GOLD STANDARD

Even with the stock market at an all-time high, the importance of having gold, silver and other precious metals as part of your portfolio cannot be understated.

No matter if the stock market continues to rise – which we all hope it does – or if it declines in any way, shape or form, it is nevertheless imperative to have precious metals as part of your investment strategy.

Take it from Trevor Gerszt, CEO of Goldco in Woodland Hills, California, the nation’s leading retirement service company for gold and silver IRAs.

“People need to be thinking proactively,” Gerszt says. “They should be thinking about what is going to be happening in the near future and ‘how should I be protecting myself.’”

With that said, precious metals may be the best and most realistic hedge and diversification strategy … especially with the staggering U.S. government debt creeping over $20 trillion.

“The main reason why I am a big believer in precious metals – and to hold them for the long run – is because of our $20 trillion debt,” Gerszt says. “This debt is too massive. It’s a hole that is too big to fill. The problem is too big to solve. I personally don’t see a way out of it. It’s a ticking time bomb.”

This mammoth deficit has caused investors – and the population – to look for an alternative currency like cryptocurrency, which has become so popular because it is decentralized and in limited supply. This served as the catalyst for Gerszt to recently establish CoinIRA, a subsidiary of Goldco that provides investors with the opportunity to save for retirement by investing in Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital currencies as part of a self-directed IRA.

“The reason it’s become so popular tells us that the population is craving something different and that they don’t trust the monetary system,” Gerszt says. “The only thing do is to take a proactive approach and hedge yourself with gold, silver and other precious metals like platinum and palladium. To me, that is the only band aid we can put on this open wound that we call our deficit.”

And it is this debt that is going to cause gold and silver prices to go up in the future.

Gerszt works closely with former U.S. Presidential candidate Ron Paul, who says, “I’ve been a long-time advocate of owning precious metals and I’m happy to work with Goldco in promoting the value of gold and silver to protect Americans’ retirement assets against the Federal Reserve’s continued inflationary monetary policy.”

Gerszt came to the U.S. from South Africa when he was six years old. By then, he was already fascinated with gold and silver coins.

“As a young boy in South Africa, I would get silver dollars on birthdays and Jewish holidays,” he says. “I would look at these older coins and was amazed. I would savor them and collect them.”

Gerszt was not into toys, playing games, collecting stamps or baseball cards. His hobby was silver dollars.

“I loved the way they felt and looked,” he says. “They were so different from regular coins. When you click them together, they made a beautiful sound that didn’t sound like any other coin.”

After high school, Gerszt planned to go to a junior college then transfer to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); however, he started working in real estate while he was attending school and began earning quite a good living.

Then came the 2008 real estate crash.

“After that, I had a really bad taste in my mouth from real estate and the mortgage industry,” he says. “I decided I wanted to be in a business that could put people in a position of security and stability.”

That’s when he looked to gold and silver.

“I knew the importance and the concept of owning physical gold and silver, but what I didn’t realize was that it took me back to my childhood,” he says. “It was really nostalgic and reminded me of when I was a kid collecting coins.

“So when I understood I was touching a passion – the collector side of me – and providing a service to create stability and wealth preservation, I was hooked.”

He launched Goldco in 2006 and the company has been thriving ever since. The firm has more than 100 employees, 10,000 clients and generates more than $200 million in business.

Over the years, some companies in the precious metals industry haven’t always had the best business practices. In some cases, individuals were led to believe they were purchasing physical gold, but they never took possession of it and were charged unrealistic fees. There were even situations where companies weren’t actually delivering precious metals at all.

Then there were companies who weren’t properly servicing their clients. When a precious metals company provides an investor with gold and silver for their retirement account, the firm actually becomes a service provider where it is in close contact with the client on a quarterly basis because they need account valuation or distribution help.

“I saw a need for investors and decided I wanted to build a company that not only provided the precious metals as a dealer but also excellent client service,” Gerszt says.

“I wanted my own company where I could build a great corporate culture, shape the values and engage clients each day by meeting and exceeding their expectations.”

What makes Goldco’s gold and silver IRAs unique are the coins that it offers. Gerszt has exclusive relationships with the UK’s Royal Mint and the Royal Canadian Mint. He also hand picks rare coins that are not available anywhere else and where the potential for growth over the long-term is far greater than the coins other companies offer.

Additionally, Gerszt places a special emphasis on servicing clients with IRAs.

“The way I look at it is that we’re a precious metals dealer that offers a great client experience,” he says. “We really take the time to understand each individual’s investment objectives and unique financial situation. Most importantly, we build our relationship on trust and empower our clients with the resources they need to help reach their goals.”

Copyright © 2020 California Business Journal. All Rights Reserved.

TO READ THE MAGAZINE VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE, click here.