5 Reasons Your Financial Adviser Won’t Let You Buy Physical Gold & Silver

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 20, 2020. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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In an age of unfettered digital access and do-it-yourself grit, today’s investors aren’t the same passive or uninformed clients they once were. Most are still not experts, but their lack of passivity helps them notice certain things that get them thinking.

For instance, most are aware that the U.S. economy is somewhat in a precarious position. Almost all of them know that their dollar’s purchasing power is about to take a plunge due to the Federal Reserve’s position toward overshooting its inflation target.

So, given all the uncertainties in the market and economy, and given the severe devaluation the dollar is about to encounter, many wealthier investors are wondering, “Why in the heck isn’t my financial adviser suggesting that I allocate a healthy portion of my portfolio to gold?” Good question. The answers, though, are underwhelmingly simple and utterly disappointing. Either...

• They can’t;
• They won’t financially benefit despite your best interests; or
• They’re afraid of the possibility that a lot of what they do the new breed of investors can do for themselves with enough practice and experience.

So when a client calls to complain that their portfolios are overexposed to a stock market whose valuations have unpegged from fundamental reality, or that their bond exposures (what financial advisers would call a “safe haven”) aren’t yielding diddly squat, and that gold has been outperforming stocks and bonds, financial advisers have to make the most predictable and most cliched sales/propaganda move: downplay or vilify the value of gold.

If even the smallest gold allocation can be one of your best investment prospects for the next decade, it’s like kryptonite to most financial advisers. It shines a light on all of their weaknesses, which over time can expose the fading relevance of their entire industry. It doesn’t mean that you’ll be a successful investor without the knowledge they have, but it does mean that the truly competent and honest financial investors who have your best interest at heart are few and far between. And most of these rare types would never underestimate the value of sound money.

But let’s take this slow and go over the main reasons in detail as to why your financial adviser won’t recommend gold. Perhaps then you’ll understand why gold’s recent rise has caught quite a few financial advisers ill-prepared, stressed out over having to repeat the same stale explanations, and for some, questioning the existential validity of their own careers.

1. Financial Advisers Are Licensed to Work Primarily With Equities

There’s a well-known saying: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Its equivalent in the world of financial advisers: If their licensing requirements and compensation revolves around equity and debt securities, then those instruments make up the majority of their knowledge, experience, and, ultimately, preference. Gold is often beyond their professional domain, as with other asset classes that don’t fall within the world of equities.

So if you’re looking for expert financial advice, you have to understand that a financial adviser’s scope of knowledge is specialized, hence limited. And if he or she makes grand statements about the broader economy, it’s often easy to recognize the bias of seeing the entire world from the perspective of the stock market.

2. Financial Advisers Can’t Make Money Selling Gold

They can be compensated with fees and commission for selling or managing securities—stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds—but they can’t be compensated for selling you precious metals. Besides, when it comes to managing an equities portfolio, financial advisers can charge fees for rebalancing your portfolio of stocks, as there are hundreds if not thousands of equities out there to churn. With gold, there isn’t much to rebalance, besides adding or reducing allocations. But this doesn’t matter anyway, as financial advisers can’t be compensated for gold trades.

3. Financial Advisers Don’t Want You to Withdraw Your Funds for a Separate Gold Allocation

Nobody likes losing clients, especially financial advisers. The more assets your adviser has under management (AUM), the more he or she can charge transaction and management fees. Plus, it’s a career booster, as financial advisers want to grow (not reduce) their AUM. Withdrawing your funds to purchase a private stash of gold or silver takes money away from your adviser’s pot. Hence the need to discourage gold investment. Now, if financial advisers were able to sell and manage gold, they’d be singing a very different tune. Sadly, they’re looking out for your best financial interests as long as it doesn’t run counter to theirs.

4. Your Money Is How They Can Weather Most Bear Markets and Recessions

First of all, no matter what your financial adviser tells you to include in your portfolio, the truth is, you don’t really know what’s in your adviser’s portfolio (whether he or she even has a successful portfolio to begin with, invests in financial instruments beyond equities, or trades derivatives among other investment pursuits).

But one thing is certain: Your financial adviser doesn’t “own” your risk. Should a recession hit your unhedged stock portfolio, or should your dollar-denominated assets lose purchasing power due to inflation, you must understand that those are your losses, not your adviser’s. In fact, your adviser will likely make money while you lose money, as a large portion of your adviser’s compensation comes from charging fees, not generating market returns.

5. Gold and Broad Market Index Funds Make Financial Advisers Virtually Irrelevant

No person can consistently time the markets or call tops or bottoms. No adviser can successfully predict sector rotations, as sector rotations appear virtually random (Fisher Investments research has done a great job demonstrating this in a published study). And no financial adviser can help you hedge your portfolio against inflation using only stocks and bonds (annuity contracts are yet another beast to avoid, though that exceeds the scope of this article).

Given all these unknowns, your best bet is to diversify, don’t try to time markets, and don’t over-concentrate your portfolio in any given sector. And when it comes to diversifying your stock portfolio, what simpler and more effective way to accomplish this than by simply buying an index fund? Index funds are passive; you buy, hold, and dollar-cost average. Why would you need to pay a financial adviser to manage your funds when you can simply purchase a “passive” S&P 500 ETF?

When it comes to hedging your portfolio and other assets against inflation, simply go to a reputable gold dealer, and buy physical gold (paper gold doesn’t count, as you technically don’t own anything other than a promissory note). Learn something about making balanced allocations, and add a comfortable percentage of gold and silver to your portfolio (anywhere from 5 percent to 25 percent depending on your long-term financial goals and risk tolerance).

Want to weather all storms while not missing out on any market opportunities? Divide your portfolio into four parts: 25 percent S&P 500, 25 percent investment-grade bonds, 25 percent gold, and 25 percent cash.

The Bottom Line

Some of these suggestions may seem simplistic to you, as it certainly will to a financial adviser who has a much more complex understanding of certain markets. But there’s a point where complexity adds more risk and fragility to a strategy. Investing is simple to do once you’ve learned a few basic principles. Why pay extra for a narrow scope of complexity that may not be applicable to all market and economic scenarios? Why always use a hammer when there are plenty of other tools you can use to build your financial future?

And among these other tools, gold happens to be one of the most applicable and necessary to survive the current economic environment; and it will be for the next decade, given the Fed’s inflationary policies. Yet financial advisers can neither profit from it nor knowledgeably advise clients on gold—both signify a loss to their bottom line. And that’s why most financial advisers are finding gold to be a bit distressing, as its rise may be with us for at least the next decade.

GSI Exchange is an A+-rated firm with the BBB, AAA-rated with the BCA, Forbes Finance Council listed, and Platinum Dun & Bradstreet verified. Call 833-GSI-GOLD or visit us on the web at GSIExchange.com to get more information or set up an account to convert savings into gold or silver and rollover IRA or 401(k) into physical precious metal IRA accounts, tax-free and penalty-free.

By Anthony Allen Anderson, Senior Partner

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