As Real As It Gets

August 15, 2013

By: Kevin Drost, Partner at The Owings Group

We often read about the precious metals market in analytical terms: resistance points, support levels, 90-day moving averages, production, supply and demand, etc. What is often forgotten in all the analysis is how precious metals are a life saver in times of crisis. Throughout history, possessing gold and silver has often meant the difference between eating or not, freedom or not, and even life or death. And I only need look at far as my own extended family to demonstrate this.

My mother was born in 1927 in Germany before the rise of the Nazi party. The only child of a physician and a school teacher, she grew up in what is now Poland. As the Nazi Party grew in stature and influence, my mother was introduced to the Hitler Jugend movement at a very young age. As the war broke out in 1939, she continued to support the Nazis. But when she became a teenager and learned about the various concentration camps and what went on there, her family denounced the Nazi Party for its atrocities. The repercussions were harsh.

Her father lost his position at the local hospital and her mother was replaced as a school teacher. My mother was forced to drop out of her academic studies and learn an occupation. At the end of the war, when that region of Germany was liberated by the advancing Russian army and annexed to Poland, my mother and her parents were caught behind the infamous Iron Curtain. Through it all, my grandfather managed to save and hide a small stash of gold, silver, jewelry and diamonds.

Before his passing in 1954, he taught my mother and grandmother the lessons of having hard assets as insurance in case of an emergency. In June of 1955, my mother and grandmother made their escape by walking at night and hiding out in barns during the day, walking from Poland to Germany and crossing over the heavily guarded border near Hof, Germany.

The wisdom of my grandfather, combined with the bravery of my mother and grandmother, paid off. They made it to the United States using the contents my mother carried with her: gold, silver, jewelry and diamonds.

I spoke with my mother recently about this story and ask her, “Why did you wait till now to tell us your story?”

She answered, “Living in America, I never imagined that one day there would be a need to prepare for tyranny. The only thing missing is jackboots”.

We can learn the lessons of my grandmother and mother and prepare ourselves, or we can choose to stick our heads in the sand. I sincerely hope that our country changes course soon, because history has a way of repeating itself. I would rather be prepared and have it be a false alarm than not be prepared and have it happen.

Do you own gold and silver or jewelry and diamonds as insurance?

You can do today what you may not be able to do tomorrow.

 

Kevin Drost brings 14 years’ experience in the precious metals and financial services industry.  He is an authoritative writer for numerous national and international financial newsletters on the subject of asset protection.  He is a frequent speaker at financial conferences worldwide with organizations such as The Oxford Club, Global Escape Hatch, The Sovereign Society, and InvestmentU.  During his tenure at Swiss Trust Bank, Kevin traveled the world assisting high net worth clients set up offshore tax shelters.

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