Part 5 – If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it

One of the great lessons that my father and company founder, Jerry Williams, taught me from the time I was a young adult was that if you don’t have possession of your precious metals, you don’t really own them.  I heard him say it to clients hundreds of times while we worked side by side for the last 13 years.  I like to think that he learned a thing or two in his fifty years of experience in the industry.  ☺

Much like the money you keep in the bank, once it has been deposited, you have lost control over that money.  The bank views it as their money and they loan it out 10 times over so that they can make a return on it.  When you need to withdraw it, the bank may have limits on withdrawals in cash and will always question why you would want to remove the funds from your account.

Similarly with precious metals, there are numerous offers out there right now to “earn money on your metals” at very appealing rates of interest.  The only catch is that you must allow that company to hold your gold or silver as collateral while you earn interest on it.  The question that always comes to my mind is ‘How?’ How are they able to pay you anywhere from 5 to 12 percent interest on your metals?  In order to do that, they must be doing something with the value of your metals to get a higher return than they are offering you.  And in order to do that, what has happened to the metals that they are “keeping” for you as collateral?  I personally don’t like the idea of someone else gambling on other investments with my gold and silver.  But, when you enter into this arrangement you are giving them permission to do so.

There is always a risk that the company that has been offering these precious metals loans and holding your precious metals as collateral closes without notice, just as the one that we mentioned in Part 2 of this series.  More often than not, the companies making these offers are reputable but we want to make people aware of the risks so that they can make an educated decision regarding your holdings.  Do your homework, too!  See Part 3 – Know Your Dealer.

If your metals holdings become large enough, diversifying a portion into secured storage is not a bad idea.  There are a number of highly secure, fully insured registered depositories in the country who have been around for decades.  These are the companies with whom we would recommend your storing metals.  If clients are interested, we can provide a recommendation for some depositories that have we have dealt with in our 30 years in business and who have a solid reputation in the industry.

Again, please consider sharing our 5 part series of articles with family and friends.  They can also sign up for our newsletter here if they would like to get future precious metals news.  We only believe in sending newsletters out when we have something important to share.  We do not flood people’s email inboxes daily or even weekly (this series is an exception) and we never share any client information with any source.

We are always here as a resource for questions.  Our firm has a no pressure approach and no one here is a commissioned salesperson.

Please give us a call if you have any questions about storage, pricing or any other precious metals related inquiries.

602-840-5500.

You can also email us at info@apmaz.com.

All my best,

Courtney Svendsen

-Jerry Williams’ daughter and APM Inc. owner since 2013.  Proudly taking over writing the news people need to know as it relates to precious metals.