GoldMoney Explained

 This was the brainchild of highly-respected gold watcher James Turk.  Goldmoney was structured with a cast iron guarantee that there will always be 100% gold backing of every unit of currency (called “goldgrams” in this case) in circulation, and they claim that some others do not have the same cast-iron guarantees in their small print.  Whether this is true or not is hard to say, as for an ordinary investor the small-print is difficult to understand, but the discussions and articles available make interesting reading when deciding on the safety of providers you are considering.

Goldmoney, like e-Gold did, also tries to offer the use of Goldmoney as a medium of payment.  This however is not very heavily used right now, and the majority of investors are gold bugs simply buying gold and silver and holding it.

What could appeal to British or EU citizens about Goldmoney is that it is Jersey-based.  You may trust and understand the rules of Jersey more than those of the Caribbean or Panama.  This is not to say that other organisations are unsafe.  A US-citizen may just as easily understand Panama and believe it to be much safer than Jersey.

As time went by, Goldmoney has opened a variety of vaults to cater for the requirements of international buyers, including London, New York, Zurich, Singapore and Hong Kong.

GoldMoney also has a Silver option, and this represents an excellent opportunity for European Union buyers to buy Silver bullion without legally paying any VAT.  More latterly they also introduced the ability to hold the national currencies of Dollars, Pounds or Euros in your Goldmoney account and receive interest on it.  You can then switch your holding between any of the five denominations (including the two metals), as you see fit.

Knowing that it’s the fees that make investors poor and brokers rich, you are probably best off not utilising this feature.  The fees will quickly eat into your returns, and a buy-and-hold strategy is probably best.

Payment into GoldMoney is by bank transfer.  Payment out can be made by direct bank transfer.

One other aspect of GoldMoney worthy of mention is that at one point the terms and conditions said that if your account is not logged into for 12 years the ownership of your gold reverted to Goldmoney.  Okay,  it sounds unlikely, but consider what would happen if you died and never told anybody about your holding or even if you were unable to use the internet for 12 years due to some kind of accident or national crisis.

Overall, a highly respected organisation with the reputation of a known “gold-watcher” behind it.  Even if you don’t buy Goldmoney then there are articles available for free on the website that make interesting reading.

BullionVault Explained

 This article is about investing in one of the biggest online Gold investment Websites - BullionVault.

Founded by Paul Tustain, BullionVault sits somewhere between Goldmoney, for safety and Gold storage, and the trading services mentioned earlier.  Bullionvault is UK-based, although an additionally interesting feature is the ability to store your gold in their New York, London or Zurich gold vaults.  Dependent on which country you are a citizen of, you will probably feel most comfortable placing your gold outside of that country so that is not subject to your local government jurisdiction, so top marks for considering that feature.

An interesting aspect of the three separate vaults is that these could be considered as separate currencies in their own right.  For example, if at some point in the future there was a repeat of the 1930s US Gold confiscation, gold stored in a New York Vault might become priced significantly lower than gold stored in a Zurich vault, as US holders try to sell and place their gold outside their own jurisdiction.

BullionVault allows you to buy and sell Gold on their impressive looking trading platform, where buyers and sellers of gold from each vault can meet and state their required selling/buying prices, so if you are more inclined to hold gold, occasionally sell on a dip, then buy in again later, then this could well be the best service for you.

Their fees for transactions and monthly storage are really low too, so they are very worthy of investigation.  The storage fee is currently $4 per month fixed, regardless of holding size, and only payable for the months in which you held Gold.

Again, Bullionvault has proved popular with Gold Bugs accumulating gold for the future financial crisis they believe is in the offing.

Payment into BullionVault is by bank transfer.  Payment out is by bank wire transfer to your chosen bank account.

In recent years, they introduced a silver option.  That they took so long may have been something to do with BullionVault being UK-based and the UK charging VAT on silver sales, which could, to many observers, seem to be another example of government getting in the way of free trade.

Market Update

For the first time in years, sentiment in the markets seems overwhelmingly bullish.  While I've participated, to some extent in this bullishness since December 2012, I really can't share that overwhelming optimism that seems to exist.  In fact, I think I can pinpoint where this has happened before.

First the good news, I made major investments in some investment trusts on big discounts last year and it has paid off ultra-handsomely.  The JP Morgan trio of UK Smaller, European Smaller and Japanese smaller were all on 18%+ discounts in the summer and autumn of last year, which helped me think counter-intuitively and let the discount help me realise I must be getting a fair deal, despite all the negative sentiment.  Now, Japan Smaller is up an amazing 50% since then, with Euro and Uk managing 30-40%.  Couple that with picking up Henderson Opportunities on a 25% discount and the share portion of my portfolio has zoomed away.

Now the for the not so good news...

Gold is down and the miners have got slammed.  GPM (Golden Prospect Precious Metals) has been a dog.  So there's some of the gains elsewhere gone.  My mistake is I reckon I was too early with that one.  I'll continue the monthly investment because gold will have it's day again, which brings me nicely to the point in history this reminds me of.  In 1977-78, world stock markets flew away exactly the same as they are now.  Furthermore, gold and silver experienced falls and stagnation, many even sold out, so I read, believing the economy was fixed and the boom was over.

It wasn't.  In 1979-80 gold and silver flew into the stratosphere and the miners followed suit.  Shares tanked and remained low until 1982 when someone finally did what needed to be done to restore faith in the financial system.  Right now, I don't see any such person with the same convictions on the horizon.  In fact, all I see are inflationists, Keynesians and a load of gold-diggers in it for themselves.

That's why I think this "recovery" is fake.  Also, where are the dividends to back up this growth in share prices?  The ultimate irony of this must be that a lot of the high payers in the oil and minerals sector are the ones underperforming.  Hence the FTSE has not boomed as it might.

So, don't sell your precious metals.  I won't be selling my shares yet either.  Investment trust discounts on my selections are not narrow enough yet to indicate a market top.  Ok it's never a perfect signal, but it's the best one to go on...

Bitcoin

I'm currently watching Bitcoin from afar, but I do see the rise of digital currencies, independent of government as a thing of the future. In fact, Bernard Lietauer talked about community currencies existing alongside gold in his book many years ago and that's what got me interested in this whole thing in the first place. I guess Bitcoin does fulfill many of the criteria defining true money, such as limited quantity and infinite divisibility but it is lacking one thing....(call me a traditionalist here)...asset backing. Long term, my money (now there's a paradox..!) is on the rise of one or more online digital currencies backed by gold and silver. Bitgold and BitSilver, anyone?

Sadly, governments and whoever else benefits from controlling the national currencies will do anything they can to maintain the status quo. So until it becomes mainstream expect many more stories about people using Bitcoin to buy guns or drugs and evade their "social responsibility" via taxes. Conveniently neglecting to mention that one of the most common ways to buy guns or drugs is a suitcase of dollar bills!

Diversifying Your Portfolio

Sometimes it's worth diversifying your portfolio outside the world of ISAs.  After all, some things can't be held within these accounts : physical gold, silver, property, a lot of foreign shares and...domain names.

Yep, I've been feeling for some years domain names are the ultimate virtual landgrab (more on virtual money such as Bitcoin another day!), but to give you an insight into the kind of domain name portfolio I feel might perform well the next ten years, check this domain name portfolio out.

Unit Cost Averaging into Physical Gold with Bullionvault

For years, I have wanted to be able to set up a fixed monthly saving into physical gold (and silver, take please, Goldmoney and Bullionvault), but it's never been possible. Also galling is the fact that with Goldmoney it is possible if you are a US citizen.

However, Bullionvault just sent me this :-

You can now build up regular savings in gold without needing to place orders yourself or deal directly on BullionVault's online market.

BullionVault's new Automatic Gold Investment Plan allows you to buy gold regularly with minimum effort.

Simply enable the new feature in your account settings and arrange for a monthly deposit into your BullionVault account from your bank. Each payment will then be used to buy gold automatically at the price set at the next London Fix, the global benchmark used in the professional wholesale markets.

A dealing charge of 0.8% applies. Your gold will be stored at the usual costs in the Zurich vault. You can stop making deposits or sell your bullion and withdraw your funds at any time, without notice or penalty.

Find out more about the Automatic Gold Investment Plan and get started today.

The great thing is, you can also make your payments in Dollars, Euros or Pounds!

Dow Jones and FTSE Climb to New Highs

Or so goes the BBC headline today.

And so great eh, the world is saved?  Hmm I very much doubt that it is.  What has fundamentally changed?  Nothing, except the worldwide currency creation continues.  That more than anything else - oh and some money probably exiting the bond market early before it crashes too.

I'll be the first to admit that I actually took advantage of some favourable investment trust discounts during December, especially for my pension (for disclosure, some of those trusts and their prevailing discounts when bought : JP Morgan UK Smaller 25%, Japanese Smaller 18%, European Smaller 18%, Henderson Opportunities 25%).  So, yes, I am counting the paper gains too.  Nice.  Or it will be if I find the right time to exit.  I don't think it's quite yet, as the aforementioned trusts are all now on 15% discounts, so still feels to me like there is some gain up to May.

Sell in May and Go Away

If the stock market hasn't tanked by then and the trust discounts have narrowed to sub-10%, I will definitely cash out of a lot of these.  I really feel this rise is unexpected (to me, but there again I don't go to Davos or Devil's island).

What to Buy Instead?

Obviously, top up on your gold and silver holdings.  I will start buying gold again soon after a 3 year pause.  Especially to minimise my exposure to the British Pound.  I figure I can convert back later now and make a profit on that too.

Golden Prospect Investment Trust is my favourite.  This invests in gold and silver miners and has plummeted from a premium to a 14% discount in about 2-3 months.  What amazing value!

Fidelity Japanese Investment trust also sits on a 16% discount.  Yes, that's quite a way out there, but in a world of such financial uncertainty, it might make weird sense to have the most stock market exposure to the very market that has least participated in the rallies.  especially when the Yen is still, weirdly, considered a sound currency.

A Fresh look at Gold and Silver Investing

It's been about 7 years since I started this blog and, being honest, I have not updated it as much as I should have since I find myself thinking about Gold and Silver daily.  To help refresh my thoughts, I have decided to publish my book How to Invest in Gold and Silver online for FREE.

I know this is a big decision which could deny me a few royalties, but I think it's worth doing to review what was written and look ahead to the next few years.

You can read How to Invest in Gold and Silver for FREE here.

Precious Metal Mining Shares to Watch

Fresnillo is the world's largest silver producer and has two things going for it as far as I can see (1) It is in Mexico, the only country left in the world that still uses silver in it's currency and (2) It's next to the USA, which is still a huge consumer of silver and where a lot of the world's silver, both paper and the real stuff is transacted, through COMEX.

Goldmoney Special Offer - UNMISSABLE

I have for a long time been a great fan of Goldmoney and right now they are doing a rather unmissable special offer.

Until January 11th you can invest in gold or silver in their Singapore vault and pay a reduced commission of only 1.99% for silver and 0.98% for Gold.

The way I see it, this has several benefits :-

- For new gold investors, it provides the opportunity to take a gold and/or silver stake with one of the most reputable providers out there at a reduced price.

- For established gold investors, it provides the opportunity to diversify your holdings into a new location. This is something most investors greatly advise. Especially when the location is one of the world's new financial centres, with none of the baggage associated with New York, the City of London or Switzerland. Three countries whose reputation for financial freedom is becoming somewhat tarnished lately.

- Singapore definitely feels like a safe location to me and when one of the world's greatest investors, Jim Rogers decides it's the best place for him to make his home, you have to take notice. You can check out their offer and open an account here. Fill your boots!

Gold is a Risky Investment

I have not updated this blog in a while, but thought it was worth reminding people of something that has not been true for many years - Gold is a Risky Investment. Now, this might seem ridiculous, especially considering I will further quantify it by saying I believe in the long-term fundamentals, international inflation prospects of Western nations and the will of government to do all it can to save it’s own skin at the expense of your life savings. Given that last factor, especially, nothing will do as well in the next 10 years as gold…except maybe silver…and food…but that is for another day.

However, look at where the price of gold is now. No-one should be surprised to invest and see it fall, even short term, by 40-50% back to the 900$ level. What am I basing this on? It is exactly what happened in 1976, when it fell from 200$ to 100$, even as the long term trend was for gold to move another 5 times higher in 4 years. 1976 must have been a very hard year to sit there and talk to your friends about gold and reconcile the long term belief with what was really happening in the market.

The point I want to make is that anything is a risk, but gold is much more of a risk at 1800$ than it was at 400$, when it really could not have fallen much further at all.

What can you do about it, even if you want to invest in gold or silver now? Invest monthly in small amounts, via physical bullion ETFs or the internet gold sites such as BullionVault or Goldmoney and promise within yourself to keep those monthly savings going, after all, falling prices mean you actually buy more ounces each month!

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Valid until 19th Feb 2012. Great offer from a great website.

InvestGold India

India has long been reknowned as the last gold standard nation, where, perhaps, the memory of some long-ago fiat money crisis is so ingrained into the population, that they still perceive gold as the ultimate store of value. With this in mind, Invest Gold has now launched an Indian version of it's site, which can be seen at InvestGold India.

When is investing in gold and silver not investing in gold and silver?

I just saw a fresh review of the book on Amazon. While I am slightly disappointed "Grasshopper" wasn't a fan, and I do apologise, I am grateful to those people who contacted me thanking me for an insight into an alternative world of hard currency that most people have never known existed. Given that spread betting and options are, as most experienced gold investors would agree, investments on the price of Gold or Silver over a given timeframe, rather than an investment on the long-term value of the metal itself, only a short amount of page space was required to explain them. Reading between the lines, you'll see that my only real recommendations are gold bullion coins (preferably sovereigns although that's because I live in the UK), or a trusted internet gold supplier such as Goldmoney, where you can access your gold and spend it from any location worldwide.

When it comes to Gold mining stocks, I agree the returns can be explosive, but they are very exposed to the vagaries of governments, who during a crisis will probably stop at nothing to confiscate assets, etc. and when you look at ETFs and Perth Mint certificates, there are rumours that the gold and silver behind them is not as real as it could be, if you know what I mean. Even more galling when you consider the storage fees often charged.

Gordon’s Golden Rule gets Stretched

Time to go back onto other taxes, one of my favourite taxes, basically because no-one understands that it is a tax, reared it’s ugly head. I am, of course talking about Inflation. In this case, the word was not even mentioned, yet it is the obvious net effect of future government policy. As Gordon and Alistair employ an army of skivvies to stretch, mangle and twist the “golden rule” for government borrowing, statements have already been made that the overpressed British taxpayer will not be expected to dip any deeper into his or her pockets. Net outcome therefore is that

a) The government intends to borrow money by issuing more government bonds

and

b) These guys have no idea how basic economics work. The resultant inflation and pound devaluation will do more damage to people’s pockets. Although a cynic might argue they know that, but hope it won’t happen until after the next general election.

Any attempt to issue more sterling denominated bonds means that more Pounds will be created. The government is obviously the one who gets its hands on these new pounds and feeds them into the economy through it’s own spending. After that, these pounds continue to circulate, diluting the purchasing power of the pounds already in existence. Overall, you can see why this is a good plan for Brown and Darling, although there has never been a clearer signal of why you should pull your money almost totally out of Pounds Sterling. The only solution therefore, considering the currency alternatives are Euros (20% dearer than what they cost last year), Dollars (could work out short-term, but the US has the same longer-term problems as us) or Gold and silver.

You can probably guess what I’ll be choosing, especially given I'm the author of How to Invest in Gold and Silver.

Buy WOW Gold

I recently noticed a huge increase in the number of hits to my core site, www.investgold.co.uk. One of the major search terms was that displayed above. aside from any thought of "Wow, gold has done well these past few years...", I must explain that WOW is an acronym of World of Warcraft, where gold is the main currency used in trade, in this fantastic, multi-player game, with millions of players worldwide, all connected through their PCs and an internet connection. Funny how the creators of this game, probably unwittingly, identified gold as the one true worldwide currency. (Actually, I wonder if inflation can be created in this game through over-issue of currency units?)

Anyhow, to deflect such visitors, I recommend they visit www.wowgold.eu, and check out some of the books for sale advising of the multitude of ways to obtain more gold through the game, legally and 100% above board. The US Fed, bank of England and EU central bank could all probably learn a thingor two....

My core belief in life

My core belief in life is that no man has any right whatsoever to the earnings or productivity of another man, unless the other man assigns him that right.

Obviously, in todays taxation nation society, this right is not being given, and in fact, governments probably need to become more understanding of the fact that many people today are outwardly resentful of the way others are helping themselves to their earnings, pruductivity and past earnt wealth.

Government is finished long term, simply because for now they choose to spend the earnings of the productive segment of society on schemes to secure the votes of the non-earning, parasitic portion of society.

In fact, the more you look into life in general, the more you realise everything is set up to steal your productivity and "redistribute" it to the lazy and the useless.
But thanks to the internet, globalisation, and the greater and freer movement of people, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Deep down, I'm quite optimistic that governments control over their more productive citizens is coming to an end, although there are many years of struggle on the way. It's a secret war that's already going on in many places, witness the USA and it's "patriot act", supposedly a law to counter terrorism, but really an attempt at controlling its citizens, or the EU savings directive.

Exciting and potentially troubling times ahead. I recommend we all watch governments like a hawk, and be prepared to move if the going gets too tough.

Where does gold fit into all this? Well, quite simply, it's the ultimate hard currency and way to put yourself outside of all the issues I just mentioned. Everyone should have some. Everyone whose ethos falls on the productive side of the equation, anyway!

HOW TO INVEST IN GOLD AND SILVER

Time for a sneak inside look at what's covered by the new book HOW TO INVEST IN GOLD AND SILVER, by ALAN DUNWIDDIE. Here's the contents page, to give you a taster :-

• INTRODUCTION
  
• INFLATION
  
• GOLD AND SILVER AS MONEY
  
• GOLD CONSPIRACIES
  
• GOLD AND SILVER COINS
  
• GOLD AND SILVER BARS
  
• JEWELLERY
  
• OTHER GOLD AND SILVER ITEMS
  
• STORING YOUR GOLD AND SILVER SAFELY
  
• INVESTMENT FUNDS AND MINING STOCKS
  
• EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS
  
• SPREAD BETTING
  
• THE FUTURES MARKET
  
• DERIVATIVES
  
• PERTH MINT CERTIFICATES
  
• ELECTRONIC GOLD AND SILVER
  
• E-GOLD
  
• GOLDMONEY
  
• BULLIONVAULT
  
• OTHER WAYS TO INVEST
  
• GOLD AND SILVER INVESTING SCAMS
  
• SUMMARY
  
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  
• RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Should Britain join the Euro?

I used to be strongly in favour of a single European currency, and my partner is from the continent, but after living over there for 3 years, I've completely revised my opinion.

Culturally, Europe is much more socialist and controlling, when compared with the historic British attitude of an island nation based on international trade and financial freedoms, as evidenced by our reputation as one of the best places to conduct international business, and our base as the world's leading financial centre.

Using the old dictum that "he who controls the currency controls the nation", by giving up the national currency, you are also giving up much of the control and handing it to another power, with vested interests of its own.

Fortunately, at this point in time, most Britons realise this and are opposed to the single currency. We all know this, so why even bother going to the expense and hassle of a referendum?

How to Invest in Gold and Silver New Book Release

How to Invest in Gold and Silver is now available at all good bookshops, including Amazon and Book Depository.

This is a major release to allow greater access to this this unique guide for beginners to the world of investing in precious metals.

How to Invest in Gold and Silver explains in laymans terms the weaknesses behind the present day financial system and why gold has endured throughout history. It gives clear reasons why you should be investing at least some of your savings in the worlds oldest currency and explains the various ways you can invest profitably. Some of these ways have previously been open to experts and the very wealthy only, but are now available to all. Some of the ways like digital currency are completely newly created by the internet and offer great scope for diversifying your portfolio and improving your investment returns. Unlike many books of this type, the information inside and investing options are just as valid for UK, European Union (EU) or worldwide residents.

An unmissable book full of money-saving information that will help you add a major pillar of safety to your investment portfolio.