Chicago Gold and Silver Investing Fan Blog

Sometimes Sitting and Waiting May Be the Way to Go

Despite the unprecedented currency printing and economic turmoil throughout the world, the price of gold is at a 28 month low. The price has plunged from $1883.86/oz in August of 2012 to now at $1384.04. That is an over 26% drop in less than a year. How could that be. There are many reasons. Some feel that there is some serious coordinated price manipulation by central bank, finance ministers, and those that have the power. Because of this manipulation, some feel the price of gold is manipulated. It is confusing people. Will gold go up higher due to increase demand, or will the powers that be manipulate it, confiscate it, supress it, or even steal it? No one knows for sure.

My feel is that with all of this turmoil something will happen. What that something is, no one knows. It brings an uncertainty in the gold market. To the average investor, frankly all of this uncertainty and confusion is not a good thing. I recommend to invest only in what you know. Gold and silver right now are an unknown to most people. When you don't know what is happening, it may be best to wait in the sidelines. Because if you get into this game and you don't know what is going on, you could set yourself up for failure.

Hard Asset Alliance

 

 

I discovered this website called Hard Assets Alliance. It is a place to buy and sell gold and silver. It is worth noting because it appears to be a very cheap and secure source to buy gold and silver. If that is the case, then it is worth taking the time to learn more about it.

I'm going to use this blog post to document what I've learned about it.

Squidoo Post

Here is a direct quote from a Squidoo post on the benefits of HardAssets Alliance:

Hard Assets Alliance is a new precious metals investment program designed for you to buy and store gold, silver, platinum and palladium with these benefits:

• Physical sovereign coins and LBMA bars allocated to you in storage or delivered to you - your choice!
• Lower prices when buying gold, silver, platinum, palladium, higher prices when selling, lower storage fees
• More choices for storing precious metals offshore including Australia and (soon) Singapore
• More account types available, including Living Trusts! Corporate accounts of all types welcome, too.
• More convenient, less expensive ways of funding your account. Forget those expensive, time consuming international bank wire transfers.

 

How to use the Hard Assets Alliance Website Video (Buying and Selling Gold)

Initial Impression

After doing some quick research on the site, I noticed a couple of things. The biggest is that there seems to be a $5,000 minimum purchase requirement. The prices seem rock bottom. However, it seems to only work for the person who has the money to invest at least $5,000.

One option is to open an account for any amount since there is no minimum to open an account. Then add dollars to the account when available. Then, when the balance goes above $5,000 purchase the discounted price gold or silver.

Price comparison for gold

Here is the price of a 1oz, gold American Eagle.

Current spot price = $1591.16
At Hard Asset Alliance it is $1674.69 or $83.53 over spot.

At Morton Grove Coin Store - a local coin shop I recently paid $67.09 over spot for a 1 oz coin or $55 over spot for a 1/2 oz coin.

In short, the coin shop price is actually better for gold. For silver, I still have to evaluate the difference.

Price comparison for silver

Here is the price of a 1oz, silver American Eagle.

Current spot price = $28.91
At Hard Asset Alliance it is $31.92 or $3.01 over spot.

At Morton Grove Coin Store - a local coin shop I recently paid $3.50 over spot for a 1 oz coin

In short, the coin shop price is only $0.49 over spot more than the price at Hard Alliance.

Summary

Hard Asset Alliance has a purpose for someone. However, for someone that is looking for the best price, Hard Asset Alliance may be very competitive- but not necessarily the lowest. Hard Asset Alliance does provide some advantages like competitively low prices and some remote storage options that are worth looking into.

The Safe Road

Investing money can be boring. That's right boring. It's not all about finding and making a flashy Donald Trump type deal. Often times it's about just following a safe sure road.