How to Buy Physical Gold and Why Not to Invest in Gold ETFs!

Gold: the ultimate store of wealth that has been used since time immemorial. A hedge or in troubled times, a 'safe haven' in the current crisis. If your wealth is stored in gold, then who really cares if the financial system implodes? Empires, currencies and rulers have come and gone... but gold has always retained value and purchasing power. Of the various precious metals, gold is probably the easiest, most liquid (easily traded) asset you can invest in.

Gold is a traditional hedge against inflation or deflation. Against currency devaluations. Against avaricious or incompetent governments or Central Bankers. Or shall I just say, in a less politically correct manner, that America is bankrupt and Gold is the only real money? If you invest in Gold, you no longer have to rely on the "full faith and credit" of the US government - which is declining sharply.

If you're reading this article, you probably don't need me to tell you why you should buy gold. It's actually an obvious decision in the current economic climate. The question is not so much should you buy gold, as can you afford to hang on to assets denominated in a declining currency like the dollar or the pound sterling or the euro...?

The US dollar typically rises or falls inversely with the value of gold. Recently, although there's been a slight increase recently, the trend of the US dollaris downwards. My view is that the dollar will continue to decline until the US economic fundamentals look better - till America comes out of bankruptcy, that is - and that could take some years.

In terms of your savings or retirement portfolio, this means that if you invest in things like bank deposits (CDs) the net return is most likely negative. Since the beginning of 2003, US dollars held in 3-month US Treasury Bills have yielded less than 3% per year (Source: Global Financial Data). Considering that the inflation rate over this same period of time has averaged more than 3% annually (Source: US CPI), the cash accumulated had less buying power in October 2008 than it did half a decade before.

The carnage on Wall Street, and the fallout around the world, looks far from over - despite what the Feds or the mainstream media might have you believe. Every time there is a new panic like another bank or insurer collapsing, a flurry of investors with dollars, euro and pounds start a new mini gold rush.

At the same time, demand for the yellow metal continues to significantly outweigh supply. The Chinese, for example, love gold and have plenty of dollars. China is keen to diversify its huge foreign currency reserves (by far the largest in the world) away from the dollar. A small increase in China's percentage of gold reserves would cause a huge increase in demand and consequently in the gold price. Asia, particularly the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East (think Dubai) are also seeing large increases in domestic gold demand as disposable income increases. When people think that paper currencies will be worth less in the future, they have historically looked to place their net worth into a more stable vehicle. And gold is typically viewed as a safe form of currency, as its value isn't as affected by inflation.

Why Buy Gold Offshore?

So far, so good. There's nothing particularly new or controversial about the information above. But I have always believed in a more offshore, skeptical, pragmatic approach. Like it or not, we tell things as they are.

Can we trust government to manage our finances? I think the overwhelming evidence suggests no. History shows that gold is politically sensitive, and governments (read Central Banks, particularly the Federal Reserve) don't like to see individuals buying gold. Why? Because they can't control it. They can certainly try. For example, in an earlier article you will find here, we asked seriously Will the US Government Confiscate Gold?

Then suddenly, as of late September 2008, we saw the US Federal Government beginning to limit the access of ordinary citizens to gold bullion - by withdrawing new bullion coins from circulation. (Suddenly and unexpectedly in mid-crisis the IRS also introduced a new form FBAR for reporting of foreign bank accounts)

What we can see from all this is that the smartest strategy is to keep your gold holdings outside your home jurisdiction -- where they will be well protected against all sorts of threats from governments to predatory ex-spouses. So you need to know:

How to Buy Gold Bullion Offshore

Gold bullion is the most liquid form of gold. If you want to buy gold with the idea that you'll ultimately sell it, then you will want to buy gold bullion. Bullion means either bars or coins. Fortunately, you can easily buy gold this way and just as easily sell it again anywhere in the world. If you need to break it into smaller denominations, you can for example exchange gold easily for silver coins like Panama's old Silver Balboa or Mexico's silver coins.

You can buy gold bullion by looking for offshore dealers. If you have a particular kind of coin in mind - like the Canadian Maple Leaf or South African Krugerrand, to name a few of the most popular gold coins - then do a search for that particular coin, or find the official mint websites. For example, check out the South African Mint or the Royal Canadian Mint. An interesting and more private option for Americans is restricted circulation coins. When you want to buy gold, these sites all contain helpful tools for finding local and international dealers of gold coins.

Provided you don't 'look suspicious' and you can prove the origin of your funds with some documents, it is quite easy to buy gold bullion coins anonymously with cash. Some countries, like France, charge sales tax on gold and so should be avoided. Others place burdensome restrictions on export, like major gold producers Brazil and South Africa. Others, like San Marino, are simply too far from major gold markets for purchase there to be economical - you would be saddled with high transport and insurance costs.

So where should or can you go to buy gold offshore? The undisputed capital of the business is Zurich, Switzerland. There you can buy and store your gold in the free trade zone at the airport. Major Swiss banks like Credit Suisse will sell you gold directly from their branches in Zurich Airport.

Most countries in mainland Europe are good for buying gold. Luxembourg, for example, is a friendly little place where privacy is still respected in precious metals transactions.

In the Americas, Mexico is another country where you can simply walk in to a casa de cambio and buy gold 'centenarios' over the counter for cash. Mexico has suffered from so many devaluations and is also a major producer of gold and silver, so investing in bullion coins has become popular there. There has been a serious effort in Mexico to introduce silver coins as legal tender. (For info on Mexican gold coins, known as Centenarios, visit here...

Urgent Warning: Here's why you should absolutely NOT Invest in Gold ETFs

In September 2008, shareholders in ETF securities were left high and dry - unable to trade popular commodity securities, due to concerns over the future of their backer, insurance giant AIG. Overnight, banks and brokerages stopped making markets in the Exchange Traded Commodities (ETCs) backed by the troubled insurer. The price of the stoc

Gold ETFs are vastly different to holding real gold. Turbulence, such as the above in the market, can affect the value of those gold ETFs markedly. When you buy an ETF you are buying electrons on a screen. It is not the same as buying real solid gold. What if the bank or fund manager goes out of business? What if trading in the shares is suspended, as for example short selling was just suddenly banned? What if the whole exchange is suspended as has happened in the past? Shares can be subject to massive manipulation and liquidity problems. I believe we will see dual gold prices from now on - one 'official' spot price, and another price dictated by pure supply and demand which will dictate what you can actually buy and sell real gold for in the real world.

If you own stock in an ETF, that means you own a stock that depends on the price of gold, rather than gold itself. No matter that corporations such as ETF Securities own gold. How much gold they own is not clearly discernable by the average "Joe Sixpack" who may own ETF stocks.

Even a downgrading by credit agencies like S&P or Moodies can drastically affect the share price in ETF Securities - as it has done! In September 2008 shares in ETF Securities products, which were backed by AIG, were down as much as 50% in one morning after the US insurer was downgraded by the rating agencies. The cold hard reality is that if the issuer of an exchange traded note goes bankrupt, investors holding exchange traded products backed by these notes will join the ranks of other creditors hoping to get their money back. With any gold ETF one does not own actual gold and cannot automatically or instantly redeem gold from the fund.

Indeed, to buy gold ETFs is adventurous and courageous - one might almost say dangerous - activity, in today's economic climate, with so many Wall Street firms going under.

The same is true, in my personal opinion, to the Perth Mint Certificate Program (PMCP). This program is run by the government of Western Australia, and is offered by many gold dealers and investment advisors around the world. The problem is, when you do due diligence on the Perth Mint program, you will see that you are not really buying physical gold. You are just buying papers or 'notes', and redeeming those notes later could involve substantial bureaucratic hassle. You are also reliant on the Australian government. If, for example, the US tried to confiscate all gold held by its citizens, do you think the Australian government would co-operate? Most likely yes!

Also be aware that if you hold shares in an ETF they are reportable for tax purposes. Physical gold however is not reportable. That's just another reason to consider real gold bullion bought offshore, rather than exchange traded funds.

Englishman Peter Macfarlane is an author and lecturer on offshore finance, investment, due diligence and wealth creation matters. After fifteen years advising high net worth clients on offshore asset protection structures such as companies, trusts and private interest foundations, he decided on a career change and now mentors individuals who are interested in creating, preserving and growing wealth in a secure offshore environment. Peter defines wealth in the broadest sense, believing that money is worthless if you don't have health and happiness. He is now joint editor of The Q Wealth Report, a publication dedicated to publishing freedom, wealth and privacy information for a select audience. More detailed articles about wealth creation are available at the Q.

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General information on hearing aids

Hearing aids have been manufactured and designed for people who need assistance to make sounds accessible. They cannot correct hearing loss but can enhance and help you to improve your lifestyle. Not only could they improve on hearing sounds but may help with your speech.

Hearing aids are electronic and are operated with a battery sensing devices which can improve all levels hearing needs by adjusting the appropriate signal. Majority of hearing aids today have two appliances which work independently. The hearing aid could help with your speech as you should hear clearer and how the words are spoken.

When you go to choose a hearing aid the audiologist should look at your hearing ability, take into account home and work situations, medical conditions, any physical limitations and cosmetic preferences which should provide them with enough information and understanding to suggest the best hearing aid for you. Remember you must be comfortable with the hearing aid and be able to ask if you need a different one.

Amplification can be a reasonably effective treatment for people who are hard of hearing but it has been met with resistance. Amplification can assist with speech understanding even in a busy and noisy location.

Most people don’t understand loss of hearing whether it be sensor neural or conductive, they tend to speak slower or louder thinking this will help the person hear and understand. With a hearing aid no one will need to be treated any different which could save uncomfortable and embarrassing situations especially with strangers and help you to lead a normal life.


Hearing Aid Repairs St Louis MO

Marketing you web site - Part 4 - Using newsletters, search engines and the yellow pages

Using Newsletters to market your web site

As I stated before, it can take several times for a potential client to begin to trust you. You also want to keep the clients that you have. Part of your marketing plan will be to stay in touch with your clients. Letting them know what is happening, any sales that you may be holding, or new products/services that you may have. A great way of keeping in touch is with a newsletter.

What is a newsletter? Simply put it is a communication between you and your subscribers. By offering information that the client may find helpful, you are offering a service to them that is of value. Immense value in fact. Your information may save them time and money. Building a trust between you and the client. This trust will turn to sales over time.

So what does it take to get a newsletter off the ground so to speak? Two things: First is to have the clients/customer sign up for the newsletter. This can be a simple email or mailing program. RD Web hosting has a mailing list package that is part of the hosting plan. It is simple yet effective. Click here to see it in action. The second thing is a newsletter. This can be written in any word processing program or in your email software. It doesn't have to be long and complicated.

Let's say for example you have found a new recipe. Something that you think your subscribers would be interested in. You type up the recipe along with an introduction and paste it into your email program or mailing list software. From there you send it to each of your subscribers. Cost? A few minutes of time. No printing or mailing charges required. Oh, by the way, in that little letter you sent to each subscriber, you place a little advertising for your web site or store. Or maybe you have 'sold' some space to a friend or business associate who may have something of interest to your subscribers as well.

Newsletters are a great and inexpensive advertising medium. Just remember to place articles of interest in the newsletter and not all advertising. There is nothing worse than getting mail that is all ads. Over time people will stop reading it if they don't find the information useful.


Using Search engines and marketing your web site

Search Engines (SE) are the mystery of the Internet. So many different types even from the users standpoint. There are over 225,000 search engines and directories on the Internet. How do they work and why should you care?

Basically, a search engine is a database of web pages that contains information about that page such as: where it can be found (URL); what is on it (Keywords); when it was last indexed; and a description (Title) of the web page. When you go to a search engine and type in your request (query) the database engine pulls up the data that matches your request. So a search engine is only as good as the data in it. How do we get that data? Most search engines are copies of the major databases. There are only a few real databases out there. So lets talk general terms. Data can be entered by the owner of the website. This information is then indexed and your site is listed. In the past that is how things worked. But we soon found out that people will do anything to get their website listed at the top of the page where they will be more likely to have the searcher click on their site. The owner of the database needed a better way. So programs where written called spiders to go out on the web and find websites. Then catalog each page of the website and enter that information into the database. Today that process is still going on. However, again the owners of the database have tried to make sure that the website information is correct and have been constantly changing the formula used to determine how a website should be listed based on it keywords, headers, titles, content, alt tags, etc. Some database owners even have people visit the website and make a judgment call. All of this is to insure that when you enter a search phrase into the search engine you receive the type of information you want. If you are happy with the search engine you will continue to use it and the advertisements placed on the search engine will help pay for the site.

Search engine technology is changing daily. To try and cover it here would be a waste of your time as it will be out of date tomorrow. So I have listed a site that does nothing more than follow and report on this technology. It is:
Search Engine Watch

What is important for us as website owners is know how to make sure we are properly listed and learn how to get the best listing on the search engines. So lets see... there are 1440 minutes per day and 225,000 search engines. That means if we spend just 10 minutes per search engine entering in our website information it will only take us1562 days to enter the information. But you should submit your website at least every other month, so you can see that is not going to work. There are all kinds of software and website services that will do this for you. But remember there are really only about 4 major databases that feed all those search engines. Even when your website is listed you may not have a very good placement due to other factors. As I said the database owners are constantly changing the rules. So what can you do?

Start with proper design of your website. Good content that is kept up to date. The spiders will find you over time and your ranking will improve as your use of keywords and content are evaluated. Other things that will help is the linking to your site from others. If you have good information, others will point their website to yours which will help your ranking in the search engines. All in all, this will take months to accomplish. But you want to start making money today!

Another way to get listed on search engines faster and at the top of the rankings is with PPC or Pay Per Click. PPC Search Engines charge you each time a user clicks your listing and goes to your website. In addition, many PPC have made arrangements with other search engines to place the paying website URL at the top of the listing (these are called sponsor sites). What does that mean for you as a website owner? Well, it means lots of traffic to your website that you can sell to over and over again. What will it cost? Hmmm how many secrets to give away in a free book :). Oh well, why not! The cost is dependent on how many other people want to be in the top listing. For example: Overture.com has agreements with Yahoo, MSN, AOL and others that the 3 top bidders for keywords will be listed in the top 3 spots for that keyword on each of these search engines. By the way, as of December 2002 those 3 search engines accounted for over 80 percent of all searches on the web. Think that might be a nice place to have your website listed? Ok, back to the example. Let’s say I sell training, I research the keywords and find out that the top 3 positions go for $1.50, $1.45, $1.00 per click to my website. I have a product that sells for $795 per course. I could bid $1.51 and take the top spot. But remember I will have to pay the PPC for each person that clicks on my link. It can quickly run into the hundreds of dollars. I could also pay $1.01 and take the 3rd position saving me $.50 per click. Not all keywords are that expensive...some are more :). Actually you may find your keywords very inexpensive around 10- 20 cents per click.
PPC also do not care about keywords, titles, headers, content etc. So I can write a more compelling description here that will call to action the searcher to click on my site. BUT, once there I want to do everything I can to get them to leave their email address in exchange for my free product or gift. I do not want them coming back though PPC again. It will cost me more money that way. If I have their email address I can send them my link in other correspondence. We will talk about that later in auto responders.

Here is a list of some of the PPC. Since they drive qualified traffic to your site I would recommend using all of them. You will find your keywords cheaper on the less used sites but that is still traffic that you can sell to.

www.overture.com
www.google.com
www.findwhat.com
www.looksmart.com
www.7search.com

This is a lot of work. I know I have spent hours on Overture alone trying to monitor the website, keywords, and ranking.
I have said before in this course that automation is the key. The more we can automate the more time we have to spend on other things... maybe the family?

Using Yellow pages to market your web site

If you have a local business then you probably already have a business phone number. Most business phone services come with a listing in the local yellow pages. Be sure to list you website address. This is much more powerful form of advertising then just placing your address and phone number. Remember your site can offer specials, gather email or contact information, give away items or gifts to your customers to get them to visit your store, tell the customer so much more than you could afford to do in the phone book itself. Plus many people will bookmark your site and return time and time again once they see all the great information that you have available on the site.

I hope you have found some useful information in this package. I have strived to put together information about most of the different methods you can use to market you business.

Visit Philippine Business Directory an online yellow page in the Philippines.

Comparing Hearing Aids For the Better Sound Quality

If you have to get a hearing aid, you want to make sure that you are getting one that is going to keep the sound as true to life as possible. When you see the many different models that are available, you may think that you are shopping for a car instead of a hearing aid. Before you make a final decision, make sure you compare hearing aids for the best sound quality to suit your needs.

There are basically two different types of sound quality that you will have to choose from when you are looking at hearing aids. You can choose a more traditional hearing aid that has analog sound or you can go high tech with a digital hearing aid.

Conventional or analog hearing aids are very popular because of the price tag that comes with them. If you go back a few years ago, they cost as much as the digital ones do today. Because of the advances in technology, the best analog is still priced much lower that the digital.

The risks of using an analog are that you will not get the sound quality that you can with a digital and that you also run the risk of getting feedback on your device. As you can imagine, this can be quite annoying and painful if you don't have your device down low enough. Imagine being in a crowded bar and letting out a scream because the bands microphone is not getting along with your device.

The digital hearing aid will be more expensive, but the sound quality is much improved. Now keep in mind that if you have not had to buy a hearing aid in several years, you may want to upgrade to the digital because the price you paid for your analog is probably about the same that you are going to pay for the digital one today.

If not, the extra money will be well worth it if you are going to be using it every day. For someone that is only putting it in now and again, it could be a waste of money, but the clarity of sound and the lack of feedback make this a very desirable choice.

Again, it really all comes down to preference and need. When you want to compare hearing aids, the analog will give you the better price, but less sound quality. You will pay a few dollars more for the digital, but if you are using it every day, the money will be well worth it . . .

Be sure to visit the authors website where you can compare hearing aids.

Digital Hearing Aids

Chiropractors Who Learn Life Skills More Likely To Excel In Business

Are you living a life of excellence? Are you everything you aspire to be? Those are the questions life coach and mentor Terri Werner asks her clients, many of whom are chiropractors.

Werner, who has a background in marketing, financial planning and business development, recently spoke to a group of chiropractors at the Karl Parker Seminar in Dallas, Texas. Her message, in the words of one attendee was “tremendous.”

Werner does one-on-one coaching, public speaking and is the author of several books and recordings on building excellence in your life and business practices. Says Werner, “I help a lot of chiropractors market their practice, look at vertical marketing, and how to get their message out, but I do that after we first address the issues in their life.” Her vision is creating a culture of excellence, one life at a time.

When a business or individual engages Werner to assist them, she first looks at what is going on in their lives in general. She asks, “Are they living in excellence? Are they living in integrity? Have they forgiven?” All these things that have to do with the heart and head coming together to create a dynamic excellence in one’s life.

Werner feels that once a person finds what is lacking in their life, and what they could do better, then all things fall into place. “I really believe everything has to do with everything.” She recommends journaling as a way to discover areas where a person is lacking and can improve. Excellence, she says, comes once a person discovers these things and works to change them. “I don’t think excellence has to be difficult. I really define excellence as creating an environment where the propensity to excel is easy.”

Werner knows from experience that anything can be accomplished when you apply these principles. “I had gone through some really tough things in my life…and I just decided to implement and do everything I could to create excellence. Doing so meant forgiveness and releasing judgments.”

Werner’s pursuit of excellence paid off in the form of a new book, Train Wreck to Triumph, as well as a partnership with Dr. Denis Waitley and NFL star Tim Brown to create a kid-safe web browser. She is currently working on a new project called A Question of Change. “The premise is that no matter where you are in life – whether you’re in trauma or grand success – requires focus on getting the right answers. In order to get the right answer, you must ask the right question.” This new book assists readers in asking the right questions to get the outcomes they desire.

Werner has been instrumental in helping many people enrich their lives, grow their businesses and become outcome driven by living lives of excellence. For information on her writings, audio books, speaking schedule or coaching go to http://www.lifeskillsalliance.com or call 214-783-8908.



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