread if you plan to do a lot of trading with it. If it's buy/hold then the IAUM is cheaper to own long term. Otherwise the performance of the 3 looks the same.
But if you are wanting to get into gold mining stocks, that's a whole other area. Bigworld is the gold maven around here and he owns a lot of them, so maybe he'll chime in. An easy way to get the entire sector is via GDX, and for small caps GDXJ.
Personally I like the conservative royalty play, Franco Nevada (FNV). It has the best long term chart (most steady and best 'trajectory') :o)
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