Dear Reader,
We appreciate that reading the financial news is not always easy. So, Bleyer also like to focus on the benefits of owning Physical Gold and Silver, their beauty and their appeal, both as gifts for family and as TAX efficient methods of saving both Capital Gains Tax and Value Added Tax on some pieces.
Yes, the world economy is not looking good and I sincerely hope all our readers are aware of the extent of the depth of that, particularly this week while investors wait for crucial decisions from both the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan. (Money Morning, 20 September 2016).
But let’s take a look at the products Bleyer offer. Personally, I think Silver is particularly worth considering, given its easy investment prices for those thinking of getting into the market for the first time. Silver coins and bars can be purchased for very little at this time in relation to Gold.
Here are some interesting fun facts on Silver:
- The Gold-Silver price ratio remained 15/1 (thereabouts) for centuries until it started to rise in 1874, due to the Coinage Act of 1873.
- The world was producing 30 times more silver in the 1700’s than gold. However, the Gold-Silver price ratio remained at 15/1 for that century.
- In 1927 (the last year this particular report provided data), the world produced a Silver-Gold production ratio of 13/1. However, the Gold-Silver price ratio had risen to 33/1 in 1927.
- According to the data put out by Barrick, Newmont and Pan American Silver in their Sustainability Reports, it took 32 gallons of fuel to produce an ounce of gold versus 0.20 gallons of fuel to produce an ounce of silver:
Bleyer holds a wide variety of Silver Coins and Bars, working with a number of suppliers, so that there are alternatives if a shortage in one supplier arises. Prices of 1 oz Silver coins start from around just £19.16 a coin, which is incredible for such a classy, upmarket gift to yourself or to another. The choice of international designs are timeless and capture the essence of each individual country, from the Maple Leaf to the image of Liberty, to the Chinese Panda and Austrian Philharmonic, with its miniature violin design. In addition, there are some themes to match to your loved ones, from Wildlife Designs to stunning sets of coins. Of course, if the Gold prices are a little out of your budget, just browse on over to the Silver section for many of the same eye-catching designs in crisp Silver instead, for a fraction of the price.
The following are all 1oz Silver Coins, so each make a great starter investment:
- Britannias
- American Eagles
- Canadian Maples
- Chinese Pandas
- The beautiful Silver Austrian Philarmonikers
- 1oz Lunar UK Silver Coin, this year it’s the Year of the Rooster
- Also enjoy browsing Gift Ideas for smaller Gold and Silver products, especially coming up to the Festive Season
- Keep an eye on the Special Offers page for the best prices on Gold and Silver products in stock for next day delivery.
- Consider a wide variety of Silver Bars from 100g up to 15 kgs.
Last week, Seeking Alpha wrote that; “At the beginning of 2016, silver entered a new phase of rising prices. This is likely to continue beyond 2019. Silver is one of the goods with the most potential to rise in value over the remaining years of this decade. While silver increases in value, it will be increasingly difficult to add to one’s silver ounces.
Given the likelihood that silver will become the new (old) standard by which wealth is measured, the risk of becoming poorer (in silver ounces) is greatly increased. Earning income from a business or employment remains one of the best ways to continue increasing one’s silver ounces.”
Quoted in Business Section of The Telegraph this morning, according to Chris Watling, chief market strategist at Longview Economics, a wide range of indicators confirm recession risks are rising. And if a recession is indeed looming, it almost certainly means a bear market in equities. Looking at all the recessions of the last 77 years, Mr Watling finds that there is only one (1945) which has not been accompanied by a stock market correction.
So, I just wanted to highlight this fact to our readers to do some further and fairly urgent research into the condition of the stock market. The Telegraph article is a good one, as it states; “The pattern is a familiar one, in which markets tighten by just enough to deter central bankers from actually going through with lifting rates. Every time the Fed hints at doing so, markets counter by threatening to tip the economy back into recession. It’s a brutal tread mill that policy makers have made for themselves; getting off without breaking a leg is proving hard to impossible.”
And regarding interest rates, Jeremy Warner finishes the piece with an example of British litotes perhaps unintentionally riddled with profound tragicomedy; “Rates have been too low for too long. It’s an almost guaranteed recipe for mishap.”
I have watched in puzzlement at the global Gadarene actions of central governments into quantitative easing, negative interest rates, particularly since 2013. Stock markets are a mostly in-out game for the daily traders but for everyday people, with pensions, savings and ISA’s wrapped up in a precarious house-of-cards, it’s definite worth highlighting the need for deeper personal financial research. I’m not sure when the alarm is going to go off but like all alarms, they tend to be rapid and, as much as some like to remain asleep, somewhat jarring.
This week, Gold is on the slow rise again gaining £16.43 an ounce (1.65%), while Silver has gained four times as much at 4.3%.
Gold, in turn, has its own advantages of no VAT or CGT and is a timeless beauty for both investment and gifts. Unless otherwise stated Bleyer’s bars are brand new and sourced from a variety of mints or refiners which have been Approved by the London Bullion Market Association. Most refiners selling bars above 250g carry unique serial numbers and usually come with certificates. Some of the refiners Bleyer use mark all their bars in this way from 1 gram upwards. Many of Bleyer’s clients also like to use the preferred custodians for safe, secure, fully insured bullion storage facilities of your gold bars and coins.
Also, one of the “criticisms” of Gold, although unfounded in real return, is wonderfully impotent in the present currency climate; “The argument that gold entails an ‘opportunity cost’ because of its lack of yield is meaningless given current market conditions, according to Franklin Templeton’s Stephen Land. Land said investors had previously worried that gold, while possessing defensive qualities as a value store, costs allocators opportunities elsewhere. However, speaking to Citywire Selector, the lead on the Franklin Gold and Precious Metals fund said this difficulty was no longer applicable in world of low or even negative yields both in government and corporate debt.” (CityWire Selector, 15th September 2016)
‘We had previously had to field questions about gold never yielding anything, essentially creating an opportunity cost. This was understandable when you were looking at government bonds yielding you 7% but now you are looking at zero, or negative,’ he said. ‘We are witnessing this theme of negative or zero-yielding debt and that simply removes that as a question. In line with that, the fact is government bonds are going to be correlated with interest rate rises and the market is not forecasting a huge number coming through, so this scenario seems to be here for a while.’ (Stephen Land)
And it does indeed look as if that scenario may continue; “The Bank of England has left its main interest rate at 0.25% but says another cut is still a possibility. The decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to leave rates at their new, historically low, level was no surprise.” (BBC, 15th September 2016)
Financial analysts go even further, stating that; “Having cut interest rates to a new record low last month, the Bank of England has only one arrow left in its quiver of conventional weaponry, which is why the announcement of a unanimous decision to hold interest rates at 0.25% surprised no one. Minutes from the monetary policy committee’s meeting last week, however, made it clear that a further cut to an unprecedented 0.1% could come in November, depending how the economy fares.”
It’s a positive view shared with some of the best bulls in the business. Bloomberg published this interview yesterday with Robert McEwen, “one of the gold’s industry’s most unabashed bulls, is predicting prices could surge as much as 44 percent by the end of the year as confidence in the economy buckles. The metal could trade in a range of $1,700 an ounce to $1,900 by the end of 2016 as uncertainty builds around the stability of global currencies and sovereign debt, said McEwen, who’s so enamored by bullion that he’s founded two producers: McEwen Mining Inc. and Goldcorp Inc. Record-low global interest rates will cause a “huge amount of anxiety” for investors, who will turn to gold as a store of value and an alternative asset, he said. Gold “is a currency that doesn’t have a liability attached to it,” McEwen said Tuesday in an interview at a gold conference in Colorado Springs. “A store of value that has gone for millennia. And the big argument against gold used to be it costs you money to store it. Right now, it’s costing you money to store your cash.”
All of which points to considering physical Gold and Silver as real money and a place to potentially park a proportion of ones savings. Here are some of the Gold coins offered at Bleyer. Their advantages range from high portability to considerable Capital Gains Tax advantages, such as the Gold 1oz Britannia and all Gold sovereigns.
Browse Bleyer’s wide ranging stock from small investment to large. See how straight-forward owning your own Gold and Silver can be. If you would like to know more about the many different Gold and Silver products on offer, plus information on home or away from home storage, holding Gold in a pension or even buying home safes or Gun Cabinets, please feel free to email sales@bleyer.co.uk or browse the website, submit an inquiry and sign up for the weekly newsletter. One of the team will contact you to chat through your options. Bleyer can help you make your own individual choice about your wealth protection, look together at how you can save both VAT and Capital Gains Tax in owning Physical Gold and Silver and which products will work best for you. Accumulating Physical Gold and Silver is quick, straight-forward and rewarding.
Call now on 01769 618618, email sales@bleyer.co.uk or browse the website and order online at your own convenience to own your very own Physical Gold and Silver bars and coins. The historic safe haven in times of currency turmoil.
