Markets and wealth protection

Protecting real money

When heavy security is involved in an operation, you know it has to do with big money. This is more than ever the case in the use of secure safes accessible only to an authorized few. You can bet that the most advanced means of security are for the purpose of better protecting money, in particular gold. After all, it isn’t a hidden trove of certificates, or promises to pay, that retain their value even beyond a political regime. Gold, in contrast to paper certificates, is an asset whose value is apart from what it may be officially designed.

With no need of decree, people recognize the value of gold to them, and invest accordingly. Notably, gold and other precious metals such as silver and platinum are recognized as able to store value for future exchange. This is because of their unique characteristics, such as divisibility, durability and rarity. Because of these characteristics, precious metals are considered the best means of wealth preservation.

Secure storage

Apart from the wealth preservation derived from the nature of precious metals, there is the matter of protecting one’s wealth in the sense of keeping such assets safe from trespassers, robbers and other criminal elements.

That is what makes forts and other heavily guarded locations so valuable. Short of a complete and absolutely unlikely breakdown of all systems and levels of checks, no outsider can get access to such precious objects unless with the expression of the property owners.

It is no surprise that in a list of most secure places in the world, a couple of these places would be for the storage of gold. Fort Knox, to be specific. Even as many question the actual presence of gold bars in the fort, its security measures are still among the most rigorous and formidable.

Another notable gold-storage facility is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Even as the Fed is often blamed as the cause of much of the financial woes in the West, it has an impressive declared amount of gold, of about US$400 billion worth.

Conclusion

As important as it is to be aware of precious metals and their value as money, it is equally helpful to apply such knowledge wisely, in particular the security measures involved in storing silver and gold.