Gyroscopic Investing

Hi folks,

i'm new here, glad to have found this forum.

Does anyone have recommendations for an overseas vault service? There seem to be many out there, but it is hard to know who to trust and who provides that best services. Thank you much.

Welcome to the forum! Sadly I have been a bit behind the curve when it comes to geographic diversification, so I can't offer any first hand recommendations. But I have heard good things about the Perth Mint.

Ad Orientem wrote: ↑Wed Sep 26, 2018 7:26 pm ...
But I have heard good things about the Perth Mint.

Except for that data breach.
Other than that, how was the play, Mrs Lincoln?

I like global gold (www.globalgold.ch). The cost starts at 0.7%/year for $50k-$100k accounts and goes down from there as the account value goes up.
Purchase and sale transaction costs can be a bit high so I wouldn't use them for in-and-out trading, but I consider them acceptable for a long term holding. They also have "sales" once in awhile where they reduce the fees.

The data breach was for Perth Mint's Depository Online service, for which they apparently outsourced their internet setup & security with unfortunately a predictable result (if only I'd known that). Their Depository Program uses a computer system that is entirely internal, and you have to call the Mint to make transactions. Theoretically, that's equivalent safety to sending coins out to an overseas vault. The only catch is that for anyone outside of Australia, there's a very high minimum to open, $50,000 USD.

I'm not at all happy with the data breach, but I don't really know what to do about it. They already have my data, so closing the account would accomplish nothing. I'm waiting to see what their response will be. It's been radio silence for about a month, which I'm also not happy about. I definitely want to know if they send any data for Depository Program customers outside the mint, or if this little "feature" is limited to Depository Online.

I imagine Global Gold could be just as vulnerable to hackers, and that any method of holding gold (including buying physical) involve risks.

There are breaches all the time, most places just dont tell you about it.

Caveat - I haven't yet bought a box. So I have no credibility.

I've been eying www.dassafe.com for quite awhile. If my next liquidation goes through, that will be my new geographic diversity.

It looks good to me. No promises.

Mark

You could try this company.

http://www.guardianvaults.com.au

Have used them and it's like out of a James Bond movie going in there.
Absolutely no complaints and always found the service very good

MangoMan wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 8:36 am If geographic diversification is important to you, with a box you can personally access, the EU and Australia would not be high on my list of places. IMHO, Singapore and Hong Kong would be better and safer. If the USA ever got so bad that you needed this, I doubt the EU or AU would provide much protection.

I don't trust Hong Kong at all. It is part of the PRC which is an authoritarian police state that is also quite hostile in its foreign policy to the United States. Beijing has effectively torn up the agreement with the UK guaranteeing political autonomy for HK.

MangoMan wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 8:36 am If geographic diversification is important to you, with a box you can personally access, the EU and Australia would not be high on my list of places. IMHO, Singapore and Hong Kong would be better and safer. If the USA ever got so bad that you needed this, I doubt the EU or AU would provide much protection.

That's a pretty solid comment MangoMan, and I'm going to have to think about that.

Currently, when I think of geographic diversification, I'm not thinking of protecting myself against a tidal change in US policies. That's entirely possible, but not what I was thinking.

For me, I just want at least two different storage locations so that any legal/political/civil/regulatory issue doesn't affect all of my holdings. Second, the anonymity aspect of something like dasSafe or GuardianVaults seems pretty cool, in a Jean Le Carré sort of way - but in reality they are probably not as private as one would hope.

As I don't yet have multiple passports, I may actually go back to Texas Medium's suggestion to just look for safety deposit boxes in small, local banks. That is one of the best suggestions I have seen on this forum.

I must admit that I checked out the "El Dorado" bank in Placerville, CA and it had a certain attraction. In addition to the wholesome folksiness, the small town gold country and the cheap boxes - you are just a couple of hours down the mountain to Napa.

Mark