Many of you may consider gold coins a good investment, a way to balance your investment portfolios and reduce your risk with what many consider the world's oldest and most trusted asset. Some of you have informed us over the years that you have bought gold when in fact you have been sold gold coins.
There are a number of issues with buying gold coins, unless you are an experienced buyer who knows what you are buying and what "dealers" are selling. Some of the problems include:
- The transaction costs. Some quick research shows that premiums can be as much as 5% over the price of the gold coins PLUS there is a cost to shipping. I am going to guess that you would lose that premium when you went to sell this trusted asset at a later date.
- You have to know what it is you are buying. All coin dealers will claim you are buying a rare and valuable coin (at a premium, may I add) when in fact the coin you are buying will have no value beyond its bullion (if it has any).
- Coin dealers can be crooks! We are unlucky enough to have some of these Ponzi schemers locally.
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| Charles Ponzi |
On September 8th, the FBI raided the downtown Minneapolis coin firm, International Rarities Corporation (IRC) - a local firm that sells investors a "solid investment:" Gold coins!
IRC is being charged with pitching a number of their gold coin buyers shares in a Nevada company. Private offering documents say that they were seeking to raise $10 million to take the firm public. On August 19th, IRC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and it is likely the investors will be left "holding the bag" again. The Minnesota Attorney General's Office is currently investigating complaints specifically about IRC's coin sales.
INVESTING LESSONS
- The ads and the dealers all echo the same message: The coins they are selling are one-of-a-kind, available for a limited time and will only increase in value. The truth is, the ads are meant to dupe those who don't understand the investment and those who will rely on emotion and not knowledge.
- If you are interested in buying gold, contact us and we will help to insure that you are not taken by individuals like those who were running IRC.
- WFG has recently completed our national research on the numerous Gold dealers and have a bulletin you can request with the details. Jerry Wade recently bought a small quantity of the yellow metal from one of the dealers in the bulletin.
