Just another example of the growing demand for bullion that will serve to put additional pressure on the NY paper cartel.

Regards - VHF

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Opting bullion to balance mutual fund portfolios

June 4, 2010

ARIZONA, USA (Commodity Online): A growing number of US investors are opting for gold and silver bullion to balance out or even replace mutual funds based retirement portfolios.

IRA Metals, an offshoot of Arizona based Scottsdale Silver, has reported a 300 percent increase in newly opened self-directed precious metals IRAs in the past 4 months.

“The everyday investor is sick of losing money and people out there are looking to spread the risk. Bullion is a perfect refuge and a very secure place to store wealth,” said Davis Sullivan, marketing director for IRA Metals.

As early as 3 years ago most investors only ventured into precious metals as an afterthought, but the worst recession since the Great Depression combined with the current administration’s uninhibited spending sprees is adding an extra gleam to the future of gold and silver bullion, IRA Metals said.

Add to that the growing number of financial experts predicting the collapse of the US Dollar, and silver and gold bullion are strong investment options.

“Investors now have the option of adding physical bullion to their retirement portfolios. Gold, silver and precious metals in general have long been recommended by professionals as an important category inside a well-diversified portfolio,” added Sullivan.

As of Fridays close, the largest bullion ETF’s held approximately $54.7BN in assets (GLD held $49.2 BN as of 5/28/10 and SLV held $5.5BN as of 5/28/10). While ETF’s may be appropriate for speculators looking to time market moves, many advisors and investors are concerned about the legitimacy of their physical bullion holdings versus some certificate or derivative of the metal.