So many have contacted me recently regarding Andy Hoffman’s sudden flip flop on silver that I feel it necessary to comment publicly. To be clear, this is not a “hit piece” on Andy, rather using logic and common sense I hope it is some comfort for those worried. I believe what and “how” Andy has acted can be classified as irresponsible for several reasons.
First, as many of you know, I was a branch manager for AG Edwards, my last 12 years as a branch manger. I took fairness, honesty and “the law” very seriously. I was a broker for 23 years and never had any type of legal proceeding or settlement ever brought against me or any of my brokers. As a branch manager I was ultimately responsible for everything. If anything goes wrong in a brokerage office, the manager will end up being charged with failure to supervise. One area of great importance is “correspondence”. The BM must initial (yes by hand back then as it is now all electronic) all incoming and outgoing correspondence.
I tell you the above because for the first year or so with Miles Franklin, Andy would send his work to everyone (me included) before it was posted. As is my nature, I read it with an eye toward truth and also “liability”. There were quite a few instances where Andy wrote some things I believed were either wrong, not appropriate or even libelous. At first I wrote to Andy pointing out my concerns but was met with anger. Then I decided to give David and Andy Schectman a heads up with things I believed would pose a problem. There were two article in entirety that fortunately (in my opinion) were not published. My “suggestions” became a problem to the point we were both told not to interact with each other. Andy was then assigned his own editor.
The above is for reference because I still think like a branch manager. In the securities business there is law prohibiting “front running” (though major house and HFT’s do it all the time). Basically what the law says is this; if you are going to act on something, you must advise your clients before doing so. This makes sense and would seem like the right thing to do even (especially!) in the world of “handshakes”. The “way” and timing of the how Andy informed the public is very disappointing to me and does not pass muster in my book.
As far as the “what” he informed us of, everyone is entitled to their opinions even if it defies logic. I won’t go into the Bitcoin argument here but you can listen as JSMinest host’s Bix Weir and Clif High to discuss this weekend. Selling ANY precious metals to purchase Bitcoin in my opinion is foolishness defined. As for moving from silver to gold, because “gold is the metal of Kings and not believing storing hundreds of pounds of silver is anything the public should do waiting for the gold silver ratio to tighten” …this is ridiculous!
Andy has for years written and spoken of the wisdom of holding precious metals …and in particular silver. He used sound logic and hammered away at the “ratio” as being a core reason to favor silver, and for good reason. I cannot explain his reasoning other than reading into his statement regarding “weight”. Storing silver is more difficult than gold but can be easily done using one or more private vaults. Telling us that “gold is the metal of Kings” does not mean anything to me nor does it relate to “value”? The fact is, silver is THE cheapest or most undervalued asset on the planet. You can google that statement and find many articles explaining this. Moving from silver and into gold with ratio of 75-1 defies any and all logic I am aware of!
Though I no longer work directly for Miles Franklin, I have retained my business relationship with them and clear all of my metals business through them. It is because of my friendship and trust for both David and Andy, I decided on my own to write this piece. Andy Hoffman is his own person and responsible for his own actions. I do not know how Miles Franklin will handle this but I feel the need to apologize to readers because you did not deserve the irresponsible nature of “what and how” Andy decided to change his mind and inform us after the fact.
Respectfully,
Bill Holter
Holter-Sinclair collaboration
