I recently had the pleasure of meeting a young employee of a major bank who works in the investment wing checking the hedges of companies the bank works with. Far from the typical vampire stories we hear about the bankers out and about nowadays, he was a likable and rather nerdy kind of guy. He was thoroughly familiar with finance after working in the sector for some ten years or so. But he was not a hot shot by any stretch of the imagination. A college drop out, he was more awkward than anything else.
As the conversation continued excitedly on, I eventually mentioned precious metals, specifically gold and silver, which are some of my best friends in the world. As soon as I said the word, “gold,” the investment banker’s eyes lit up and he was more interested than at any other point in our discussion. Suddenly, he was not talking about work but about a personal interest. I registered the change in his eyes, but carefully progressed, mentioning only that I follow the market very closely as I write professionally for the market.
After a few moments, he admitted his guilty little secret. This investment banker who works for a major international bank and frequently travels to some of the biggest names in New York is personally only interested in gold. He has very interesting positions in both gold and silver, possesses what I gather to be fairly impressive amounts of gold, and holds the physical himself.
“Why Kruggerands?” I asked, noting it was an interesting choice for a guy his age. That’s when you know you’re talking to two gold bugs, by the way.
“That’s how I got started,” he said. “They were cheaper.”
And it’s not just him. He spoke of meeting with several very large and impressive investment houses and having a similar conversation about gold with them. Eventually someone says the “G” word and everything breaks loose. One office with which he was particularly impressed actually kept their gold in house. They had a safe dedicated to the office employee’s personal holdings and everyone who worked in the office kept their gold on site.
Despite what we read in the mainstream media, investment bankers are far more aware and progressive in their personal monetary policy than we usually admit to. They are right up with the times and the trends, despite how we bash them. Sure, some are making destructive policy, but some are also doing as we are doing and hedging themselves against that policy. They own and hold more gold than I do personally, only because of cost issues. It bears consideration that gold is such an important part of personal monetary policy for investment bankers in the know. Gold and silver should be the most important part of the investments you hold as well. Getting personally interested in gold and silver will benefit us all in the future.
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