What’s a good financial advisor? One who puts client interests first and who isn’t afraid to think for himself especially when the herd is rampaging together. In 1999 financial advisors had record allocations to tech stocks – Within weeks the Nasdaq fell 39%. Similarly, in 2007 with record real estate participation among investors, few advisors positioned clients with allocations in uncorrelated assets to protect wealth should a correction occur. Once again, the advisors who resisted going "all in" with the day's most popular assets were amply rewarded as were their clients with uncorrelated market exposure.

Today we see a similar environment – with record valuations, perhaps markets continue to grind higher … but what if they don’t? How will advisors justify not having held some allocations to hedge market risk having lived through what we did in 2000 and 2008?  Investors desire for risk management always increases when markets begin to correct - Great advisors lead clients to uncorrelated assets before they need the hedge.

Less expereinced advisors will suggest simply shorting traditional assets as a hedge, forgetting the pain that the greatest short-sellers endured in '08 when short selling rules were changed and entire short funds frozen. Another broad swatch of newbie advisors steers their clients to ETFs such as GLD for a hedge. But does it really make sense to hedge your clients in a derivative ... when derivatives totaling $1 trillion could be the eye of the next storm? Many investors forget when all ETFs were frozen this century from trading. Liquidity was at a premium and advisors who had physical gold allocations were able to take advantage of extraordinary opportunities for clients. Historically when liquidity needs increase, the value of gold has as well.

For advisors looking to truly diversify client assets with uncorrelated exposure, we are a service provider who can be revenue neutral to advisor business models in ebullient markets and revenue enhancing for advisors during corrections. Yes our platofrm as a service provider can be revenue accretive to advisors during corrections – a fine ancillary benefit while doing right by your clients. We can upload valuation detail to your system so that you can value metal held by your clients real-time and you can report it on your client statements from our insured, audited and exchange-approved vaults. Further our bids don’t simply calculate your allocations at spot because real metal historically trades at a premium in money form. This means that during periods of market stress the benefits to advisor businesses and client portfolios typically both outperform gold allocations such as GLD. We saw it in spades once again in '08 with the outperformance of physical gold vs. paper gold.

As investors age, the importance of avoiding a major correction with the majority of wealth becomes more important.  For investors in their 50's and 60's, there is simply less time to earn back that wealth before retirement. Pick your correction – 1929, 1987, 2000, 2008. History is clear: having just a small allocation to physical metals has been a worthwhile diversifier. Additionally as astute advisors realize, having just a small allocation to physical gold has even enhanced absolute returns to traditional portfolios. The data shows this dating back to when gold began freely trading over 45 years ago. As Ray Dalio, founder of the largest alternative fund in the world told Wall Street advisors:

If you don’t own gold, you don’t know history or economics.

For those with an open mind, it's that simple. Gold is a valuable portfolio diversifier that has compounded at 8% annually in modern times. Contact us and let’s discuss a customized strategy we can bring to the table for your clients.

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"Overnight you gave our franchise capabilities in the metals and a platform to deliver them to our clients. You were attentive to details, delivered hi-touch service and made the process easy. The cross-sell further deepens our client relationships and we stand out from many investment consultants who are not capable of fulfilling this client need. " - Head of Sales, boutique Broker-Dealer.