Four Reasons to Store Your Gold Overseas

 在外國人眼中,香港買金是便宜,還有說到,相對住西方銀行....

香港銀行比較可靠....(呢樣就見人見智啦)

Posted by Mike Tirone - Friday, October 14th, 2011

Earlier this week, we mentioned how the next few years will be monumental for gold owners and how finding ways to hide your gold would be wiser and safer for you and your family. After looking around for more resources about the matter, we've found a solution for those who feel uncomfortable burying their gold in the front yard or using it as a door stop.

Safe deposit boxes overseas, specifically Hong Kong.

A little background: Hong Kong is one the cheapest places in the world to buy gold and right now the yellow metal couldn't be any hotter. Just last week was the Chung Yeung Festival in Hong Kong, which is the Chinese holiday strictly focused all around gold. People buy as much gold as possible, store some of it, gift a lot of it, and resell even more. Why? Because of tradition and the fact that Chinese, similar to India and the Arab world, have a love for gold. These cultures have a different relationship with the precious metal than the west. They find more value in gold than paper currency, so most people own at least a little bit even if in very small denominations.

So with a region of the world obsessed with gold comes better storage facilities for it:

Bank safe deposit boxes are the common solution; when people think ‘valuables storage,’ they think bank safe deposit boxes. Ironically, this is exactly how banking first began– bankers were the safekeepers of people’s valuables. In exchange for securing people’s gold, customers would pay the bankers a fee. This is how safe deposit boxes work today.

Banks in Hong Kong are definitely more reliable and stable than those in the pocket of the governments of the western hemisphere, but the best place to store your gold is in private storage facilities. “They are typically unregulated and don't fall under a host of a various government inspection agencies.”

Wealth Wire has extensively searched the Internet (and some reliable sources over in Hong Kong as well) for the best private storage facilities in Hong Kong. Two companies have come up multiple times with strong reviews and all of the qualities of a storage facility we want: private, 24-hour security, reasonable prices, and most importantly, NOT in American banks.

The first is The Store House (www.thestorehouse.com.hk) which is a low-cost self-storage facility with mini-storage rentals. They have four locations in Hong Kong and have very strong reviews from Chinese and foreign customers.

But the company we feel that has the best for storing your gold is The Storage Limited (www.thestorage.com.hk) within the Sheung Wan district.

Their smallest safe deposit box is large enough to store several million dollars worth of gold coins for only around $80 a year and 8,000 square feet of storage are. But their downsides are this: they do not rent boxes anonymously but offer to rent through a corporation. And they are running out of room fast! The most popular, small boxes, are still available but say that the demand is extremely high.

Boxes are in a highly secure, bank-style vault with round-the-clock in-house security; box contents are automatically insured to HKD 100,000 (about $13,000 USD).

So here are the four reasons to actually store your precious metals overseas:

Having gold stored in a stronger economy with a gold-obsessed culture is not only safer but more sensible. It will be easier – and you'll have more opportunities-- to sell and exchange for something of value in a place like Hong Kong or India. If you sold gold in the U.S. you'd get the pathetically weak dollar, especially in the near future. But in Hong Kong and India, you could trade for ANYTHING. There would be tons of options with goods, services, currencies, etc.

Gold prices are rising through the roof and will continue to do so. The higher the price, the most valuable and crazy people get over the precious metal, therefore increasing the risk of confiscation. Like we have mentioned several times, the rise in crime corresponds with the rise in gold prices. People are being robbed, beaten, and killed for their gold. Protecting your gold is crucial, from the public, family, creditors, bureaucrats and purely greedy individuals. Storage facilities and banks in your home country are considered the same jurisdiction as you do, so if you're put in court, asset seizure is a very high risk.

For a U.S. taxpayer, gold or any precious metal stored overseas in your own vault is not a reportable asset, making it a legitimate means of storing wealth privately.

Personally transporting precious metals out of the country is – and will continue to be– extremely difficult. So if there were ever a time when you would leave your native country if (or shall we say when) the economy and government is getting worse, you'll want your assets somewhere safe. Therefore it is very wise to reposition your gold overseas beforehand in a country where it will be worth more, not being dug up by your dog in the yard, or stolen from the bank that has been taken over by the government.

If you're a gold owner, or soon to be one, we can't see how it could be any smarter, easier, or more efficient than to store your gold in a safe, private, overseas safe deposit box.

http://www.wealthwire.com/news/metals/2049