Dmitry sipped his coffee drink at his favorite café in Moscow, flipping
through the newspaper in front of him. It was full of bad news: currency
troubles, ongoing sanctions from the West, rising inflation, and more.
But he ignored all that. He turned to the investment section and began to
scan the page, looking for the latest price of one specific investment. He
went past the headline that screamed Russia’s inflation rate was up to 11.4%
last year, as well as the article detailing the ruble’s debilitating 46.5%
fall. He knew all those things and had experienced them firsthand.
He went directly to the page that quoted the price of gold in rubles.
And there is was. And this time, it wasn’t just a short price quote, but a
full article on the topic of gold, starting with a headline that warmed his
heart.
“Gold Price in Rubles Rises
73% in 2014”
The article detailed how gold had soared last year due to the depreciation
of the ruble. What especially pleased him was that gold rose more than the
ruble fell. It also outpaced the rise in inflation.
The article included a chart of the last six weeks’ price movement, during
which the ruble had taken an especially ugly drop.
Dmitry wasn’t surprised to read that it wasn’t just the gold price in
rubles that was up last year…
The price of gold rose against ALL currencies in 2014—except the
US dollar. Yes, gold was up in the euro, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, Canadian
dollar, British pound, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Chinese
renminbi, Indian rupee, Swedish krona, Brazilian real, Israeli shekel, and
South Korean won.
Even more interesting was that gold outperformed most stock markets around
the world…
Most investors outside North America not only saw their currency lose
value but also lost money in their stock market. His fellow Russians were hit
especially hard. Whoever owned gold, though, had avoided these debilitating
losses and was actually sitting on a profit.
The article concluded by congratulating those with the foresight to buy
gold, which, unfortunately, didn’t include many of his fellow citizens—but it
did include him.
Dmitry has every right to feel pleased with himself. While inflation raged
all around him, the currency fell through the floor, and global crises
remained escalated, his investment in gold had done exactly what it was supposed
to do: protect him against currency and monetary calamity. In fact,
he’d gained more with gold than he lost in ruble purchasing power.
He’d read warnings that this could happen—warnings others had dismissed as
the ravings of loony gold bugs. He had been skeptical, frankly, and it hadn’t
happened exactly as he thought it would, but now he sure was glad he’d
decided to play it safe and bought some gold as insurance.
He wondered what those in North America thought about this phenomenon… Did
they see the writing on the global economic wall—or did they imagine they
were immune because their stock market had risen so much while gold remained
weak in their currency? Did they really believe their central bankers were
wizards endowed with supernatural powers others lacked? Didn’t they remember
Ben Bernanke insisting in 2007 and 2008 that there was no crisis and that
everything was under control?
It seemed to Dmitry that many of them were kidding themselves, because he
knew that at some point, the very thing that happened to inflation rates and
currency values in his country could happen to theirs. And how gold would
respond—as he now knew firsthand.
Like him, sensible Americans who bought gold while it was on sale wouldn’t
know the timing but would be prepared for the inevitable outcome of the
currency-destroying policies their central bank had adopted, just like all
the others. He hoped they saw it coming and envied their chance to take
advantage of relatively low prices.
Dmitry could hardly wait for tomorrow, the day the January BIG GOLD
would be released. And it wouldn’t be just any issue, but a 50-page
blockbuster edition that interviewed 17 experts on precious metals and
included two actionable steps to kickstart 2015: a discount on international
bullion storage and a new recommended stock, one that Jeff Clark described as
a must-own company that came with both safety and high potential. He hopes
his friends check it out.
