How To Choose The Best Place To Store Your Gold

By David J Drummond

Gold Storage

Gold is one of the first precious metals known to mankind. With its natural beauty and rarity, it has become a symbol of wealth in nearly every culture. So, it’s not surprising that it was used for currency as early as 600 B.C.  And unlike paper currency that varies in worth from country to country, gold retains its value across all countries.

I have written before that owning physical gold is a great alternative to brokerage accounts. Globalization allows you to open brokerage accounts throughout the world, but these days there is greater scrutiny on these accounts if you have any large activity associated with the account.

Accounts can be frozen by a simple phone call from a government agency if they believe there is any “suspicious” activity going on.

Alternatively, you can store a considerable amount of wealth outside of the standard financial system with physical gold. Unlike bank and brokerage accounts, gold stored in your safe is 100% under your control.

Even a relatively small safe can hold millions of dollars’ worth of gold. But there is always the risk of theft, and depending on how much gold you have, you might not want to keep it sitting in your house.

Outsourcing storage to an overseas gold provider solves these problems and gives you the benefit of security, privacy, and convenience. But before you decide to send your gold overseas, there are a few things you must consider:

1. Ensure Transparency

Be sure to do your research on the storage facility. A positive indicator is when they are completely transparent about their financial situation. You need to be sure that they’re profitable, solvent, and can remain in business for years to come.

2. Be Mindful of Jurisdiction Rules

Every country treats gold differently; some have more complex rules to buy or import gold than others. Custom duties, taxes upon the purchase, etc. all vary from place to place.

Ultimately, where to store your gold comes down to going where you’re treated best. Go where your assets, privacy, and peace of mind are valued. Go where the private vault companies are innovative and always looking for new ways to bring value to their clients.

3. Pick a Location

There are quite a few overseas gold providers out there. When choosing where to buy and store your gold, keep in mind the stability of the country, if it has a good depositor’s protection system, and the distance you are willing to keep your gold from where you live.

I personally have two storage facilities that I highly recommend - one in the Cayman Islands and the second one in Zürich Switzerland.

4. Decide on Segregated or Allocated Storage

Segregated storage is when the storage provider maintains their clients’ gold separate from other gold or silver assets held by other investors. The assets are held in an individual storage box or vault, depending on the size of the investment. This approach to storage is more expensive than allocated storage, but it comes with the convenience of easy access to your gold when you want to sell or move it, which reduces time and effort.

Allocated storage is the opposite. The gold is stored under the clients’ name, but not physically partitioned from other clients’ holdings. This option works well for those investors who primarily focus on diversification, viewing their investment in precious metals as simply a hedge against economic downturn.

Want More Information?

Contact Georgetown Trust to find out more information about storing your gold overseas.

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Topics: Gold and Silver