First National Bullion: A Valuable Asset in Uncertain Times
Inflation is soaring toward 8%, pushing interest rates higher. Treasury yield curves are inverting, typically an early warning sign of recession. What can you bank on to ensure the stability of your portfolio? Consider gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bullion coins and bars from First National Bullion.
With four locations in Arizona and southern California, the company buys and sells gold, silver, platinum and palladium bullion bars and coins. Those stores are in Scottsdale and San Diego, Del Mar and Carlsbad, California, with shipping available to all 50 states. A fifth location opens soon in Irvine.
“Having physical locations allows us to buy from the public over the counter and offer product to our existing customers at a lower rate than they will find with online retailers,” says owner Jonathan Cavuoto, who founded First National Bullion in 2007. “We will, however, always match or beat any online price from legitimate online retailers.”
Now, in particular, he believes that it is important to own physical precious metals as part of a diversified portfolio. “While past performance cannot guarantee future results, precious metals have typically done well in inflationary environments and tend to act as a safe haven during uncertain times and market volatility,” he explains. “They are a store of value and have acted as money for thousands of years, while countless fiat currencies have come and gone.”
Trends and Tips
Precious metals are tangible, transportable and transferable. “While you can do very well investing in the right mining companies, when doing so you are betting on the management of those companies, how their liabilities are handled, how much success those companies have mining and how things like higher energy costs affect their bottom line,” he says.
Gold has performed well recently and significant upside remains, he says. But his top pick now is silver, which is trading in the mid-$20/ounce, almost 50% off its near $50 high in 1980 and 2011.
He explains that silver is used extensively in biomedical applications, window coatings, solar panels and cell phones, for example. And, most industrial-application silver is never recovered, girding the value of remaining supplies.
However, the silver market is typically more volatile than the gold market, so adding gold can reduce volatility of your metals portfolio. Also silver is cumbersome. Making a sizable investment will require a sizable storage facility; in contrast, $60,000 worth of gold is about the size of an iPhone, making it much easier to store and transport.
Although First National Bullion buys and sells numismatic and rare coins, the company does not recommend this for most investors as they are not as liquid, and premiums and spreads are higher.
Shipping and Securing
Most bullion coins and bars are IRA approved, and the company regularly delivers metals to its customers’ IRA accounts.
If investors are concerned about taking physical possession, the company can arrange fully insured storage at depositories nationwide. Brinks facilitates this and insurance for your metals at fair market value. In most cases, shipping is free. The company also has a purpose-built class 2 TL rated vault in Poway, California.
Your metals are not comingled or in a fungible account. The exact coins and bars deposited are the ones you will get back when requested. “Once the metal is delivered to the vault of choice, customers get an online login to see what is in their account with a full ledger and market values calculated daily,” he explains.
Having metals stored at a vault makes it easy to sell back to First National Bullion. Says Cavuoto: “Simply fill out a form, go on a recorded line to agree on the sale and price; we then transfer the material into our account and wire the funds to you.”
For more information, visit firstnationalbullion.com, call 800.866.0879 or email info@firstnationalbullion.com.
