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New gold supply study by Veneroso posted at GoldMoney via Gold Newsletter

Section: Daily Dispatches

You can put real gold and other metals
into your Individual Retirement Account

By Ed Lee

Just when you thought that the economy couldn't get
any worse, an American Nobel laureate in economics,
George Akerlof (2001), says: quot;I think this is the worst
government the United States has ever had in its more
than 200 years.quot;

Agree or disagree, things are bad and getting worse.
Take out the statistical lies and misdirection the
government uses and we have double-digit unemployment.
I ran an ad looking for part-time eBay help and got
swamped with responses, including many people who
once made $30-$75 an hour and who are now willing to
take $12.50 an hour. That's called under-employment
and it affects millions. The government may not count it,
but it really hurts people. Nor does the government count
people who have given up looking for work. You might say
that quot;people don't count,quot; except in an election year.

The quot;Baby Boomer Bummerquot; headline of this article came
from AOL Financial, not me, and says it all. Costs of
medicines, health care, and nursing homes continue to
skyrocket. The average stay for an American in a nursing
home is 2.5 years and the average cost is about $159 a
day. That's $57,876 per year, or an average of $144,690.
Yet the median net worth of an American is virtually the
same as that including their homes but excluding any
retirement plans. The question now becomes what to do
about it, how best to protect your financial future and
retirement.

Besides the obvious, which includes saving more and
working until 65 or longer, the government, surprisingly,
has provided us with a golden tool to help us out -- not
that they will tell you about it.

Since gold is up 48 percent from its lows, investors who
bought what is widely considered to be the only real
money have done well in the last couple of years. Gold
bottomed out at about $250 and as of September 3 it is
above $372. As for the future, who can say? But a senior
gold analyst for Merrill Lynch last November gave his
opinion on CNBC: quot;I wouldn't be surprised to see gold
break $500 an ounce in the next few years, or to even
test its highs.quot; Gold's high, by the way, was $850 or more,
so there is plenty of room to move up from current levels,
especially when we get the government out of its gold
price suppression and anti-free market activities.

Many Americans need diversification, which can be
critical. They also need to know how best to buy gold,
how to obtain every advantage there is.

One of the very best ways for millions of Americans to
buy gold, silver, and platinum is via a self-directed IRA
plan, which defers taxes until you retire. You need only
a trusted trustee and a trusted dealer. Once it is set up
and your assets are transferred tax-free into your new
account, you are ready to buy precious metals and
many other types of investments.

This is why these plans are called quot;self-directed,quot; as you
get to select from a range of assets, including precious
metals, bonds, real estate trusts, CDs, stocks, etc.

The days of trusting some broker (that is, salesman) to tell
you what to invest in are over -- or they should be over
because of corruption at the highest levels.

Stockbrokers are told what to sell/push and rarely have your
best interests in mind. Wall Street has even contributed
heavily to the bankruptcy of a major country, Argentina. So
imagine what Wall Street is capable of doing to you and your
nest egg.

The company I have come to trust based on many smooth
transactions, is American Church Trust, which has its
headquarters in Texas. One of the best things about its
services is that they will not pay the dealer for your metals
until they have instructions from you and the goods are
delivered to their depository. However, they cannot tell you
what to buy or whom to buy it from, so you need a trusted
dealer with fair markups and high reliability. And many
buyers are overcharged.

There is one class of items to avoid that you might be offered.
They are very attractive and seem to be a good investment but
typically are not. Do not buy proof U.S. silver, gold, or platinum
eagles because the markups are way too high vs. the same
non-proof bullion coins. They come in beautiful, plush U.S.
Mint presentation cases and make great gifts and collectibles
but usually are not a good investment.

Of course, some dealers will tell you about the years/coins
that have been a good investment, but this can be a lie of
omission, as they fail to tell you about the losers. The sales
pitch typically starts off with how scarce/rare they are
compared to the regular bullion eagles and progresses into
how superior the proof coins are. The sole purpose of this is
to get you to buy a similar and even more beautiful product
for a much higher profit to the dealer.

Don't confuse collector coins with bullion material. Collector
coins belong outside your retirement plans and in your
personal portfolios or collections. Additionally, rare U.S.
coins are the most undervalued of all the top collectibles,
which is why I just bought the Eliasberg/Lee specimen of
the finest known 1913 Liberty Head nickel for about $3 million.

I refuse to sit on my bottom while the government ruins my
golden years via ruinous fiscal and monetary policies. Why
not have some bullion in your IRA and some rare or
semi-rare coins in your hands? After all, there is nothing
better than gold backed by gold as compared to paper
backed by gold. Diversification can help save your financial
life and help turn your retirement into truly quot;golden years.quot;

The U.S. Mint produces bullion coins for a profit. It sells
them to large bullion banks, which resell them for a profit to
regional bullion dealers, who again make a small profit. All
this is standard, doesn't amount to a lot of money, and
everyone is entitled to a fair profit. It is the dealer who
services your account that you may have to be careful of,
as he might have significant overhead to cover and must
quot;beat the bushesquot; for customers, which can be expensive.

The most popular bullion items cost the most because of
this demand and because they were recently coined, so all
those small markups have to be covered. A typical markup
over gold value for a current 1-ounce U.S. gold eagle or
Canadian maple leaf, is about 6 or 7 percent. But you can
buy back dates (pre-2003) of these two most popular gold
bullion coins and save 2-3 percent on average. Also, avoid
buying the smaller gold eagles/maple leafs (1/2,1/4, and
1/10th ounce) because the markups over gold content will
be higher.

The costs of striking a gold coin are about the same
regardless of its size, so avoid the higher striking fees
associated with buying 10 1/10th oz eagles vs. a
single 1-ounce eagle. Also, some dealers will tell you
certain coins are rarer and a better investment and then
charge significantly more in percentage terms. Boiler
rooms often do this, especially with platinum eagle coins.
Don't get greedy and look for an additional advantage, as
this IRA plan can be a great help over time.

U.S. gold eagles are .900 fine, just as all U.S. gold coins
have been since 1795. But the 1-ounce coins do contain
a full ounce of gold. The Canadian maple leafs also
contain an ounce of gold but in purer form. I prefer the U.S.
coins, as they are struck according to demand, and when
they run out of metal, the government must buy more gold,
thus taking gold off the market. Also, the government is
slightly less likely to confiscate its own coins than foreign
coinage. Remember the ban on krugerrands?

Besides bullion coins, the government allows many sizes
of bullion bars, such as 10- and 100-ounce silver bars, and
gold bars such as 1-ounce, 10-ounce, kilo (32.15 ozs), and
100-ounce bars. There are also platinum bars of various
sizes and weights.

This is merely an overview of the great opportunity the
government has provided you with to help sidestep the
erosion of your financial future and retirement plans.
Between 1801 and 1901 the U.S. dollar gained 95
percent in purchasing power. But since 1945 it has lost
90 percent of its purchasing power. This is why real estate
has been hot for years and why the top collectibles are
hot. It's not just foreigners who are dumping dollars.
Americans are also dumping dollars into tangible assets
that they hope will increase in value faster then their
dollars decrease in purchasing power.

In the last few years gold and gold coins have performed
well for those who put their faith in God and their money
in gold. Yet gold is still less than 45 percent of its former
high while the International Monetary Fund recently warned
that, quot;dollar depreciation will continue (on average) due to
large deficits.quot;

The choice is ours to make: Be an ostrich, a sitting duck,
or a person who will not accept these financial termites
continuously eating away at our financial futures and those
of our loved ones. I've made my choice. How about you?

----------------------------

Ed Lee is a writer and dealer in precious metals and rare
coins with 44 years of experience, the proprietor of Lee
Certified Coins in Merrimack, New Hampshire. He
welcomes inquiries and will send you an American Church
Trust brochure with no obligation. He can be reached at
leecoins@aol.com or 800-835-6000.

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Centennial Precious Metals
3033 East 1st Ave.
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Michael Kosares, Proprietor
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