“I am more concerned about the return of my money, than the return on my money.”

Mark Twain

Wealth planning and preservation of asset values

To create wealth requires a combination of skill, timing, risk taking, a bit of luck and a lot of hard work. Once wealth has been created its preservation and enhancement become a priority.

Many fortunes have been wiped out by investors who have not considered historic, economic and geopolitical perspectives when managing risk and protecting wealth.

Wealth Planning must contain the two vital elements of Wealth Preservation and Wealth Enhancement.

Wealth Preservation

The current problems in financial markets require investors to maintain the utmost vigilance against risks that the world has not experienced for many decades. In the USA and Europe, central banks are flooding the market with liquidity in order to prop up a banking system which is fighting for survival. Many major as well as smaller banks are virtually bankrupt but are being kept alive by the actions of central banks. In the last few decades, investors have not had to worry about the safety of banks. Today, this is an essential part of Wealth Planning. It is not a question of major banks being too big to fail. Any bank can fail. Also, investors need to understand that risks are not just linked to deposits of funds. Equally important is the custodial risk. If a bank fails an investor might not get access to his assets such as equities, bonds or precious metals held by the bank for several years if at all.
Thus it is extremely important to have a wealth preservation plan which considers all risks, be they financial, economic, or geopolitical. A precious metals strategy is a vital part of this plan.

Wealth Enhancement

The first priority must always be Wealth Preservation and there are times especially during economic downturns when this is the primary objective. But even during downturns in the economy there are many investment sectors that outperform the stockmarket. During the last ten years, for example, the Dow Jones index has declined 80% against gold. In the next few years stockmarkets are at best going to give a mediocre return and at worst decline substantially in real terms. On the other hand precious metals as well as certain commodities are likely to gain substantially during the same period. Thus it is essential to understand that the stock and bond markets are not the only investment markets and that when stockmarkets are in a longer term downtrend there are other investment areas to enhance one’s wealth.

Wealth Planning

For many years making money in investment markets has been an easy game. Most assets have appreciated and there have been no major risks to the financial system. This has now changed. Stock markets and property markets are in a major downtrend likely to last for a considerable time. In addition there are now substantial risks within the banking system which need to be taken into careful consideration when taking investment decisions. The dilemma for investors is that their bank will not tell them the truth since the bank cannot inform an investor that his funds are unsafe. Only a Wealth Preservation expert totally independent from the banking system can perform this role. This is the role of Matterhorn. We will assist investors in evaluating all the risks be they financial, economic, political or geopolitical. We will also assist investors creating an investment plan that evaluates these risks and identifies the safest investment instruments as well as the safest banks.