With gold prices climbing by 18.5% over the
past year—to $1,487 an ounce as of late October,
outperforming the S&P 500’s 9% gain—it’s no surprise
that everyone’s talking about the yellow metal.SPONSORED CONTENT
interest in gold,” he says. “More companies are
selling gold coins; it’s become easier to buy and
store gold bars; there are several gold exchange-
traded funds (ETFs) that allow people to buy and
trade the commodity on the open market; and
there are a number of publicly listed gold compa-
nies that have shares for purchase.”
And people are buying. Since January, about
368 metric tons of gold equaling $17.9 billion have
been added to gold ETFs, according to the World
Gold Council. That’s the most money that has
moved into gold since 2016, when investors put
$22 billion into the market.
When it comes to buying shares, some people
are turning to what’s called streaming companies,
where a business buys a commodity from a miner
at a set price and then sells it for a higher amount
on the open market.
Vancouver-based Wheaton Precious Metals
is one such company. The fi rm buys gold at $400
an ounce from companies that primarily mine
copper but extract gold as a by-product. Wheaton
then sells the gold at spot price, making signifi -
cant margins on the sale. “We get the full benefi t
and leverage of a price increase—and gold has
climbed by about $220 this year—because our
costs are predictable,” says Randy Smallwood, the
company’s CEO. “We also work with some of the
most profi table mines in the world and have more
than 30 years of mine life based on reserves, so
that’s solid.”
Wheaton’s share price tends to move with gold
prices, but it usually outperforms the metal. Since
January, it has climbed by 32%, compared with
gold’s 14%.
The stock also pays a hefty dividend—some-
thing a gold bar can’t do, says Smallwood. That
all adds up to a strong investment. “Our shares
have outperformed gold on average over multiple
investment horizons and should continue to do
so,” he claims.
HOLDING GOLD FOR RETIREMENT
While some people like holding gold as a specula-
tive investment that they can sell at a moment’s
notice, longer-term investors often want to store
it in a retirement account. Keeping a stock in an
individual retirement account (IRA) or a 401(k) is
easy, but what about gold bars and coins?
Red Rock Secured, a Los Angeles–based
precious-metals company, has been offering gold
IRAs to investors since 2009. The fi rm was created
by CEO Sean Kelly after the catastrophic retirement
losses of the Great Recession, where Americans,
on average, shed 38% of their net worth due to the
collapse of paper assets. Red Rock Secured helps
clients move retirement dollars into gold-only self-
directed IRAs, without incurring a tax burden. The
clients control what goes into the account—and they
can choose bars, coins, or other precious metals,
such as silver, platinum, and palladium. Red Rock
Secured also offers vault storage services, or clients
can have their metals delivered directly to their homes.
“A safe haven asset like gold helps reduce your
exposure to market volatility. You can liquidate and
move back into a cash position at any time, and we
facilitate that as well,” Kelly says. “We believe the
best way to protect yourself from the growing risk ofContinued on S5