SmartMetals ACTION KIT

Transcription

1 This service [SmartMetals ] provides an alternative to the cumbersome and expensive options historically available to retail investors who often had to pay large premiums relative to the spot market price. Bloomberg SmartMetals ACTION KIT Hard Assets Alliance Members Rich Dad, Daily Reckoning, Agora Financial Reserve, Chris Martenson s Peak Prosperity, Mauldin Economics, Street Authority, Sovereign Society, Eagle Publishing, Oxford Club, Sovereign Man, Cambridge House, Capital & Crisis, Worldwide PM Exchange, 5 Minute Forecast, International Man, Leeb s Market Forecast, and over a dozen other trusted economic and investment research organizations.

2 Dear Metals Investor, Unlike traditional precious metals dealers, the Hard Assets Alliance allows you to tap directly into our wholesale dealer network and institutional vault facilities. 99 This member-only access assures you exceptional pricing as our dealer network competes for your business each time you buy or sell. 99 And it means you ll sleep easy when storing your precious metals holdings as we work exclusively with the very same highly secure, tightly audited, and fully insured vaulting companies trusted by the world s largest precious metals dealers to store their gold. Hard Assets Alliance members are able to take advantage of any of the six vaulting facilities located in the US, Switzerland, Singapore, London, and Australia. Before the Hard Assets Alliance, individual investors could never access this insider s wholesale network. As a member of the Hard Assets Alliance, you now can. REVOLUTIONARY CONVENIENCE Our state-of-the-art technology previously only available to professional investors allows you to log in to your ultra-secure account, and with just a few clicks, buy, sell, take delivery, or even store your precious metals. There is literally no simpler, safer, or more hassle-free way to buy, sell, or hold precious metals. In addition to extremely competitive pricing, the availability of overseas storage, and the seamless transactional engine (think of it like your favorite online trading platform), there are two additional advantages of joining the Hard Assets Alliance worth mentioning: 1. No Counter-Party Risk. When you buy and store your metals through the Hard Assets Alliance, you own the specific, tangible, physical precious metals products you purchased, held on your behalf in our ultra-secure vaults. That is in stark contrast to GLD or many bullion programs offering unallocated accounts, which are effectively claims on precious metals which may rely upon a counter-party to fulfill. 2. Unbroken Chain of Custody. With the Hard Assets Alliance, buying and storing your precious metals provides an unbroken chain of custody that makes it quick and hasslefree when the time comes to sell your metals. 2

3 The alternative of trying to sell precious metals you have stored at home or even in your personal bank vault can involve a serious time delay and added costs and hassles as the dealer will often require an assay to verify the quality of the metals. With an unbroken chain of custody between the mint and the world-class vaulting facilities the Hard Assets Alliance partners with, those hassles are entirely avoided, allowing you to log on to your account and sell your metals with a couple of clicks. (While somewhat off topic, the Hard Assets Alliance only deals in uncirculated, official mint bars and coins, the most liquid precious metals in the world. When looking at the offerings of the typical dealer, we find ourselves wincing at the modern rarities being offered and usually at high premiums. Buyer beware: These coins can be very hard to sell at anything more than melt value the price of the metal less the cost of melting them.) Here at the Sovereign Society, we have often wondered if there couldn t be a more convenient, safer, way to own precious metals. With SmartMetals, we don t have to wonder any more it s here. Erika Nolan, Executive Director, Sovereign Society When you add up all the advantages offered by the Hard Assets Alliance, it becomes clear why leading economic and investment research firms serving the research needs of literally millions of investors have signed on as corporate members of the Hard Assets Alliance and actively recommend the service to their clients. LET S GET STARTED! This SmartMetals Action Kit includes a valuable overview on intelligently investing in precious metals (including the best way to bury it in your backyard!). And, of course, all the information you need to take full advantage of your Hard Assets Alliance membership today. Just wanted to drop you a notice of satisfaction. For every concern I ve had, or question I needed answered, The HAA team has responded courteously, and been very helpful. Besides the excellent customer service, I m quite pleased with the program, the security measures that are in place, the diverse options that are offered, and the fee policies. Overall satisfaction has been Excellent! -- D.H. 3

4 To that end, we have included contact information should you need assistance at any time in the process. On behalf of the entire Hard Assets Alliance team, we look forward to helping you profit from your precious metals investments Sincerely, Olivier Garret CEO, Hard Assets Alliance 4

5 Table of Contents The Best Ways to Buy, Store, and Sell Precious Metals: A Comparative Analysis 6 Owning Gold When You Want To Not Have To 6 A Crash Course in Gold Ownership 7 Paper vs. Physical Metal 7 How to Buy Physical Gold 10 Storage Options 10 Internationalization 11 Offshore Storage Facilities 12 Top Recommendation: The Hard Assets Alliance 13 Your uestions Answered 18 FAs on Selling 29 Shipping 31 Storage Facilities 33 My Account 34 Other 35 Get Started Today! 36 Important Resources

6 The Best Ways to Buy, Store, and Sell Precious Metals: A Comparative Analysis As an astute investor, you already understand that the need to own gold and silver becomes more pressing with each passing day. At first, a small stash of gold is held as a value-dense, portable, and easy-to-conceal hedge against any number of crisis scenarios: currency controls, bank holidays, civil uprisings, or a rapid spike in consumer prices. But as confidence in central banks, paper currencies, and government debt continues to erode, upping one s gold holding seems wise. An easy enough decision, yet questions about what to buy, and where and how to store it, soon become pressing as your hoard expands. The number of options is daunting and growing, so how does the precious metals investor know which is best? That s an important question. Lacking skillful planning, you could find yourself with a coin menagerie that doesn t meet your particular needs... or selecting a storage facility with questionable integrity or poor oversight. You might overpay... or be stuck without an easy or cost-effective exit strategy. This special report is devoted to answering these questions. By the time you ve finished reading it, you ll be familiar with the options best suited to your circumstances and know the steps you can and should take right away. Owning Gold When You Want To Not Have To Gold preserves wealth. It has served as money for thousands of years. It has been history s premier life raft. If you can carry your wealth with you when you must, you may survive where others perish. Moreover, gold is the ultimate insurance policy against the ravages of inflation. As more and more citizens wise up to the irresponsible and reckless US (and worldwide) monetary and fiscal policies, they will increasingly turn to gold, which will make it much harder to acquire. That s what happens during periods of strain, such as the financial sector meltdown in At that time, gold buyers were forced to pay between a 9% 15% premium over the spot price to buy coins when they could find them. Shipping delays of days were the norm and lags up to four months were not uncommon. There were days when suppliers simply advised dealers not to sell because no one could promise when, or even if, orders would be filled. 6

7 When the next crisis hits and globally, national governments actions virtually guarantee one it s possible that gold will be unavailable at any price. At that point, it will be too late to add sufficient precious metals to your portfolio to protect your wealth and your standard of living. You can t buy flood insurance to recover after the deluge has hit. Hold at least 10% of investable assets in physical gold and silver. A Crash Course in Gold Ownership Gold is not spandex. One size of ownership will not fit all buyers. There are various options to holding the metal, and each will meet differing objectives and personal circumstances, including: How much to own, and where and how to store it Use as a speculation and hedge against currency devaluation As a way to hold wealth in tangible assets As a means of wealth preservation To achieve international asset diversification As money for family emergencies or in times of crisis Or all of the above. Each goal will be met by selecting the appropriately structured gold-ownership vehicle. Let s take a look at the options. Paper vs. Physical Metal The first decision is whether to own physical gold or paper gold. PHYSICAL Physical gold is where everyone should start. After all, coins and bars have been the store of wealth for millennia not paper receipts fraught with counterparty risk. Bullion is real money, and every investor should own a meaningful amount of gold and silver bullion regardless of portfolio size. 7

8 Coin selection is largely a matter of personal appeal, though we recommend each investor start with the most popular bullion coins: the Australian Nugget (Kangaroo), the Austrian Philharmonic, the Canadian Maple Leaf, the South African Krugerrand, and the US Gold Eagle. The Canadian, Austrian, and Australian coins are all pure gold (.9999 fine); the Krugerrand and Eagle (both.9166 fine) are alloyed with copper and silver/copper respectively. The Krugerrand tends to sell at a lower premium than the others and the Eagle higher, but all five contain the same full ounce of gold. One-ounce bars are another option and typically have lower premiums than coins. However, only buy bars that bear a universally recognized hallmark. Bars fabricated by little-known refineries might be hard to resell, and the buyer must also contend with counterfeit risk. A future buyer will want to see the stamp of a reputable refiner, such as AGR Matthey, Argor-Heraeus, Credit Suisse, Emirates Gold, Heraeus, PAMP, UBS, Umicore, or Valcambi. Several of the above coins are minted in half-, quarter-, and tenth-ounce versions. Fractional-ounce coins generally sell for higher premiums than their one-ounce siblings, and some buyers avoid them for that reason. But smaller weight coins could be very handy for transactions that don t require a full ounce of gold. In a strong bull market and with a reputable dealer, you ll likely get a good chunk of that premium back when you sell. We would avoid commemorative, rare, collectible, and numismatic coins, as dealers can ask indefensible premiums. Unless you are willing to learn about coin collecting, buyer beware. Large bullion bars are the choice for those with deep pockets; they also sell for the lowest premium per ounce. Due to their high value, they are almost always stored in a secure vault. The top three weights are 1 kilogram (32.15 troy ounces), 100 ounces, and 400 ounces. (Precious metal is measured in troy ounces that are different than the avoirdupois ounces used to measure things like food; 16 ounces of butter equal troy ounces.) PAPER, NON-REDEEMABLE Paper forms of gold are abundant these days, broadly divided into those that are redeemable for physical metal and those that aren t. Among the latter are exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. By far, the largest and best known of these is the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD). Each GLD share represents approximately one-tenth of an ounce of gold held in the company s London vault and is priced accordingly. GLD offers easy exposure to the gold price through your equities broker, and the commissions will likely be lower than the purchase premiums for physical metal. If you simply want to play the trend and book some paper profits, this is a convenient way to do it. However, there are caveats. Theoretically, shares can be converted into physical metal, but the conditions attached make that all but impossible for the individual investor, and the company reserves the right to settle requests for physical delivery in cash. In addition, the rather opaque wording in the company s prospectus has critics questioning whether some of the trust s underlying assets might be paper gold instead of bullion (the company denies this). And finally, the company s operating expenses are paid by selling bullion, so the gold value of a share is declining slightly every day. 8

9 A popular second option is closed-end funds (CEFs), the best known being the Central Fund of Canada (NYSE:CEF). Like ETFs, these are traded on major exchanges, are backed by vaulted bullion, and should not be considered a substitute for physical ownership. CEFs are another paper way to ride the precious metals trend. The main difference between closed-end and exchanged traded funds is that ETFs move gold into and out of its vaults as shares are created and redeemed in tandem with rising or falling demand. CEFs buy physical metal and keep it; hence the number of shares outstanding remains constant. Accordingly, shares don t necessarily mimic the price of gold. Instead, the share price responds to demand and thus can trade at a premium or discount to the net asset value (NAV) of the underlying precious metal holdings. A gold CEF will outperform physical gold in a strong bull market, as mounting investor demand collides with a static number of available shares and causes a premium to emerge, but it can fare poorly in a bear market as demand falls away. Gold funds can be part of a precious metals investment strategy. However, they are not substitutes for physical ownership. PAPER, REDEEMABLE Many gold dealers offer gold held in a pooled account, and two ownership structures are available: allocated and unallocated. Both offer delivery of the physical metal. An unallocated account means you don t have title to any specific coins or bars, but instead have fractional ownership of the total pool of metal together with other investors. Allocated accounts mean you own specific coins and bars within the total pool of metal. If you intend to regularly trade in and out of gold and never plan to take delivery, pooled accounts might make sense for part of your portfolio. The metal is purchased for a smaller premium than for physical, and most vendors offer guaranteed buyback that makes selling your metal quick and easy. Unallocated accounts tend to be the cheapest purchase option and often come with low or zero storage fees. Vendor reputation is critical, as the relationship is based on trust that the metal will be there should you opt for delivery, and that s not a certainty since you have no clear title to specific property (here, too, contract terms may permit the dealer to elect a cash payout in certain circumstances). Also, opting for delivery from a pooled account requires a fabrication fee. The fee and fabrication delays can be substantial depending on market conditions. A third option is a fully segregated account where specific lots of coins and/or bars are held in your name. No fractional ownership. No pooling. A segregated account does not incur delivery fabrication fees, but storage charges are typically very high. 9

10 How to Buy Physical Gold Your local coin shop is a convenient place to buy physical gold anonymously, but that s also where you will pay the highest premiums. The US Mint makes a few coins (mainly Buffaloes) available for direct purchase, though they re usually proof sets that carry a much higher premium. You could buy on ebay, where you ll save some premium cost and tax, but it comes with all the usual ebay caveats of seller integrity and product authenticity. For large coin purchases, you will want someone who specializes in precious metals and who has built a strong track record of honesty and reliability. You can conduct your own due diligence on dealer selection, or you can consider this list of dealers that we have found to be trustworthy. Although price should not be your only consideration, you can certainly shop around for the lowest commissions or special offers. For multiple purchases over time, it pays to establish a personal relationship with someone at the firm who will call you if an especially good buy crops up: Miles Franklin The Coin Agent Border Gold GoldSilver.com These dealers can also arrange the purchase of large bullion bars. If the purchase is made with the intent to store the bar, it s advisable not to take physical delivery yourself (for safety s sake if nothing else). Instead, choose one of our bullion storage options to maintain an unbroken chain of custody and avoid the cost of an assay down the road. Storage Options IN HOME One option is back yard burial (properly sealed PVC pipe is a popular choice). Subterranean gold is fairly secure, and it keeps your metal close at hand for fast access. Drawbacks include amnesia don t forget where X marks the spot and nosy neighbors. Best that you do some regular digging in the yard so the neighbors don t think twice about your new gardening hobby. And don t forget to tell one trusted person the location of your cache. A home safe is another option. One that s built into your house and concealed is best. Otherwise, get something too heavy for a burglar to carry off. You can also create hidey holes out of ordinary household objects and hope 10

11 that your burglar hasn t been watching a lot of YouTube videos that would blow your cover. Keep in mind that all in-home options are vulnerable to a determined intruder. We recommend you keep a few coins at home for an emergency, but more than that and your next step is going offsite for storage. OFFSITE A bank safe deposit box is the traditional storage solution for people whose holdings stop short of 400-ounce bars. They re usually close, relatively convenient, and generally safe from thieves. But as with every option, they re not risk-free. Safe deposit box contents are not insured against fire, theft, or natural disasters like tornadoes and floods; if your gold is stolen or borne aloft on a high wind, you re out of luck. If the bank goes belly up, or a bank holiday is declared, it may be difficult or entail long delays to regain access to your box. In the event of a new government confiscation (such as what happened in 1933), safe deposit boxes could be frozen. Once your gold holding outgrows your safe deposit box or the amount you hold signals it s time to diversify, the next step is to consider the most secure storage of all: a private, precious metals vaulting facility. There are a number of private vaults in the US. Occasionally, bullion dealers will offer storage for metal purchased through them at one of their vaults, relieving you of the necessity of physically handling the goods. However, another consideration is that many private vaults are not approved by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). Precious metals shipped outside of the custody of LBMA-approved vendors and vaults will need to be inspected and often assayed before it can be sold. This creates some delays and usually results in higher costs and lower selling prices than if you are selling metals that remained within the chain of custody of LBMA-approved vendors. All of the options above are viable, and you can research them to determine if they re a good fit for you. But eventually, anyone with a significant amount of gold will come to realize that keeping it all in one place means assuming some risk. When that day comes for you, we recommend diversifying your holdings by moving a portion of them outside your political jurisdiction. Internationalization First off, under no circumstance do we advise that you attempt to carry gold coins or bullion across a border. While it could go smoothly and it is legal the risks are too high. We know of numerous stories of travelers whose gold or silver was confiscated by an aggressive or ignorant customs agent. US federal government rules and regulations are murky, to say the least and far too complicated to go into here. Don t forget that the destination country will have its own set of regulations that control the importation of gold, too. And, of course, if anyone sees your metal, you become a prime theft target. Personal physical transport should always be an option of last resort. 11

12 There are a host of reasons to consider holding precious metals in a foreign location. First among them is to achieve jurisdictional diversification. Keeping your assets in one country, subject to the whims of a single government, poses the greatest threat to your wealth today. Going global now with your assets helps mitigate four serious risks to your financial health: Confiscation or outlawing of personal gold ownership. Capital controls the government limits or denies a citizen s right to carry or send any form of money abroad. Administrative actions seizure of property by a government agency without notice or due process. Becoming enmeshed in a frivolous civil lawsuit. Currency debasement/inflation that will lower one s standard of living and destroy wealth not adequately protected. Understand, however, that these risks can be reduced, not eliminated. There is no perfect solution. Nonetheless, political diversity is an essential element of an overall protection strategy against an uncertain future. Be aware, though, that foreign-held assets require greater awareness and planning: Access to your metal may not be quick and easy. Foreign-held bullion is for those with sufficient gold and silver already stored in their home country. Storing all your precious metals overseas defeats one of its purposes to have it handy for an emergency. The receipt of proceeds after a sale will often take time. The delay between selling your foreign-held gold and receiving the funds can be days. Offshore gold should generally not be considered as ready cash. While the US may pose the greatest threat, a foreign government could move to control certain assets as well. The risk varies by country and is generally greater within the banking system than with a private vaulting facility. Evaluate a country before making a selection. Choose a location with a history of strong depositor protection, governed by the rule of law, and solid property rights and select a vault with the highest reputation. Understanding and complying with reporting requirements is essential. More below. The bottom line: Gold stored abroad is all about minimizing risks and maximizing options. As your metal holdings grow and governments become increasingly desperate, diversification becomes increasingly important. 12

13 Move a Portion of Your Gold Offshore. Offshore Storage Facilities There are an increasing number of international storage programs from which to choose, but some are better than others. Here are the important criteria to consider: Safety. A highly secure, fully insured, and audited vault is paramount. Non-bank, vaulted storage. Private vaulting facilities are not subject to bankers hours, the sudden declaration of a bank holiday, or systemic risks within the financial sector. Segregated/allocated storage. No commingled holdings with other customers. Competitive fees. The lowest-cost program is not always the best solution. You shouldn t make tradeoffs between cost and safety. However, do look for comparable solutions and try not to overpay. Convenience. A straightforward, unencumbered program that offers the ability to liquidate and/or take delivery of your holdings at any time. Among offshore vaulting options, Switzerland is home to several and is arguably the world s best storage jurisdiction owing to its long, unbroken history of respect for private property. But locations like London, Singapore, and Australia are also attracting growing numbers of depositors. Finding the alternative that s best for you requires that you do substantial due diligence. It may mean considerable work to arrange for the transport of the metal to your chosen storage facility. Taking delivery can be costly and involve your presence at certain stages. And you could be responsible for filing the requisite paperwork with the government or face serious penalties. But is there one storage option that stands above the crowd, combining the benefits of foreign storage without the drawbacks? Yes. Top Recommendation: The Hard Assets Alliance Historically, there have been difficulties in owning and storing bullion, and not just outside the country. A lot of people want to own gold without having to handle it. Thus, many investors have opted out of physical metal and embraced ETFs like GLD as bullion proxies due to the sheer ease of trading. But there, you don t own the real thing, and you gain none of the international diversification that is becoming critical. 13

14 Others would like to escape paper holdings, but find their choices to be daunting, complex, expensive, or opaque. The optimal solution is one that: lets you buy and sell as easily as with paper gold. gives ownership in real bullion in an allocated account. comes with full transparency and safety. stores gold internationally but offers domestic delivery. has access to competitive prices. exempts the owner from US government reporting requirements. The Hard Assets Alliance (HAA) fills the bill on all counts. Here s how The Alliance employs Gold Bullion International (GBI). GBI is an institutional precious metals dealer that enables its clients to conveniently and directly buy, store, and sell gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. The program has already caught the attention of some big names in the financial industry. A Forbes article states: From its Manhattan headquarters, three-year-old GBI aims to bring liquidity and transparency to a market where buying and selling, by the small investors, are [sic]dominated by Cash for Gold merchants and sketchy coin dealers. GBI is not a broker-dealer, nor is it a bank, but like other startups, it is using technology to disrupt an inefficient niche in financial services. Fully allocated, divided interest registered in your name. Simply select a bullion product and place your order online. In minutes, the physical metal is yours and yours alone. Purchase premiums among the best in the industry. GBI uses a group of 16 leading wholesale dealers and recognized refiners to purchase metal. GBI bids your order to this basket of dealers, and they compete for your business, ensuring that you get the very best available price. GBI s Advisory Board has a who s-who of big names: Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC); General Wesley Clark, former four-star general of the US Army and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander; John Hathaway, senior managing director of the Tocqueville Funds; and Dan Tapiero, cofounder of AgCoa, the first US farmland REIT. World-class storage. GBI has partnered with non-bank, commercial vaults for storage, insurance, and transportation services to its customers. All precious metal transportation and storage is fully insured through Lloyd s of London. The allocated private accounts are verified by Inspectorate, a Bureau Veritas company, with holdings and valuations reported daily. Our vaulting partners are Brink s, Loomis, and Malca-Amit. Highly meticulous auditing protocol. Holdings are audited internally on a daily basis. An audit report containing bar lists is sent to GBI by each of the vaulting partners, confirming precious metal holdings on an aggregate 14

15 basis. GBI then matches the storage facility reports with its own internal reports to verify customer inventory. Customers can view their individual holdings online at any time. In addition, Inspectorate reviews precious metal holdings quarterly. No risky business. Because GBI is not a broker/dealer, it does not engage in any derivative, hedging, nor other paper trading activities. All trades are executed immediately in cash. Take delivery with the click of a mouse. Request delivery by logging into your account on the Hard Assets Alliance website. Shipping will occur in hours. Deliveries over $200,000 need to be done verbally via phone because these are sent by armored car rather than UPS/FedEx. Note: If you take delivery of a bullion bar, once it leaves the depository, the chain of custody is broken and an assay may be necessary when you sell. Exempt from US reporting requirements. As a domestic institution, GBI s US customers are exempt from both the FBAR and Form 8938 filing requirements if offshore metal storage is elected. One caveat: HAA does not hold the advantage that use of a foreign supplier would i.e., your account could become subject to seizure by a US court or agency, whereas that process is much more difficult if your metal is held by a native company in a foreign country. However, if your asset-protection priorities change, you can take delivery at a foreign location of your choice. Wide range of account types available. We offer individual, joint, corporate, partnership, sole proprietorship, LLC, trust, IRAs, and UTMA accounts. Our two most asked-about accounts are the IRA and UTMA. Here is a breakdown of each: Precious Metals IRA: The Hard Assets Alliance, in conjunction with the Millennium Trust Company, now provides a means to invest in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium while enjoying all of the tax advantages of an IRA. The Hard Assets Alliance IRA is a fully integrated precious metals IRA program, combining the purchasing power and storage options of HAA with the custodial services of Millennium Trust Company, to ensure you purchase only approved precious metals for your IRA. By bringing the custodial services of the Millennium Trust Company into its application process, customers are now able to fill out one simple application that covers the custodial account, precious metals account, and approved storage options. This is a simple and convenient way to buy and hold approved precious metals for storage in your IRA. Customers may make annual contributions, roll over funds from existing IRAs, and take distributions in the form of cash or precious metals. IRA accounts are easily managed online. Storage for IRA accounts is available in the US and Switzerland. Storage options within our Precious Metals IRA through Millennium Trust Company are available in New York, Salt Lake City, and Zurich. Please note: Storage in Zurich in an IRA is available for 1-oz American Gold Eagles only. 15

16 UTMA: The Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) account allows you to give the gift of precious metals to your children, grandchildren, and other minors. Contributions of up to $14,000 per year are exempt from the dreaded gift tax. The donor serves as the custodian of the gift until the minor reaches the legal age of majority (this varies from state to state, but is typically 18 or 21). Any of the precious metal coins and bars we offer can be held in an UTMA account, so a customer has the flexibility to purchase the precious metals products of their choice. Storage is available at any of our US or international vaults through our agreements with Brink s, Loomis, and Malca-Amit. As with all Hard Assets Alliance account types, our no-minimum purchase policy also applies to UTMA. If you d like to make a regular monthly contribution, you may use our MetalStream program to make purchases of as little as $100 per month toward 1-oz. gold bars and 100-oz. silver bars, available for storage in Salt Lake City and Singapore. See more on our MetalStream service below. Combining MetalStream with an UTMA is a convenient way for you to secure the future of all the children in your life, with low monthly contributions toward physical precious metals held in safe storage. Buy Precious Metals for as Little as $250 per Month. The Hard Assets Alliance MetalStream program allows you to purchase 1-ounce gold bars or 100-ounce silver bars in installments of as little as $250 per month, with storage in your choice of Singapore or Salt Lake City. When you reach the point where you ve accumulated the equivalent of a whole bar, you may convert your holdings to a full bar and either leave it in storage or take delivery at any time. There is no additional fee to convert ownership to a whole bar. This program makes ownership of physical precious metals ultra-convenient and allows you to average into your positions. Whether markets fluctuate up or down becomes a minor consideration. The main thing is that you ll be steadily building your precious metals holdings while taking advantage of the price smoothing of dollar-cost averaging. Of course, you can log in to your account at any time to cancel MetalStream, change the allocation of precious metals you buy, and adjust the amount you invest each month. Here s a breakdown of the available metals, storage locations and fees, transaction costs, and delivery options: THE HARD ASSETS ALLIANCE Website Metals Available Storage Locations Minimum Purchase for Delivery* Minimum Purchase for US Storage* Minimum Purchase for International Storage HardAssetsAlliance.com Gold, silver, platinum, palladium (currently only gold and silver are available at non-us locations) New York, Salt Lake City, Sydney, London, Zurich, Singapore No minimum purchase required No minimum purchase required No minimum purchase required 16

17 Minimum Purchase if MetalStream Applied to Account Buy Fees Sell Fees Shipping Fees Physical International Delivery? Storage Fees (annual) US$250 Gold %; silver, platinum, and palladium 2.5% or less 1% 2%, depending on volume and market FedEx or UPS fees, no surcharge added Yes Up to $100,000 in assets**: 0.70% gold, palladium, platinum; 0.80% silver $100,001 $500,000 in assets: 0.65% gold, palladium, platinum; 0.75% silver $500,001 $1,000,000 in assets: 0.60% gold, palladium, platinum; 0.70% silver $1,000,001+ in assets: 0.50% gold, palladium, platinum; 0.60% silver * With one exception: In order to protect our clients from a New York state tax on small purchases of precious metals, we have instituted a $1,000 minimum on metal purchased for storage or delivery in the state of New York. ** If the calculated storage fee for a given quarter falls below $15 (roughly $8,500 or less stored gold), a minimum storage fee of $15 will be charged. However, this minimum is waived for accounts with our MetalStream automatic purchasing service activated. The Hard Assets Alliance offers real bullion ownership, with the ease of online buying, selling, and delivery capabilities. A comprehensive checklist of HAA advantages: Simple to buy and sell everything can be done online. * No minimum investment with the exception of metals purchased for storage or delivery in the state of New York ($1,000 minimum), there are no minimum purchase requirements with the Hard Assets Alliance, including IRA and UTMA accounts. More info can be found in the Your uestions Answered section below. Open an account in a few hours no need to submit notarized copies of multiple documents. Easy to fund with a check, bank wire or ACH transfer (incoming only). Highly liquid transactions accomplished with the click of a mouse. Transportation and storage are handled for you (charges apply). Accurately assayed. Unencumbered ownership investors retain full title of the bullion. Fully insured all bullion stored by GBI is 100% insured through Lloyd s of London. A note about storage fees: As with many depositories, storage fees are based on the value of the stored metal. This means that the storage bill will rise or fall alongside the price of the metal. While other vendors may calculate charges based on the number of ounces stored, this is a temporary advantage. As bullion prices rise, these facilities will be forced to increase their insurance coverage. In turn, the higher insurance costs will be passed to customers with higher storage costs. 17

18 Physical audits GBI uses Inspectorate, a Bureau Veritas company, for physical verification of every bar stored. Geographic diversification store gold outside one s home country. No US reporting of foreign financial assets (FBAR and Form 8938). Physical delivery elect physical delivery of bullion at any time, usually within 48 hours, and sent to most countries around the world (charges apply). Cost effective precious metals are acquired from up to 16 competing dealers and refiners, ensuring some of the lowest prices available in the market. Very competitive fees. Limited regulatory risk gold bullion is not subject to changes in regulatory oversight by the CFTC. Excellent storage locations New York, Salt Lake City, Sydney (Australia), London, Zurich, and Singapore. Offshore storage for IRA gold storage is available in Zurich for American Gold Eagles held in an IRA. The Hard Assets Alliance is a far more attractive alternative than GLD and other paper forms of precious metals. It s just as easy to trade, yet you have the security of knowing you own specific physical metal, stored at a location of your choice (including internationally!), and you can take possession of your metal at any time. With ballooning government debts, runaway fiscal deficits, and myriad stimulus and money-printing schemes worldwide, the need to own gold becomes more pressing with each passing day. Take the easy step of using this exciting new service to protect your family s finances. Your uestions Answered About the Hard Assets Alliance What is the Hard Assets Alliance? The Hard Assets Alliance is an industry association of well-known and trusted economic and investment research firms that have as a core mandate to help clients and readers better understand prevailing economic trends and how to invest. After doing their own due diligence on SmartMetals and concluding that it truly is a breakthrough in how investors should buy, sell, and store precious metals, they agreed to participate in an alliance that has been formed for the specific purpose of spreading the word about this innovation. There are more than 60 members in the Alliance, including Sovereign Society, Peak Prosperity, Agora Financial, Mauldin Economics, Eagle Publishing, Oxford Club, Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Street, StreetWise Reports, SovereignMan.com, Cambridge House, and Street Authority and the list is growing every day. 18

19 In exchange for specific services rendered as members of the Alliance, these firms receive variable compensation from the Hard Assets Alliance, LLC, the company that owns the SmartMetals trading platform, but because its low-cost structure is a major feature of the program, such commissions are very modest and do not affect the prices paid by clients. Okay, let s talk price. How is the pricing of my purchases or sales established? When you create an order, we communicate electronically with our supplier network to get real-time pricing for the metal, quantity, and selection you ve chosen. We have no fewer than four suppliers in each region in which we offer storage/sales, and their offers are compared against each other to provide you with the best price available in that region. Your actual buy price is determined upon execution of your order, which typically happens shortly after you place your trade. How competitive are the prices available through the SmartMetals account? Extremely. When you take into account the flexibility the international storage and delivery options that your SmartMetals account is allocated and not a pool or paper gold the convenience and the competitive bidding on your metals orders (both on the buy and sell side), the value can t be beat. Of course, you may see a bullion coin offering advertised by others that is even less expensive but these are invariably loss leaders offered by high-pressure, high-priced coin dealers who will subsequently inundate you with offers for semi-numismatic coins or other modern rarities, a misnomer if there ever was one. With a SmartMetals account, you can count on consistently getting the best possible execution and very competitive pricing for your purchases, sales, and storage. 19

20 How often do you update your pricing? All prices are updated continuously in real time during market hours. Currently, the only time markets are closed for immediate trading on most products is from Friday 5:00 pm EST until Sunday 6:00 pm EST. Orders placed outside market hours are automatically converted to an under order. This ensures your order will not be executed for a dollar amount greater than you intended, in the event market prices move during off-hours. What is the cost of storage? Storage fees depend on the quantity of metals you wish to store the larger the amount of metals, the lower the fees*. Regardless, at any level, our storage fees are very competitive, ranging from 0.5% to 0.7% per year for gold, and 0.6% to 0.8% for silver. Storage rates are the same for all of our vaults. * A minimum storage fee of $15 per quarter ($60/year) will be charged for each account with a calculated fee of less than $15 in a given quarter. This minimum storage fee does not apply to accounts with our MetalStream automatic purchasing feature activated, regardless of the amount of metal stored. How does the storage fee work? Fees for storing your precious metal in our secure international and domestic vaults are billed quarterly and automatically withdrawn from your cash account. If your cash balance is insufficient to cover the fee, you will be notified. If you subsequently fail to respond to requests to pay your storage fees in a timely matter (and don t worry, there s a 30-day grace period), then, as you would expect, the Hard Assets Alliance retains the right to redeem the amount of your holdings required to pay for storage. The amount of the fee depends on the amount of metal stored the larger the amount of metals, the lower the fees*. * A minimum storage fee of $15 per quarter ($60/year) will be charged for each account with a calculated fee of less than $15 in a given quarter. This minimum storage fee does not apply to accounts with our MetalStream automatic purchasing feature activated, regardless of the amount of metal stored. 20

21 What metals do you offer? With your SmartMetals account, you can buy gold in all of our markets; silver in the US, Singapore and Australia; platinum in the US, Singapore, and Zurich; and palladium in the US only. We offer a variety of weights in the form of bars and sovereign coins. Please note, however, that due to local market considerations, certain purchase/storage locations may not offer coins. In the streamlined ordering process, you will be shown which metals and purchase options are available to you in each of our international locations. Currently, coins are available in New York, Salt Lake City, Sydney, Zurich, and Singapore. Are all metals available at all locations? Gold, silver, platinum, and palladium are available in New York and Salt Lake City. Currently, gold, silver, and platinum are carried in Singapore. In Sydney, gold and silver are available, while in Zurich, gold and platinum are offered. In London, gold only is available at this point. The primary reason for this is due to demand. We are working on increasing availability of metals to all locations and are evaluating demonstrated demand for our dealer networks. What types of accounts does the Hard Assets Alliance offer? We offer individual, joint, corporate, partnership, sole proprietorship, LLC, trust, IRAs, and UTMA accounts. How do I open a precious metals IRA? By completing an account application and selecting IRA, you will be simultaneously establishing an account with the trust company and a SmartMetals purchasing and storage account. The Millennium Trust Company, a well-known IRA administrator, will provide the required administration and hold your funds in trust for you. Metals will be stored at approved Hard Assets Alliance vaults in New York City, 21

22 Salt Lake City, or Zurich. We offer Traditional, Roth, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs for your convenience. Can I move funds from an existing IRA into my new Hard Assets Alliance IRA? Yes! The Millennium Trust Company will assist you with this process. Both a transfer and a rollover typically take one to two weeks to complete, as funds need to be transferred from your existing IRA trust company to Millennium Trust Company How do I create a UTMA account? UTMA (Uniform Transfers to Minors Act), available in 48 US states*, is a provision whereby an adult can transfer wealth to minors. In most states, the minor doesn t come into possession of the assets until the age of 21. In some states, the minor must take possession of the assets at age 18. Check with your tax advisor to learn the UTMA regulations in your state of residence. With the Hard Assets Alliance, UTMA accounts are free and easy to set up. Applying for an account takes approximately ten minutes. After providing basic account information, you can be ready to buy precious metals in about two business days. If you already have an account with the Hard Assets Alliance, you may use your existing username and password to set up the UTMA account. As a custodian of that account in the minor s name, you may buy on their behalf, but you cannot take possession of the metals. The metals are, after all, being bought for someone other than you. *UTMA regulations have not been adopted by Vermont and South Carolina. 22

23 What are the UTMA per-purchase minimums? You can open an UTMA account for free and fund it when you choose with whatever amount you like. Our full range of products and storage locations are available for UTMA accounts, and our no-minimum purchase policy applies. Or, you may apply MetalStream to your UTMA account and contribute as little as $100 each month (see our MetalStream section below for additional information). *UTMA regulations Do I need have an not account been adopted to by purchase Vermont and metals South Carolina. through the Hard Assets Alliance? No, the Hard Assets Alliance now offers the ability to buy precious metals for delivery and pay for it by credit card. However, in order to benefit from all the offerings of a SmartMetals account, customers must first sign up for and fund the account. With a SmartMetals account, just like an online brokerage account, your available cash balance which you can add to or withdraw from at any time, allows you to place orders online 24 hours a day, in multiple markets around the world. Once you open your account and it is funded, there is no rush to buy metals. You can leave the funds in your account as long as you wish, for example, until the opportunity knocks with the next pullback in metals prices, then execute your order immediately at that time. How quickly can I begin trading with the Hard Assets Alliance? Opening an account is fast and convenient through the Hard Assets Alliance s secure online system. Once your application is approved usually within 48 hours, and typically much less you can remit funds and begin trading. 23

24 What forms of payment do you accept to fund my account? You can fund your account by check, bank wire or ACH transfer. Funding information is attached in Appendix A for your convenience. If you fund your account with a check, please be sure to write your Hard Assets Alliance account number on the check. SmartMetals IRAs can be funded by check or bank wire, rollover from a 401k, 403b, or other similar retirement account, or as a transfer from another IRA account. PLEASE NOTE: IRA contributions must be sent to the Millennium Trust Company, which will post the funds to your SmartMetals IRA within one business day. You ll receive IRA funding instructions upon approval of your IRA account. Is there a minimum investment? No, there is no minimum order* to purchase metals in your Hard Assets Alliance account. Our no minimum purchase policy applies to all SmartMetals account types individual, joint, corporate, partnership, sole proprietorship, LLC, trust account, IRA, and UTMA and is available on every order, whether it is for delivery or for storage at any of our six US and international vaulting locations. No minimum order means you re not restricted. Buy any of our precious metals products, in any quantity, as available at any of our six storage locations, at any time. The choice is yours. Storage for IRAs is available in New York, Salt Lake City, and Zurich. * With one exception: In order to protect our clients from a New York state tax on small purchases of precious metal, we have instituted a $1,000 minimum on metal purchased for storage or delivery in the state of New York. What if I want to invest but don t have enough money to buy an ounce of gold right now? There is no minimum deposit required to establish your account with the Hard Assets Alliance, nor is there a minimum order applied to your purchase*. Therefore, you can open your account and fund it over time if you d like, such as with a monthly direct deposit from another account. You are also able to purchase any offered precious metal product in any quantity at any time. 24