JOIN THE GOLD RUSH
A new company is revolutionizing your access to the world’s oldest and most reliable currency.
TRADE WARS. VOLATILE MARKETS. Bank fraud. Currencies that only exist on a computer screen. Is your money really safe? ¶ Many Americans are asking this question today, and wishing we could return to this country’s original form of saving and spending: gold. ¶ Good news: There’s a new debit card that enables any regular Joe or Jane to protect your wealth by purchasing physical gold. With the Glint Pay mobile app, you can instantly own gold bullion that is stored in Brinks vaults, insured by Lloyds of London, and available for withdrawal at any shop or ATM that accepts Mastercard® – without the usual bank fees or an expensive investment advisor. ¶ Yachts
International recently had the opportunity to speak with Glint co-founders Jason Cozens and Ben Davies about the advantages of gold for anyone who owns a yacht.
The problem Glint is trying to solve is obvious, says Davies. “Since the last financial crash, central banks have been printing more and more money, which is unsustainable and erodes your savings as the value of paper money falls. By holding gold, you negate that – and protect your hard- earned wealth against the recession many are predicting.” There has never been a better time to own gold, says Cozens. “We also believe gold is really undervalued, so you may see very significant returns. On average, gold has appreciated by 8% per year in the last 50 years. When you consider inflation is currently around 4%, the case for gold is clear.”
Davies explains that Glint is introducing gold not just as an investment, but as money you can save and spend. “All money can be held as savings that you can spend for your daily needs, or for more discretionary payments such as a vacation or down payment on a boat. It just so happens that gold is one of the best forms of saving over time.”
Cozens concurs, pointing to the large dynastic families who have saved in gold and used it to make acquisitions out of those appreciated savings, allowing them to preserve their legacy over generations. “It has always been a smart ‘investment’ strategy, although we would replace investment with the word savings. So, there’s never a bad time to start putting your money into gold; if you save on a consistent monthly basis, you’ll win over time. It’s consistently the safest form of money in history.”
The attraction to savers is obvious: new parents putting money aside for their kids, young professionals building a nest egg for a home or yacht, and mid- career couples can all benefit. However, the merging of gold with Glint’s global digital payments system also means travellers are able to benefit. With this app, there’s no longer a need to exchange cash when docking or flying into international destinations. “Our technology automatically converts your debit payments to the local currency, and the Glint debit card works anywhere Mastercard® is accepted,” says Davies. “That means you’ll zip through without the hassle and high fees of foreign currency booths.”
That should be a huge relief for anyone wary of how much they’re spending abroad. “When foreign exhange companies say there are no FX fees, 99% of the time that is a brazen lie,” say Cozens. “They sting you on the price at which you exchange or spend
the currency, i.e. they put an extra margin in the FX quote that they give you, up to 5% on average.”
Glint, by contrast, will seek to offffffer the lowest possible fees and be transparent in doing so. “One thing we realized early on is that our interests are aligned with our clients,” explains Davies. “If they are saving money then so are we. We’ll always be open about our fees – we want to make money by giving a good service, not by adding charges. ”
So what does Glint charge? Currently it’s only 1%: 0.5% when you buy gold, which is free to spend domestically, and only 0.5% when you spend your gold overseas. Glint also has a storage fee of 0.125%.
While there’s something retro about paying for groceries in gold, the benefits address very modern problems – notably inflation, which both founders identify as the curse of the modern financial system.
“If you hold money in your bank, it’s depreciating,” states Cozens. “Even though official inflation rates are 3% to 4%, in reality those statistics underestimate our true cost of living. If you are losing 7% on your money through inflation, in 7 years your money is worthless. It has depreciated by 100%.”
If you want to know why gold is so important, just look at the world’s central banks, says Davies. “They all hold huge gold reserves because paper money is too easily manipulated. If people can save in gold and use it as spending money, they’re independent of the systemic risks of the financial system. By using gold as money, you are safe.”
Safety is paramount for the firm. Glint is regulated by British financial authorities, and every ounce of gold you buy is held in segregated accounts at a tier 1 bank. In the United States, your accounts are FDIC-insured up to $250,000. The gold is held in Brinks vaults in Zurich, Switzerland and is 100% insured against loss or fraud.
Glint is set up so that if there is another financial crash and the world’s banking system does collapse, your gold is safe. Even if Glint itself goes down, your gold can be sent straight to you. And consider this: If there is another crash, gold will likely shoot up in value. It typically rises during times of stress, meaning you could be making a handsome profit when the stock market slides.
The ability to spend and save gold as money also has some very useful marine applications. For those cruising the Caribbean, for instance, basic annual expenses for supplies and maintenance can run $50,000. Glint’s seamless transition across borders provides immediate benefits, says Cozens. “Whether it’s a Painkiller at the Soggy Dollar or some engine work out of Free Bottom, boaters pay markups of 5% to 15% when making foreign transactions on a regular card. Glint lets you spend gold with full, instant liquidity. We charge you only 0.5% and there are no limits or no hidden fees.”
“It’s also reassuring to know that wherever you dock, your money will be accepted,” adds Cozens.
What about those saving now for a retirement yacht in 20 years? Saving in gold is a good option because it’s so simple and steady, says Davies. “If you go to a wealth manager, they can put your money into all kinds of things: equities, bonds, funds, difffffferent currencies. But chances are, especially over the last 20 years, you’ve endured a lot of risk and lost a fair chunk – and don’t have as much security going forward as you’d like. If you have a big dream, gold is the best way to make it come true.”
According to U.S. inflation statistics, prices have risen 54% in the last 20 years. In the last 30 years, the value of the dollar has effffffectively halved; in that time, gold has risen significantly against the dollar, from around $400 to around $1,300 an ounce. That doesn’t make it some wonder investment, says Cozens, it just means gold has kept its value, giving a satisfying certainty to investors wary of tempestuous financial weather.