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| Offshore Gold Storage – A Look Inside the Cayman Vault Jeff Thomas
"If your gold is outside the US, it gives you another degree of insulation should the United States decide that you shouldn’t own it — it's not a reportable asset." - Doug Casey, May 2017 I’ve been a holder of gold since the 1970’s. At that time, I was purchasing gold and silver for business reasons and found that, as the price was steadily increasing, I would be wise to buy more than I needed immediately, as I would most certainly profit from it in the near future. At that time, I was buying most of my precious metals in Hatton Garden, the centre for metals in London and, in talking with my more experienced associates, I learned that gold doesn’t just make pretty jewellery, it has, for over 5000 years, served as man’s best economic insurance policy. Since the creation of the first fiat currency in China, ca. 600 AD, governments have had the annoying habit of creating fiat currencies. It has taken many forms, including tobacco, shells, cattle, even tulips in 17th Century Holland. Over the centuries there have been countless fiat currencies. Most of them have been paper currencies and, with the exception of the present-day fiat currencies, all have eventually become worth exactly zero. Not a very good track record. But whenever this has happened, gold has regained its lustre and saved the day, providing a solid means to store wealth. Although governments and bankers have done all they can to discredit gold and discourage its use, gold invariably outlives them all. Whenever history has seen periods of dramatic overreach by banks and/or governments, gold once again re-establishes the very definition of money. Today, we’re passing through one of these eras of overreach and, not surprisingly, those who are farsighted are quietly building up their store of gold, to protect them when the latest form of fiat currency joins the rest that have collapsed over the centuries. But, having realized the need to own gold and then beginning to build up a portfolio, the holder asks himself, “Where should I keep it?” The obvious answer is at home, or somewhere very close, so that he may get to it if need be. During good economic times, this may well mean in a safe deposit box in a bank, but in times like the present, when governments (the EU, US and Canada, amongst others) have recently passed laws allowing banks to confiscate deposits and raid safe deposit boxes, the last choice for safe storage would be a bank. This leads us to the “at home” option. This is actually a good one. If you have a yard where neither dogs nor gardeners tend to dig holes, “midnight gardening” can indeed be a good solution for small amounts of gold storage. Or, for a neater and more easily accessible solution, a home safe might work well. (You would, of course, want it to be well-concealed and you’d need to install it yourself, or the installers might get ideas.) But, when turbulent times come, as they have recently, this only works well if you own a small amount of gold, say 10 ounces or less. If you hold more at home, you run into the problem of governments. In 1933, US President Franklin Roosevelt demanded that all gold be turned in to the government. He subsequently revalued it and, in doing so, robbed its rightful owners of a 69% increase in their wealth. Unfortunately, since we know that the EU, US and Canada have all passed confiscation laws, those jurisdictions are no longer safe places to store wealth. Ten ounces of gold may be regarded as an emergency stash but, beyond that, another jurisdiction is needed – one that’s not threatened by confiscation laws. What I recommend to investors is to first choose the best jurisdiction that’s relatively near to you, then pick the safest storage facility within that jurisdiction. In Europe, Austria is a good choice and Das Safe is an excellent depository. In Asia, Singapore is an excellent jurisdiction and The Safe House is an exceptional choice. However, the Western Hemisphere is a different story. There are quite a few excellent depositories in the US and Canada, but, as stated above, these jurisdictions are no longer safe. In my travels elsewhere in the hemisphere, I’ve been disappointed to find that, whilst there are jurisdictions that are safer than North America, the depositories there leave a great deal to be desired. (On one occasion, in Uruguay, I looked at the outside of the building and never even went in. Although it was considered the premier facility there, it didn’t come close to my expectations.) Others, such as those in Panama, have been equally disappointing. What the depositor should be after is a facility that’s heavily reinforced on all six sides (meaning that ceiling and foundation must be just as impenetrable as the walls). In addition, it would need a Class III bullion vault – the equal of the best bank vaults. Furthermore, it should have multiple security doors and man-traps, assuring that no one who enters can make a dash for the door, eliminating the temptation for theft. Unfortunately, to my present knowledge, there’s only one depository in the Western Hemisphere that ticks all the boxes. Or perhaps I should put that another way: Fortunately, there is a depository in the Western Hemisphere that ticks all the boxes. That depository is Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP) in the Cayman Islands. Most importantly, it’s located in an exceptional jurisdiction as regards wealth safety. And, by this I mean:
Secondly, SWP ticks all the boxes as to being a top bullion storage facility. Further, the SWP storage contracts were designed to take the best from each of the world’s other depositories, having been vetted by one of the world’s most respected gold analysts (who, possibly not coincidentally, became the first depositor). Also, it’s only an hour by air from the US. It’s also essential that your deposit is fully insured and that the storage be fully documented, al segregated, as in the photo of an incoming deposit. For Americans, an offshore gold IRA is becoming an essential and SWP has an excellent relationship with US-based IRA administrator New Direction IRA allowing American citizens to hold gold in their self-directed IRAs and LLCs offshore in SWP’s vault. Over the past decades that I’ve been advising people on geographical economic diversification, I’ve often said that the coming events themselves are relatively easy to predict, but the timing is not. To me, the one clearest indicator of timeframe is that, the closer a crash gets, the more events will increase in both frequency and magnitude. Based upon that premise, we’re drawing quite close to the first of the crashes, as we’re now seeing significant events almost daily. This tells us that our time is limited and that our long-term plans for wealth preservation need to be in place now. Whatever choice the reader makes to safeguard his wealth, he will need to do it very soon. Time is very clearly running out. SWP’s Cayman Islands vault represents a very good option for offshore wealth preservation in the Western Hemisphere. ### May 24, 2017 Jeff Thomas is British and resides in the Caribbean. The son of an economist and historian, he learned early to be distrustful of governments as a general principle. Although he spent his career creating and developing businesses, for eight years, he penned a weekly newspaper column on the theme of limiting government. He began his study of economics around 1990, learning initially from Sir John Templeton, then Harry Schulz and Doug Casey and later others of an Austrian persuasion. He is now a regular feature writer for Casey Research’s International Man, Strategic Wealth Preservation in the Cayman Islands and 321Gold. 321gold Ltd |
