A Beginner’s Guide To Purchasing Gold

Acquiring precious metals such as gold has become essential to stabilizing and diversifying an investment portfolio. However, as gold is coveted for its physical properties, buyers must be assured of the quality and authenticity of their purchases. The following are reminders for those planning to purchase precious metals: 

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Know the dealer. Due diligence must be observed at all times. Buyers should not be lured by the prospect of enormous profits with minimal risks. Reputable dealers are those who have survived the ups and downs of the industry and established their company reputation along the way. 

Avoid overpaying. Knowledge of all involved fees makes a significant impact in aiming for a fair deal. Dealers offering prices lower than usual are usually red flags. 

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There is no “when?” Gold is considered secure investment, and there are no seasonal recommendations for its purchase. Hesitation isn’t really the attitude to adopt, and too much caution with regard to timing and preferred price is moot. Buying gold involves a lot of personal financial awareness: are there sufficient funds for this investment? 

Based in Burbank, California, Birch Gold Group is a physical precious metals company that specializes in gold and silver. Discover a unique way to protect your savings by visiting the company’s official website.

U.S. Civil Unrest? Gold Could be Your Security | BirchGold.com

U.S. Civil Unrest? Gold could be Your Security

Widely respected economist and financial advisor Harry Dent is predicting civil unrest throughout the United States in the wake of the upcoming presidential election. Could it be the time to buy gold?

Florida-based financial advisor and economist Harry Dent has issued a proclamation: Americans are ready for a revolution, and when that revolution comes, he'll be safely in the Caribbean. As evidenced by the rise of the eccentric presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, it is becoming clear that a significant portion of the U.S. population is exceedingly displeased with the status quo. Tensions are high; Trump rallies have exploded into violence. Does it stand to reason that anyone looking for economic security would be wise to look to gold?

Author and economist Harry Dent loves to make predictions, and those predictions have been as flawed as they have been sound. However, in spite of his history of spotty proclamations, it is impossible to ignore the burgeoning dissatisfaction Americans are demonstrating at both democratic and republican rallies. Bernie Sanders's following has been described as the remobilization of Occupy Wall Street; Donald Trump has strong, if not entirely united, Tea Party support. Both of these political ideologies are staunchly anti-establishment, and both could be harbingers of significant social and economic disorder.

Will families flee to Canada en masse if Donald Trump becomes president? Will President Bernie Sanders's economic plan lead to a massive tax increase? No one can say with 100% certainty where this social displeasure will lead. However, historically, times of flux and change have meant market instability. One of the few commodities able to withstand market instability is gold.

Gold is a safe-haven asset. While economies churn, physical gold still holds value. If you're interested in long-term financial security, give us a call for a comprehensive consultation today.

Negative Interest Rates Put Glitter into Gold| BirchGold.com

Negative Interest Rates Could Put More Glitter into Gold

What could this trend of negative interest rates mean for gold? The chief precious-metals analyst thinks that gold might really start to shine.

The world's central banks are toying with negative interest rates, which aren't generally a sign of robust fiscal health. According to James Steel, who is the chief precious-metals analyst for HSBC, the largest bank in the UK, since this trend is a sign of significant uncertainty, buyers are starting to turn to gold, and with good reason.

" Looking at the previous four Fed tightening cycles, gold prices have weakened going into them, but then rallied over the first 100 trading days after the first hike. While we seem to be well into this period, given that rate hike expectations continue to be pushed into the future (HSBC economists expect the next hike in June), we expect the rally may last longer than it has historically."

This deflationary period is doubtlessly causing massive global concern. The Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP) is a unique strategy designed to act as an economic defibrillator. No more cash sitting in idle accounts; banks are loaning left and right in the desperate attempt to trigger the deflation pendulum to swing towards inflation and growth. So far, Denmark, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, and the European Union Central Bank have implemented this policy. Distressingly, the Federal Reserve is flirting with enacting it in the U.S. 

Can anyone reasonably predict anything but miserable failure? 

Because investors won't back bonds when their yields are plummeting, gold is becoming one of the few reasonable assets. When monetary systems begin to crumble, gold has proven to be the only currency that maintains global trust. Even if the market remains volatile, gold nonetheless has the potential to remain a hot commodity, as Chinese buyers continue an almost hysterical buying trend. 

To learn more about how purchasing gold can help you achieve financial security during this period of global economic turmoil, contact us for a consultation today.

Could Some Forms of Gold Investments Be Better Than Others?

Why does this writer hate some forms of investing in gold, but love others? The rationale is even more simple than you may think.

Writing for MarketWatch, Cody Willard recently examined the various forms of exposure to gold and how they bode for the average person looking to protect their savings. For his part, Willard believes the best course of action is to stick to coins and bars and avoid stocks, ETFs and the like – regardless of the potential for short-term profit.

Willard writes that the issue with mining stocks is one of debt: Most mining companies are currently working under massive debt and are therefore dependent on higher gold prices. Everyone involved in gold likes high prices, but the miners absolutely need them; Willard explains that miners aren't able to profit when gold stays in the $1,100 range, and that they require prices to be at least over $1,300 in order to be profitable.

Likewise, gold ETFs do little to fix the problem of uncertainty. In the event of a crisis, these funds could very well be unable to deliver the gold they owe to investors – in fact, many believe that precious metals ETFs are already operating on good will and lack the physical gold that they purport to have.

For Willard, gold is all about certainty, so investing in the metal should serve as a hedge against the long-term risks of currency devaluation and other forms of central bank disruption, not bring more risks to a portfolio.

Looking towards the future, Willard believes that gold prices will hit $2,000 per ounce sometime in the next decade. Furthermore, he expects the Fed to formally enter an easing cycle again in the next few months, which could act as a tipping point for a 20-30% spike in gold prices, if not higher.

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Gold Has Reason to Shine and Here's Why

Are central banks “increasingly aggressive and counterproductive” policies causing gold to continue to brighten? Here’s why the metal’s shine is likely just getting started.

Gold might have already posted its best quarter since 1986, but hedge fund manager David Einhorn is betting that there's more to gain from the metal: on Tuesday, he spoke with Bloomberg via phone about his views on central bank policies and how they might affect gold.

Einhorn was critical of how central banks are running things and warned about the direction they're headed in: he panned the European Central Bank's record-low borrowing costs, expanded asset purchases and borrowing subsidies, calling these a "kitchen-sink policy". Aside from Europe, Einhorn also touched upon the Bank of Japan's negative interest rates as well as the reduced U.S. rate hike forecasts. According to him, the status quo is good for the metal: "These increasingly aggressive and counterproductive monetary policies are bullish for gold," he said.

Einhorn's comments to Bloomberg echo sentiment from a letter that Greenlight sent to investors yesterday. "The Fed’s 'data dependency' doesn't appear to relate to employment, which continues to improve, or core inflation, which is now running above its two percent target," said the letter. "We believe the increasingly adventurous monetary policy is bullish for gold."

Those familiar with Einhorn and his Greenlight Capital Re Ltd reinsurance company know that they have traditionally held gold in high regard: the metal accounts for nearly 10% of Greenlight's portfolio and Einhorn has long believed that central banking stimulus will fuel inflation and boost gold. Furthermore, Greenlight named gold as one of their five largest disclosed long positions at the end of the first quarter or 2016.

At any rate, the company's faith in the yellow metal seems to be paying off: their stock has maintained stability and their shares have gained 15% this year, helping alleviate the losses from investing in Japanese lender Resona Holdings Inc. which dropped 32% in the first quarter due to the Bank of Japan's negative-rate strategy.

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Is China trying to shape the gold market?

What Buyers Need To Know Before Making Their First Gold Bar Purchase

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Adding a precious metals IRA is a wise investment move as it diversifies a traditional asset portfolio. Having precious metals like gold means having an asset that would remain valuable even after an economic crisis unlike stocks, bonds, and cash. Some things must be taken into account before an investor makes his or her first gold bar purchase.

 

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Once the investor acquires these assets, they have to be stored at an IRS-certified depository. Buying gold and other precious metals is a wise choice especially during an unstable economic climate as precious metals qualify as diversified investments. Having diverse assets is a practical move to protect the whole portfolio against investment risks. 

Birch Gold Group is a precious metal IRA specialist headquartered in Burbank, California, that aids clients in protecting their portfolios in the face of current and coming economic instabilities. Precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum have consistently been seen as resistant to economic cycles, and over time have been bedrocks of truly balanced and diversified portfolios. Visit the company’s official website for more information on purchasing precious metals.

The Recycling Project That Lead to a Gold Mine

Apple's recycling program has resulted in an astounding collection of gold from their product. How much did they collect? Read about it here.

Aside from helping the environment, Apple's recycling projects are also making good money for the company: Digital Trends' Lulu Chang reports that Apple recovered a total of 2,204 pounds of gold through its recycling efforts in 2015, amounting to over a ton of the precious metal.

Based on current market prices, the recycled gold is worth around $40 million which is a major yearly profit even for a tech giant like Apple.

While many are familiar with numerous gold-plated Apple products, the bulk of the recovered gold comes from electronic components found in regular products: gold's properties often make it a better choice for consumer electronics than silver (conductive, but corrosive) and copper (inexpensive, but offering poor conductivity). Therefore, bits of gold can be found in most higher-end electronic devices such as iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Over the course of 2015, Apple managed to recover around 90 millions of pounds of e-waste, with two-thirds of it being reusable. Besides gold, Apple also collected 6,600 pounds of silver and millions of pounds of other useful materials.

Apple mentioned the financial and environmental benefits of recycling in a recent official statement: "We work hard to keep electronic devices out of landfills so that the precious resources they contain can be reused. And we want to ensure that these devices are recycled properly so they don’t pose a threat to human health or the environment," said the company.

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