With the inexplicable disappearance of millions of dollars in gold from an Air France flight, we got to thinking. What’s the best way for private investors to protect their precious cargo?
On Tuesday, French news sources were abuzz with the breaking story of a real live heist—a story so scandalous it seems destined for the silver screen.
According to European television stations TF1 and LCI, 1.6 million euros ($2.1 million) in gold bars disappeared from an Air France flight between Paris and Zurich last week.
And police believe it was an inside job.
“[The thieves] almost certainly had accomplices working at the airport,” said an unnamed source widely quoted by the media.
The stolen bars, weighing around 50 kilos (110 pounds), were put on a plane at the Parisian airport Charles-de-Gaulle on Thursday, chauffeured by the United States security firm, Brink’s.
When the plane landed in Switzerland, confused Brink’s employees discovered that the gold had vanished.
Though Brink’s reportedly has 1,800 security staff stationed at French airports, and the fact that Air France hosts similar flights on a near-daily basis, the crime left Air France officials, along with police and a very curious public, scratching their heads.
“We hope the investigations will allow us to quickly determine the sequence of events and identify those responsible,” a spokesperson for Air France told the media.
Yet if a Lex-Luthor-wannabe can walk away from an airport carrying $2.1 million in stolen gold, what does that mean for the rest of us?
With one of our favorite Knowledge Center articles in mind, we decided it was time to revisit some of the best methods for storing your precious metals — and how you can protect your most valuable possessions.
Home Storage
Providing investors with accessibility and privacy not found anywhere else, home storage is our first choice for protecting (at least some of) your gold and silver bullion. Here’s why.
-
Access: When you store your gold, silver, platinum and palladium bullion in a home safe, it is accessible to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Rain, shine—or even Sunday—you can grab your stash and take it anywhere.
-
Privacy: Though few of us can say we experienced it first-hand, we are keenly aware of the Gold Confiscations of 1933. To this day, many bullion investors remain skeptical of the government and mainstream financial institutions.
When you keep your precious metal in your possession, you protect it from government confiscation and seizures. Further, gold purchases less than $10,000 do not have to be reported to any government agencies by the seller.
That means day-to-day investors can make purchases, secure their bullion in a home safe, and sleep well knowing their gold and silver is safe.
The Problem with At-Home Storage
-
Once It’s Lost, It’s Really Lost: Though it’s possible to insure your gold in some cases, theft and natural disasters pose a real threat to your investment. That’s why industry experts recommend purchasing a fireproof safe and installing it on your own.
-
Liquidity: Though keeping your personal stash at home can be convenient, for many busy investors, selling gold and silver bars back to a dealer can be inconvenient. This is especially true if the metal has to be refined for content first, which can be expensive.
One solution to this problem is to purchase bullion coins like American Gold Eagles and Canadian Silver Maples, which are guaranteed by the government and trusted by most dealers.
Safe Deposit Boxes
A safe deposit box, generally held at a bank, is a fire and weather proof box used to store your most valuable possession. Yet just like a pancake, using a safe deposit box has two sides.
-
Affordability: The average bank’s safety-deposit box costs just $50-200 a year, depending on the amount of bullion you have to store, along with the size of the box.
- Security: Just like everything inside a bank vault, safe deposit boxes are highly secured and guarded by the bank. That means theft of safe deposit boxes is incredibly rare.
What’s Wrong with Safe Deposit Boxes?
-
Access: No one runs to the bank on Sunday. Because it’s closed. But what if there’s an emergency after hours or on the weekend, and you need your gold, like, now? That can be a serious problem if you have your bullion stored in a safe deposit box, and it’s one of the key reasons many investors choose to keep their gold at home.
-
Insurance: Unlike private depositories, most banks don’t insure your precious metal. This means you have to purchase separate insurance, which can often be costly.
- Space Constraints: Most safety-deposit boxes are relatively small, making it difficult to store large amounts of gold and silver bullion.
Private Depositories
Brinks’ recent Air France blunder aside, depositories are private firms that can be a great option for storing your bullion investment—no matter how large or small—for a nominal fee.
-
Security: Run by massive security teams, often in covert locations, depositories are among the safest, most trusted means of storing your most valuable possessions.
-
Finally, Size Doesn’t Matter: You can store as many gold and silver bars, rounds and coins as your heart desires. There is no limit when it comes to a depository.
-
Tax Breaks: When you choose a private firm to store your bullion, you can often opt to store it in a foreign country, which can lead to tax benefits.
The Cons of Using a Depository
-
Access: Just like with the bank, when you store your bullion in a depository, retrieving your gold when you want becomes a problem. Often, your investment has been stored in another state—or even overseas—so it can take weeks to get your metal.
-
Shipping Fees: When it’s time to bring your bullion home, you usually have to pay for shipping, which can be costly depending on the size of the load.
So Are You Protected?
Just like anything else, when it’s time to find the right storage method, it’s important to do your homework.
Thinking about the amount of bullion you own, the type of coins and bars you buy, and your motivations for investing are all important considerations when choosing the storage method that works for you.
Tell Us What You Think
How do you keep your bullion safe? Are there any storage methods we missed?
Let us know what you think in the comments section below. You can also drop us a line on our Facebook or Twitter page today.
