Gold and Silver - how to store safely?

Despite the obvious pitfalls even the 'most powerful bank' in the world keeps repeating the mantra that physical gold is the asset of last resort. But who can guarantee that the bank or safe storage vauld will give you access to your hord in the hour of crisis?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-06/physical-gold-vault-true-hedge-last-resort-goldman-sachs

If you think that Precious Metals or Stones will protect your Wealth you have to be careful. And first of all make sure you don't get sold fake gold or silver!
How To Store Silver Bars & Coins At Home – Mike Maloney

Turkey To Confiscate Gold "To Help Citizens Earn Money"

Apart from the fact that Turkey cannot be compared to your typical 'Western' or 'Liberal' Democracy the lesson is again quite clear: if you think your wealth is protected in Gold you better think carefully how to go about it! (Hint: Bitcoin it is not!)
Turkey To Confiscate Gold "To Help Citizens Earn Money"

Credit Suisse Offices Raided In Multiple Tax Probes: Gold Bars, Paintings, Jewelry Seized

Be careful where you do your Banking business! Nothing is safe these days!
Credit Suisse Offices Raided In Multiple Tax Probes: Gold Bars, Paintings, Jewelry Seized

Digital Gold - worse than Paper Gold

The whole reason why you would like to own Gold is to have something to fall back on if Paper Money (or the digits produced by the Central Banks) looses more and more of its value. Paper Gold (Gold ETF for example) and - even worse - Digital Gold can be useful instruments to play the asset class on a short-term basis but will be useless (inaccessible?) when they are really needed in times of crisis.
A New Trend Emerges – Digital Gold "Gifting" Gains Popularity In China

Bitcoin Hype: is it Digital Gold? Caveat Emptor!

Bitcoins compared to Gold? While Gold may not be the ultimate store of value (problems with fake gold, confiscation, safekeeping) it is still better than some digits in unknown/unsecure computers that can wiped by savy hackers or the friendly government. Remember Tulipmania in the 1600s!
Digital Gold - For Now Caveat Emptor

Gold is the ultimate protection

Governments are waging a silent war against Cash. They don't do it openly but sail in the tailwinds of Financial Technology Companies, including Credit Card providers and Banks that do the dirty work for them. Cashless societies open the door to total control of all activities and by implication also total control of the citizens, or maybe one should call them worker ants that are only allowed to finance the more and more absurd spending perpetrated by the Polit-Establisment. Gold is even more unpopular in that Nomenklatura and it is no wonder that there are persistent efforts to make it difficult to buy and hold gold.
Given that it is the ultimate insurance policy against total state control of your wealth careful planning is imperative when purchasing and storing gold.

Sauve qui peut! Your Pension is not safe!

Any trust you may put into the state providing you with a secure retirement income must be shattered by the news that another country, this time Poland, a honourable (?) member of the European 'Community' has conducted a defacto nationalisation of private pensions. No comment needed. So who is next? The Indian peasants must be on to something when they buy their gold.

Sceptic recommends small weighting in Gold

Most Economists are sceptical when it comes to the merits of investing in Gold. So it is a small surprise that Gregory Mankiw comes to the conclusion that a small weighting of Gold in an investment portfolio would not be such a bad idea. (New York Times)

Swiss Banks client Gold to allocated accounts

The banks are reported (Financial Times) to suggest to clients to move their physical gold holdings to allocated accounts. These gold holdings then are no longer part of the bank's balance sheet and do not require costly equity capital to back it up. To a certain extent this increases the safety of the client's gold holdings as any bankruptcy of the bank would no longer have any detrimental impact on the client's claim to ownership of the gold (assuming the physical gold is segregated properly - which is not always the case as several recent cases in the UK demonstrated where client holdings of various assets were not properly segregated). Investors should be aware, however, that banks (and other custodian institutions) might at any moment be prevented from giving access to gold that is in their custody if the governments/regulators order them to do so.

Who will drive Lamborghinis?

Interesting paper extolling the advantages of Gold (or hard currency) in times of (Hyper)Inflation

Where should you hold your Gold?

Still convinced that Gold is always a safe haven? then look at this

Turkish banks are pushing their customers to deposit physical gold in 'gold deposit accounts'. While that may seem to be a convenient - and above all secure - option it negates one of the main reasons why people want (and should) hold a proportion of their wealth in the 'barbarous relic'. This is the fact that gold is not anyone's liability (like all bank deposits, bonds etc) and is not just a blip in some distant computer (as most holdings of shares and bonds are after paper certificates have fallen victim to 'rationalisation' and 'modernisation'). Physical gold - as long as it is held in secret and away from the prying eyes of governments - is the only asset that can survive in stormy times and depositing it in any institution or vault - even if anonymous - means that its main advantage in uncertain times is lost.
12 Jun 2012

ETF Gold does not equal Gold

Many Investment Pundits recommend Gold as the ultimate protection against currency depreciation. So investors often are tempted to buy Gold-themed ETF's as they are convenient to buy and sell. But apart from fine differences between all the available ETF's that are linked to the price of Gold investors should also be aware of possible pitfalls (The Market Oracle) that are inherent in the way some of these ETF's are structured.

Who really owns your Gold?

Many investors may think that by holding physical gold in their portfolios they are to a certain extent hedged against the loss of purchasing power that is experienced by all major currencies. But make no mistake, only physical gold that you hold in a vault that is controlled by you or in some other safe place is really gold that you can count on when the proverbial s**t hits the fan. Unallocated gold or pieces of paper that represent a claim on gold ('Structured' products, derivatives or ETF's) are nothing else but some bank's or fund manager's obligation and as such only as good as the standing of that institution. If they are insolvent you are left with nothing else than a piece of paper and have to join the queue of creditors.

How to spot an investment scam

An suspected investment scam involving the sale of derivatives linked to gold has been uncovered in Poland (Wall Street Journal). Based on preliminary evidence the following lessons can be learned: (1) Always check out the credentials of senior management, (2) Do you really understand the investment? In this case I doubt that many - if any - of the investors understood the difference between physical gold and derivatives, (3) Unusual and high marketing expenditures.

Big Brother is after your Gold

We have warned repeatedly that the Western 'Democracies' are on the slippery slope to a totalitarian Superstate that will make anything seen in History like child's play. Latest confirmation is the remark by Paul Volcker about the possibility that intervention in the Gold Market by governments may be justified 'at any critical point'. The next step will be 'interventions' by our trusted friends, the political establishment/congregation of Spenders of Other People's money, who will 'request' that you put your gold at their disposal to help 'needy causes' - such as spendthrifts in Greece or Portugal. Intelligent Investors know that the only way to store Gold safely is in physical form and away from any place where states can trace it or have the access blocked.

Slippery Slope to expropriation?

Reports that authorities in certain countries have begun to limit or control the purchase and sale of gold indicate that the political kleptocracies ruling in most countries will stop at nothing to keep their wasteful spending policies going. As always, the lame excuse of combatting money laundering provides a convenient fig leaf - when the whole world knows that ill-advised government policies are the real cause of most - if not all - major crimes.

And you thought you owned that Silver?

A new court case in the USA highlights the risks of leaving your holdings of physical precious metals such as Silver or Gold with a bank. That the belief that one owns 'hard' assets is naive to say the least is proven by the fact that often all that you really own is a claim on a bank. Should that institution get into trouble you are only the owner of a claim on that bank and have to joins the queue of creditors. In all likelihood you would at best receive a fraction of the worth of your holdings in the eventual settlement of the bankruptcy.

So you thought your Gold is safe?

The growing interest in gold as a safe haven in a time characterised by growing attacks on private savers leads many to seek refuge in the ultimate store of value. But beware! Gold that is stored in a bank vault you are not allowed to access by government decree or because the bank has gone bankrupt is of little use - and that would happen at exactly the moment when you would need it most to tide you over some difficult times. The same can be said for the fashionable ETF's that are being created by financial alchemists at a rapid clip as they ultimately are nothing but electronic impulses residing in some remote computer (and we don't even consider the risk of cyber terrorism or war). We think that Gold is best held in the shape of small denomination gold coins. When the going gets tough and you would like to buy some food or bribe your way to freedom a regular 400 oz gold bar would be of little use. Much better to stash away half ounce or one ounce Krugerrands or even the now quite popular mini bars that may be even more fungible.

Gold purchasers to be registered - first step to expropriation?

If you have still any trust in governments then think again and read this article

Is Gold a Hedge against Inflation?

I notice today that in an interview an asset manager stated that Gold was not suitable as a hedge against inflation. The manager - let him remain unnamed - picked the year 1980 when Gold reached a temporary all-time high of more than $US 800 as the base period and claimed that in real terms even Gold at its current price of around $ 1350 has not held its ground against inflation. But you can prove anything with statistics. If the comparison were made with the price of $US 35 on which the price was fixed by the US Government until the early 1970s the comparison would be very different. A look back to 1792 shows that gold more than held its own in real terms since then.