GlobalGold.ch

Discussion of the Gold portion of the Permanent Portfolio

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runner
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GlobalGold.ch

Post by runner » Sun May 08, 2016 2:26 pm

Hi everybody. I am new to the forum and this may be a total beginners question, but I hope somebody is nevertheless willing to provide an answer :-)

I have read "The Permanent Portfolio" by Craig Rowland and J. M. Lawson and applied for the service of globalgold.ch which is recommended in the book. Now as they have accepted my application I would like to buy gold and store it with them. But their procedure is the following one, which I find extremely risky: Customer needs to transfer money to globalgold's account upfront (without any official request from their side). In parallel customer sends a buy form via postage. If all works as promised, customer will receive a storage confirmation after a few weeks.

There is no contract signed by both parties. There won't be any official invoice. At the end there is nothing the customer can do to get the money back if he never receives the storage confirmation.

If a friend told me about such a procedure I would immediately suggest him, to NOT even think about transfering 25% of his money to them. However, I don't have any better idea how to do such a transfer and wonder if somebody of you guys have experiences with globalgold.ch or similar services and can share what can be done to make this transfer save?

Thank you.
Reub
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Re: GlobalGold.ch

Post by Reub » Sun May 08, 2016 2:36 pm

I would never do that!
Libertarian666
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Re: GlobalGold.ch

Post by Libertarian666 » Sun May 08, 2016 5:27 pm

I have done business with them and have had no complaints about their service.

You can send scanned forms via email rather than waiting for them to get there via mail. The storage confirmations are available online shortly after the delivery is done.

Most of the transactions have taken only a couple of days with scanned forms and wire transfers. The first one took longer because I had to prove where the funds came from, due to anti-money laundering rules.

For other questions, have you called them? They are pretty easy to get hold of, and I can't imagine that they wouldn't be able to answer your concerns. They even come to the US a couple of times a year if that would make you feel better.

By the way, as far as I know all gold dealers require payment up front, so this is not really that unusual.
Last edited by Libertarian666 on Sun May 08, 2016 5:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MachineGhost
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Re: GlobalGold.ch

Post by MachineGhost » Sun May 08, 2016 6:00 pm

runner wrote: If a friend told me about such a procedure I would immediately suggest him, to NOT even think about transfering 25% of his money to them. However, I don't have any better idea how to do such a transfer and wonder if somebody of you guys have experiences with globalgold.ch or similar services and can share what can be done to make this transfer save?
I agree with you.  But I think you should reconsider trusting just one place with what looks like a staggering amount of gold if their minimum is any indication.  Diversify, diversify, diversify.

P.S.  Their application form might as well be an anal probe from an exraterrestrial.  As a non-financial institution selling a non-financial product, why do they need all that invasive information?
Last edited by MachineGhost on Sun May 08, 2016 6:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called 'Facts'. They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain." -- Thomas Hobbes

Disclaimer: I am not a broker, dealer, investment advisor, physician, theologian or prophet.  I should not be considered as legally permitted to render such advice!
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MachineGhost
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Re: GlobalGold.ch

Post by MachineGhost » Sun May 08, 2016 6:15 pm

Libertarian666 wrote: By the way, as far as I know all gold dealers require payment up front, so this is not really that unusual.
Normal procedure is you contract to buy something and then you pay.  You don't send the funds ahead of time and then rely on someone's good grace to tell you they received your funds and then hopefully get back to you to ask what would you like to buy?  Unless GG has an online accounting system where you are specifically depositing funds into your account to be able to buy online, they sound way behind the times and that is always a bad sign in terms of accounting and bureaucracy.  How are they going to deal during a crisis or panic if they're not streamlined and get snowballed by redemption demands???  Just something to think about.

When you're dealing with these online and/or offshore middlemen where you don't have any real control over any aspect of the entire process from buying to storing (nor legal/cultural assurances), I think it's a huge mistake to trust everything to one institution.  Owning gold coins on your person that you specifically buy from one party to put in your own chosen vault yourself with another party yourself is like night vs day.  I think it is prudent to diversify and besides, PPers need at least 33%-50% in easily liquid gold to rebalance (which is not a concern you have as you don't do the PP AFAIK).

Note that I haven't read the PP book yet so maybe these concerns are addressed, but lets get real.  Neither MT nor craigr have any special insight into GlobalGold to recommend them as infalliable.  That's just naively stupid for anyone to even make a claim like that.  Any one of these shysters can fold, implode or steal your gold without you being the wiser.  You have no absolute sure way of really knowing at the end of the day, no matter how slick of a facade the website, the promoter and the "tour of the fake vault" is.

P.S.  I just realized I may be a little hypersensitive on this topic because I'd be been scammed of my gold before.  The only rational and practical method to deal with this risk is diversification, unless you're so rich you're gonna do (or pay someone to do) an anal probe in the other direction on everyone involved from the buying to the storage.
Last edited by MachineGhost on Sun May 08, 2016 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called 'Facts'. They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain." -- Thomas Hobbes

Disclaimer: I am not a broker, dealer, investment advisor, physician, theologian or prophet.  I should not be considered as legally permitted to render such advice!
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Xan
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Re: GlobalGold.ch

Post by Xan » Sun May 08, 2016 8:09 pm

MachineGhost wrote:P.S.  I just realized I may be a little hypersensitive on this topic because I'd be been scammed of my gold before.
Whoa, really?  Sorry to hear it.  Can you tell us more about the scam?  I hope that the fear of seeming stupid doesn't stop you from telling us about it.  I think we're all much more gullible than we'd like to believe we are.
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MachineGhost
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Re: GlobalGold.ch

Post by MachineGhost » Sun May 08, 2016 8:32 pm

Xan wrote: Whoa, really?  Sorry to hear it.  Can you tell us more about the scam?  I hope that the fear of seeming stupid doesn't stop you from telling us about it.  I think we're all much more gullible than we'd like to believe we are.
Let me rephrase.  I got scammed out of the money that was to buy gold in late 2001 by a huckster that I had no reason to distrust up to that point.  It's not as if a thief in the night literally came and stole my gold, wherever it was.  My advice is to stay operating within regulated structures (though of course, that's no guarantee but at least it's not the Wild West).
"All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called 'Facts'. They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain." -- Thomas Hobbes

Disclaimer: I am not a broker, dealer, investment advisor, physician, theologian or prophet.  I should not be considered as legally permitted to render such advice!
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Re: GlobalGold.ch

Post by rickb » Sun May 08, 2016 11:45 pm

runner wrote: I have read "The Permanent Portfolio" by Craig Rowland and J. M. Lawson and applied for the service of globalgold.ch which is recommended in the book.
Welcome!

Everyone here knows this but might forget that newbies might not.  Both authors at least occasionally post here.  Craig Rowland as craigr (infrequently at this point) and J. M. Lawson as mediumtex.
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