Starter's Guide Part 4: Insurance and Storage

Insuring and storing precious metals (storage)

Now that you're buying gold and silver, where do you keep it?

Most investors instinctively know that precious metals should be kept safe. Many end up hiding their precious metal at home or in a safe deposit box at the local bank. But these methods are not without risk. In fact, they involve more risk and more costs than many investors realize.

The choices for storage boil down to three basic options. Here are the choices, along with their pros and cons.

Home Storage

We recommend that investors keep some physical bullion at or close to home. It loses its value to you as an emergency tool if you can't access it right away.

But it's not wise to keep all your precious metal at home. So before you decide how to store your metal at home, let's talk about how much you want to have there in the first place. Here's a checklist of questions to help you decide how much bullion to keep in your home...

1. Does more than one person know that you own precious metals? The more people know, the less you want to have in your home, but on the other hand, it makes sense to inform a partner, children or a confidant if you are no longer able to designate a place yourself
2. Do you have an alarm system? This may not prevent theft, but ideally it will give you an immediate response from the police. If you have a nice house to live in a good neighborhood, this can be attractive to burglars. 
3. Are your hiding places smart enough? To answer this, "think like a thief"; How long does it take for a persistent and desperate burglar to find your bullion?
4. If you use a safe, is it fireproof? What level of protection does your safe have? Is the safe stuck to the ground? How would you react if a thief found it and demanded that you open it?
5. Diversify: Use more than one hiding place. But don't use so many that you forget where they all are! You can probably think of dozens of places in your home where no one would think to look. The trick is to hide your bullion in such a way that it is not too complicated for you or your heirs to find, but very difficult for a thief to find.

Recommendation: Home storage is practical for small quantities. However, if you keep all your metal in your home, your entire investment will be at risk.

Bank Vault

The benefits of using a safe deposit box at your local bank are simple: easy, simple, and relatively inexpensive.

But there are drawbacks...

1. Remember, one of the reasons we own physical bullion is to protect us from the banking system. Then it is illogical to keep your precious metal at a bank, because if something has happened to the banks or specifically the bank where you have stored your precious metal... then the door is closed and you can no longer access it. In some cases, your precious metal may even become part of the bank's bankruptcy estate!
2. Precious metal in a bank store in difficult to insure; There is no way to prove that what you put in today, you will have taken out tomorrow.  Unlike the storage at Holland Gold Safe, the burden of proof lies with you to be able to prove that you have bought precious metals and stored them in the bank vault (invoice and photos may be a solution, but its not a foolproof here). Only with the help of a notary or accountant who keeps the key is an insured construction conceivable. 
3. Your access is restricted. You can only access the precious metal during regular banking hours. No evening, weekend or holiday access. And what if you're not around when you need it? Keep in mind that during 9/11, some banks were also closed for a while.
4. Silver is impractical for larger quantities: it takes up so much space that you will probably need several lockers A sample box with 500 silver coins fits in very few bank lockers.

Professional insured storage

Once your bullion holdings start to grow, we recommend using professional vault storage, in addition to the emergency supply at home. In the next chapter, we will introduce the professional insured storage of Holland Gold Safe. 

Requirements for a professional safe storage are:

1. Reputable party
2. Highest level of security for the storage location
3. Outside the banking sector
4. Fully assigned (or possibly separated) ownership in your name
5. Fully insured
6. Easy creation of a storage account
7. Easy online access via a portal 
8. Easy to buy and sell or transport
9. Good storage rates for insured custody

Add up all the risks of home and bank storage, and all the benefits of professional insured storage, and you can see why professional vault storage is a wise choice

Insured storage with Holland Gold Safe

Precious metals represent a very high value and are therefore susceptible to theft. Many wealthy individuals and business parties therefore choose to store precious metals with a company that specialises in this. Holland Gold Safe offers safe and insured storage of physical gold, silver, platinum and palladium in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Singapore. Our locations comply with the highest international safety requirements (K10).

The advantages at a glance:

1. Top-level security (K10)
2. Storage locations in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Singapore
3. Insured storage in your own name
4. Storage of gold, silver, platinum and palladium (also VAT-free precious metals)
5. Easy (one-time) opening of your storage account
6. Customer portal with online access to your precious metal in storage at any time
7. Periodic audit by an independent auditor
8. Periodic overviews of your precious metal in storage
9. Protection in the event of sale and extradition by the Third Party Funds Foundation
10. Easy Trading
11. Competitive storage rates 
12. Buyback Guarantee

Security at the highest level 

You can't store your metals in a safer and more secure environment. We work with our storage partners Brink's and Loomis and make use of their vault locations. These safes have the highest level of security; K10. The vaults are outside the banking system. 

International Storage Options

In addition to storage in the Netherlands, you can differentiate the storage locations of your precious metals with the same service, competitive rates and convenience. The current range of safes includes the Netherlands, Switzerland and Singapore. 

Insurance

Your gold and silver is insured for its full replacement value. The insurance policy is administered by the larger insurance brokers, who in turn reinsure the policy with hundreds of reinsurers. Every year, an auditor conducts an audit in which the presence of the precious metal at the location in question is independently checked. 

Storage in your own name

The precious metal you store with us is completely segregated and your property and assigned in your name. The gold and silver you buy will be sent directly to storage and stored in your account. We don't work with pool accounts, no shared ownership, no fractional claims on big bars; exactly what you bought and always registered in your name and property. 

Easy account opening

Opening a storage account is easy. This can be done completely digitally or, if desired, via paper opening forms. With a depository account, you can always buy bullion, and once your payment has been processed, your precious metal will be sent directly to your chosen vault. 

Extradition

Would you like to have some or all of your metal delivered? If you wish, you can easily take the precious metal you have stored in the Netherlands out of storage and have it delivered to any address (subject to security verification) in the Netherlands or pick it up at one of the offices of Holland Gold. 

Sell with ease

You can sell your funds back from storage at any time. It is arranged with a phone call and usually you will have the funds in your account the same day. This makes your exit plan simple, quick and no hassle with packing your coins or bars or visiting an office to deliver the precious metal. 

Third-Party Funds Foundation

Employees of Holland Gold Safe can have precious metals transported to the safe. When you sell precious metal or want to have it removed from the vault, there is "an extra key on the door": Stichting Derdengelden Holland Gold Safe checks that your first one has received your funds and only then gives permission for the precious metal to leave the vault location. She must also approve your request to leave your precious metal out of the safe so that you can pick it up again (or have it delivered).

Rates

The custody fee is invoiced to you quarterly (in arrears) on the basis of the average (replacement) value of the precious metal in question. The rates are on an annual basis and include insurance costs. The custody fee in Switzerland and Singapore is a tax-free service, in the Netherlands 21% VAT is levied. Thanks to the high storage volume of Holland Gold Safe, competitive price agreements have been made with our vault partners Loomis and Brink's. 

Disclaimer and Copyright

Disclaimer

This starter guide has been compiled with the greatest care. No rights can be derived from any inaccuracies. {{P3}} does not accept any liability for any inaccuracies and/or omissions in the content of the starter guide. In this guide, we invite you to find out more about buying precious metals. We do not provide financial or tax advice. 

Copyright

No part of this starter guide may be reproduced other than for personal use and is solely for the purpose for which the information was made available. All "art impressions" have been compiled with the utmost care, nevertheless there may be incorrect information on drawings, impressions, texts and similar and/or there may be deviations between the content and reality. All texts and the like mentioned are indicative. No rights can be derived from these texts, drawings, impressions and the like. No part of this starter guide may be used by any third party without the written permission of Holland Gold.