Why Gold?
Wealth preservation drives the VON GREYERZ service. We are equally driven to inform investors by answering the critical gold questions.
Why Own Gold?
First, The Problem: An Undeniable Currency/Wealth Crisis & Transformation
Fiat currencies are openly entering the last chapters of their once illusory but now steadily declining purchasing power and global credibility.
La plus ça change…
This slow and steady spiral of fiat currency strength and the consequent risk of wealth destruction is nothing new.
In fact, all debt-soaked systems throughout history have ended with a debased and then broken fiat currency. This is true without exception—from Ancient Rome to the Modern West.
Today’s global currencies are empirically following the same familiar pattern.
In a global setting of unprecedented (and rising) debt levels which have risen from $258 trillion in 2020 to well over $330 trillion by 2022…
Where Are The Best Jurisdictions To Store Gold?
Our view is clear: Switzerland was, is and remains the world’s optimal jurisdiction for private precious metal ownership and storage.
Nevertheless, we recognise that many clients and investors will wish to consider and compare alternative jurisdictions. Toward this end, VON GREYERZ can separately arrange storage solutions for nearly any modern jurisdiction in the world, including those discussed/compared below.
How Should I Own My Gold? Private Vaults vs. Commercial Banks
The superior approach to precious metal ownership is via privately owned physical metals of the highest purity held in segregated/personally-named accounts and stored in the most trusted private vaults situated within the safest sovereign jurisdictions.
There is a human as well societal presumption of safety in numbers, which includes an almost unconscious faith in the leading and seemingly “too big to fail” commercial banks and their highly-credentialed overseers—from the Bank of International Settlements and the IMF to each of the world’s many central and commercial banks.
What is Wrong With Gold ETFs?
The best way to own precious metals is outside of the banking system. Because ETF vehicles used for precious metal ownership are integrally tied to this system, they too are another all-too-common, yet clearly inferior approach, to informed precious metal ownership.
For many investors, gold and other metal ETFs are the most convenient instrument for a theoretically simple, immediate and liquid avenue to precious metal ownership. Upon closer examination, however, such instruments, including those vehicles promising direct ownership in physical gold, are ultimately just an investment in a paper promise rather than actual gold and assured delivery. In the end, the holder of the paper has no security in the physical gold.
The Fee Question: Pricing Sophisticated Gold Ownership & Service
It is entirely normal to consider pricing factors in any investment, and this is especially true of serious precious metal ownership, which is no place for cutting corners. That said, one should indeed “get what one pays for,” and at VG, we back our fees with an objectively deep and essential level of expertise and service.
