Commonwealth Vault offers investors a smart, future-focused way to strengthen their portfolios with tangible assets that hold their value long term.
Now, with a newly secured College Hill facility featuring private safety deposit boxes, Commonwealth Vault is making it easier than ever for customers to buy, store and protect their precious metals with total confidence. General manager Myles Chandler sits down with Verve.
Many readers will be more familiar with stocks and bonds than bullion. Could you walk us through its key advantages?
Actions speak louder than words: the central banks that actually print paper money still want gold on their balance sheets. The key advantages are that in times of uncertainty or crises when paper currencies may take a hit, gold and silver holds or increases value, and gold has a long term expected return roughly equal to inflation plus a small premium.
There’s a perception that investing in precious metals is speculative, or only for the very wealthy.
That perception doesn’t hold up. Gold – and especially silver – has been the way ordinary people traditionally put a little aside. With silver coins at around $100 and the wide range of smaller gold bars, little amounts can be purchased and stored by everyone. Of course, gold and silver can swing 20% in a year but if you’re in it for the long term, these swings are only noise.
You emphasise the “safe-haven” qualities of bullion. Could you explain more?
Gold and silver earn safe-haven status by acting as a reliable store of value during periods of economic turbulence. Being in control of your own gold and silver means you’re not beholden to any single government’s actions or central bank inflation. Gold has never gone to zero; hundreds of paper currencies have.
Protect what matters. Book your safe deposit box at Commonwealth Vault.
Tell us about the new storage facility in College Hill.
Our state-of-the art Hargreaves Street facility offers rental safe deposit boxes of various sizes, including outright purchase. What sets our vault apart is the fact that it’s drive in, meaning customers have total security. The vault has multi-layered, 24-hour security and monitoring, including cameras and sensors. Your face and fingerprint are scanned before access is granted, and staff accompany each person into the vault as a staff master key is required – as well as your personal key – to open your box. Comfortable, secure private viewing rooms are available, and bullion purchases can be delivered straight there.
What should everyone know about this kind of investment?
The most important thing is not the buying of gold and silver, but the selling of it. So, it’s vital you buy from a recognised dealer and buy bars or coins that are universally recognised like Canadian Maple, American Eagle/Buffalo, Vienna Philharmonic, or 1oz government-minted coins. Secondly, people who buy ‘rare’ gold coins from TV shopping channels or local coin shows vastly overpay and never recoup value. Finally, keeping everything at home ‘because banks aren’t safe’ is a recipe for disaster as the size, value and easy sale of bullion means your home safe is an easy target.
How do you see the role of tangible assets evolving in a world that is increasingly digital?
To look ahead, we need to look back. Gold and silver have been accepted as money for more than 3,000 years. Tangible assets like gold and silver that you own and control will continue to protect your purchasing power for the next 3,000 years.
Join the growing number of New Zealanders choosing to protect their future with precious metals. To get started visit commonwealthvault.co.nz. 30 Hargreaves Street, St Marys Bay.
