Latest / SILVER / GOLD / $UFD Meme Coin Investing & Global Economics / ⚡ALERT⚡ How will USA Cope with LOSS of 40 year Tailwind - Silver Price and Gold Price with Rick Rule

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⚡ALERT⚡ How will USA Cope with LOSS of 40 year Tailwind - Silver Price and Gold Price with Rick Rule · SILVER / GOLD / $UFD Meme Coin Investing & Global Economics

0:00
Let's look at the decade instead. 2000 to 2010.
0:05
The gold price went from 253 bucks to what, 1700?
0:09
Only a sevenfold increase. Does that work for your
0:13
audience? I think, I think they'll be
0:15
happy with that. Rick.
0:19
Today, it's a big honor to be joined by Rick Rule here in
0:23
Ron's basement. Rick, welcome to the basement.
0:26
Thank you for the opportunity to have a visit with you and your
0:28
audience. Well, I, I feel like I have an
0:31
unfair advantage, Rick, because I've spent probably 10 to 15
0:35
years watching interviews that you do on YouTube.
0:39
I have to admit, if there's one person who I feel like I've
0:42
learned the most from over the years where I have those moments
0:45
where I think, wow, I never thought about it that way or a
0:49
new concept had been introduced to me, it's usually when
0:54
watching you So. So thank you for joining us
0:56
today. Kind of you to say I hope I made
0:58
you some money over the last 15 years.
1:00
Yeah, Well, you've, you've got some great advice and some great
1:03
sayings. And if we have time at the end,
1:04
I want to ask you about a couple of your a couple of your sayings
1:08
that I've heard over the years. You know, recently I heard you
1:11
talk about this idea that from around 1982 until around 2022
1:18
that the United States had been in kind of a a very ideal
1:23
situation in the world and that things are changing now on a
1:27
geopolitical basis, on a World Economic basis.
1:31
Could you expound upon that a little bit for us?
1:33
I can, with the caveat or disclaimer that I'm really a
1:37
credit analyst. I'm not an economist, but it
1:40
occurs to me looking back over the last 50 years, that post
1:46
1982, post really the Volcker experiment raising interest
1:50
rates very high to kill inflation.
1:54
And the Reagan experiment, which didn't actually reduce the size
1:57
of government, but reduce the growth of government that we
2:02
entered into a 40 year period that was probably unparalleled
2:07
for the last 2000 years, unparalleled in the sense it was
2:13
probably the most benign economic epoch in recorded
2:18
history. Let's look at various things. 40
2:20
years of declining nominal and real interest rates, 40 years,
2:25
at least for Americans with the hegemony of the US dollar
2:28
relative to other currencies. So we could export a lot of our
2:31
economic problems. The demographic bulge of the
2:34
baby boomers coming of age, earning, saving, inventing,
2:40
working. The benefits, too, of
2:44
globalization. The good parts of globalization
2:46
where nations were able to trade more freely with each other and
2:51
focus on those attributes in their own economy, where they
2:55
had durable competitive advantages.
2:59
Incredible inclusion in the workforce.
3:02
The addition of women to the workforce, whether we care to
3:05
admit it or not, the more free admission to minorities in the
3:08
workplace. So a greatly, greatly expanded
3:13
labor force and greatly expanded economic participation.
3:17
Unfortunately, that began to change, I think in 2022.
3:23
A few things happened. And by the way, we squandered
3:26
some of the advantages in the last 40 years by artificial
3:30
liquidity, by excessive government spending, by debt and
3:33
deficits. But we were able to afford that
3:36
for 40 years because of these incredible demographic
3:39
tailwinds. I think the chickens became
3:42
began to came to come home to roost in 2020, but they really
3:46
manifest themselves in 2022 when the interest rates began to rise
3:52
when the US dollars rise against other currencies became less
3:56
precipitous at the same time that the baby boomers busted.
4:01
Which is to say we are now leaving the workforce, leaving
4:07
the savers, the saving force consuming rather than creating
4:12
where the good forces of economic globalization have
4:17
begun to be replaced by geopolitical competition and
4:21
nationalism. By the way, I'm not saying that
4:24
the world's going to go to hell in a handbasket.
4:26
All I'm trying to say is the next 10 years is going to be a
4:29
lot harder than the last 40 years have been.
4:31
And if your game plan involves an observation of the fact of
4:38
the last 40 years and you project that over the next 10
4:41
years, my suspicion is that you're going to run into some
4:44
problems betting on lower interest rates or a stable
4:51
dollar when the on balance sheet liabilities of the US government
4:56
exceed $34 trillion. And the off balance sheet
5:00
liabilities, that's a fancy word for entitlements, Medicare,
5:03
Medicaid, Social Security, all that kind of stuff exceed $100
5:08
trillion. I think it's mistaken.
5:14
You know, we played a smaller version of this game in the
5:18
1970s. We went into the 1970s having
5:21
fought the war in Vietnam and lost it and the war on poverty
5:25
and lost it, and we had voted ourselves a bunch of benefits in
5:29
the 1950s and 60s that were unsustainable.
5:33
The way we dealt with that, of course, is that we inflated away
5:36
the net present value of the obligations.
5:39
Over the decade of the 1970s, the purchasing power of the US
5:44
dollar, which is to say the purchasing power of people's
5:46
savings and salaries, declined by over 80% in 10 years.
5:53
Again, I'm a credit analyst, I'm not an economist, but I don't
5:58
see any way over the next 10 years that we can service $130
6:04
trillion in total obligations with a budget that's in deficit
6:10
$2 trillion a year without inflating away the net present
6:14
value of the obligation. I see past as prologue in this
6:18
circumstance, and I think that people who understand this will
6:24
get through the next 10 years just fine.
6:27
Challenged, to be sure. Those people who don't
6:30
understand it, I think, face some real misery.
6:38
What what about this notion? I heard somebody once say
6:42
mathematics shows no forgiveness on the altar of truth, that when
6:46
we just look at the numbers that you brought up, that whether
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you're talking about Argentina or Zimbabwe or the United
6:55
States, will we are, are we still at such an advantage that
6:59
we can defy the the laws of mathematics or or will the the
7:03
hens come home to roost? If you're looking to buy gold,
7:06
silver or platinum, do yourself a favor and check out Pymbecks,
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7:15
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7:28
And be sure to tell him that you're from Ron's basement.
7:31
Think everything's relative. I think the United States will
7:33
get through this better than other countries.
7:37
Despite our best efforts, we will lose the race to the
7:40
bottom. My friend Doug Casey famously
7:43
says the US dollar is the worst currency in the world, with the
7:46
sole exceptions of all the others, and we still live in a
7:50
society that is so creative that a group of teenage geeks can
7:54
commandeer a garage in Sunnyvale, CA and out pops
7:57
Google or Apple. The lesson that we learned,
8:00
however, Ron, is that it is our individual tenacity, hard work,
8:07
and creativity that has funded our collective stupidity.
8:11
And the fact that we have the ability to continue to do that,
8:16
even though the math gets worse and worse and worse, is
8:20
troubling for me. The world 15 years from now will
8:23
be markedly better than the world is today.
8:27
Getting from here to there, I think, will require some
8:35
understanding and some effort as individuals.
8:41
The lessons that I want to leave your audiences don't rely on the
8:46
state. Particularly if you're a younger
8:49
person and you think that the level of benefits which you are
8:53
going to enjoy when you retire are going to be as generous as
8:58
the benefits were which are available to me currently, You
9:03
are sadly mistaken. You are going to have to prepare
9:07
yourself for your own future. Very, very interesting.
9:13
You mentioned the 1970s and IIA, lot of people in the precious
9:17
metals community like to harken back to the 1970s when the gold
9:22
price went up by 17 times and the silver price went from $1.50
9:27
to $50.00. Do you without asking you for a
9:31
prediction, but when when you look at the situation now as
9:34
compared to the 70s, could you see a similar type of of of
9:40
scenario unfolding over the next 10 years?
9:43
You know, if you give a good salesman like me the use of the
9:46
word could, I can sell you anything, but I don't need to
9:51
make the upside case that dramatic.
9:54
Let's look at the decade instead. 2000 to 2010, the gold
9:59
price went from 253 bucks to what, 1700?
10:03
Only a sevenfold increase does that work for your audience?
10:08
I think, I think they'll be happy with that, Rick.
10:10
You know, I don't, I, I said this, I don't own gold because I
10:15
think it might go from 2450 to 2600.
10:19
I, I didn't make much money on five or 10% moves in my life.
10:23
I own it because I'm afraid it's going to go to $9000 or $10,000.
10:30
That's why I own it. The decade 2000 to 2010 was
10:35
relatively good to me. There was a rodeo ride,
10:38
particularly 2008, but that's OK.
10:43
But the sort of move that I'm looking for in precious metals
10:47
doesn't need to be a move like 1970s.
10:52
It could be a move like 1992 to 1996 or a move like 2000 to
10:58
2010. And I think, I think one of the
11:04
problems that precious metals investors have is they don't
11:08
remember time, patience and history well.
11:13
It would be instructive for them to review the history of the
11:16
gold price in the 1970s. You'll recall, or maybe you
11:20
won't, Right after decontrol for two or three years, gold went on
11:25
a pretty good tear, 35 bucks to 200 bucks.
11:28
Concern of inflation was out in the marketplace and as a
11:33
consequence, Congress allowed the Fed to raise the interest
11:37
rate in 1975. That caused the gold price to
11:41
fall from 200 bucks to 100 bucks.
11:44
So in the big in the middle of the biggest rally the gold has
11:46
ever seen, it fell by 50%. And Ron, I was there, shook out
11:50
a lot of the faithful. Right.
11:53
Those people who got shaken out by a 50% decline missed a
11:58
subsequent 5 year move from a low of 100 to a high of 850.
12:04
The lesson here is that you need to be both patient and you need
12:07
to be tenacious because you weren't going to get a straight
12:10
stair step move that is a threefold or fourfold or
12:14
fivefold move. There is going to be backing and
12:18
filling. There's going to be plenty of
12:19
20% declines. People who read history will be
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able to weather those declines. People that don't will transfer
12:29
some of their wealth to me. Right, right.
12:32
Can I ask you about silver? You know, we have, there seems
12:37
to be a new narrative or the new story on silver now is not only
12:41
is it a monetary metal, but the industrial component of silver.
12:46
We hear about the the mining production of silver not
12:50
decreasing significantly, but certainly not increasing and
12:54
that there's this deficit. How do you feel about silver?
12:58
Do you feel like it's it's in a different place now than maybe
13:03
anytime since you've seen during your career?
13:05
No, I don't. I think that industrial demand
13:12
is an interesting component of total demand.
13:16
Unlike gold, you know, almost all the gold that's ever been
13:18
mined has taken out of a hole in the ground called a mine, put in
13:21
a hole in the ground called a vault.
13:24
But silver, some of it goes to silver heaven It goes.
13:29
It gets used for solar panels. It gets used as a germicide.
13:35
And that underpins demand. But that underpinning of demand
13:39
isn't what moves silver stock stocks or even silver.
13:44
It's important to note, too, that silver miners only
13:47
contribute to something like 17% of new supply.
13:51
The rest comes from silver that's produced as a byproduct
13:54
from gold mining or lead mining or zinc mining or copper mining.
13:58
So trying to forecast silver supply is really difficult
14:01
because you have to understand the incentive to produce copper
14:05
or gold or lead or zinc. All of that is complicated, I
14:11
guess, by the fact, and I don't know why this is, but my
14:18
observation has been over the last 45 years, precious metals
14:22
markets, even aborted precious metals markets, are led by gold.
14:27
They're led by the fear buyer. When the momentum in gold
14:30
establishes the precious metals narrative for the generalist
14:33
investor to come in, silver, perhaps because of its lower
14:37
unit price, moves much further and much faster.
14:41
This occurs after the momentum established by gold is already
14:45
underway. It's important to note that, but
14:48
the result is dramatic and it doesn't happen because of
14:54
silver's industrial utilization. You can see this reflected in
15:00
metals equities prices. If silver were an industrial
15:04
metal, in the mind of investors, silver centric cash flow on an
15:08
operating basis would trade like copper or nickel, which is to
15:12
say six or seven times EBIT. But silver production in a pure
15:18
silver producer or in a royalty and streaming company trades at
15:22
15 or 16 or 20 times EBIT. Which means in the context of
15:27
silver equities, you need to think of silver as a highly
15:32
volatile precious metal, not as an industrial material.
15:36
OK, interesting. I I heard you say a few months
15:39
back that silver doesn't have to be loved to make a big move, it
15:44
just needs to be a little less hated.
15:47
Fortuna Silver Mines is a global intermediate gold and silver
15:52
producer. Since 2005, Fortuna's best in
15:55
class management has delivered impressive growth and profits.
16:00
Fortuna's solid financial position and operational
16:03
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16:08
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16:12
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16:15
Investing in Fortuna is an investment in quality, long
16:19
term, sustainable production of in demand precious and base
16:24
metals and. That's already happened the very
16:29
early part of this year and most of last year.
16:32
The sentiment around silver stocks was one of unremittant
16:38
hostility, and that was very bullish for me.
16:40
I love hate, you'll recall, back to the sort of silver squeeze of
16:47
2021-2022. Silver gained a lot of new
16:51
adherence. People thought that by coming
16:55
together and buying silver that they could overcome the historic
16:59
short positions in the paper market, and they failed.
17:04
There is no hate Ron as sincere as the hate of a jilted lover,
17:10
and silver probably benefited from having 500,000 jilted
17:16
lovers. If I would say something nice
17:17
about silver at the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024, the
17:23
vitriolic comments on social media were ridiculous.
17:28
These silver bugs would question the sexual practices of my
17:31
ancestors. Nothing could make me happier
17:34
than that. And as that hate began to
17:38
recede, what you saw is a great 50 or 60% jump in the higher
17:48
quality silver juniors. Not because silver gained
17:52
adherence, simply because the hatred associated with it lost
17:58
its vociferousness. You'll recall the same thing
18:02
happened in 2022 in the uranium trade.
18:05
Nobody wanted any part of the uranium trade when uranium was
18:10
at $20 a pound and had to go higher.
18:13
It was hated when the uranium price went from $20 to $100,
18:19
which is to say, when the price had already gone up fivefold.
18:23
That price move validated the narrative, despite the fact that
18:28
there was less money in the narrative.
18:29
Human nature is very odd. And very and very interesting to
18:35
to follow the psychology of what goes on especially in this in
18:38
the silver market. No, no doubt.
18:41
Would you say that it that maybe this has changed a little bit,
18:48
but that over the last couple years or over the last year that
18:52
gold and silver have yet to get any sort of favor from the
18:57
Western investors? Absolutely true, absolutely
19:01
true. Here's the statistics for JP
19:04
Morgan Chase precious metals and precious metals related
19:09
securities and investments comprise less than 1/2 of 1% of
19:14
the savings and investment assets of the American
19:18
population. That's down from A4 decade mean
19:22
of 2%. So in order to perform, gold and
19:28
silver don't need to defeat U.S. Treasuries, They don't need to
19:32
defeat NVIDIA, they don't need to defeat Bitcoin.
19:36
All they need to do is revert to mean.
19:40
If they revert to mean, demand for the stuff increases
19:43
fourfold. And that's precisely what I
19:46
think is going to happen. A reversion to mean.
19:49
JP Morgan Chase doesn't have data, but they estimate that in
19:53
1981, the peak of the last gold and silver cycle, that the
19:59
market share of precious metals and precious metals related
20:02
investments exceeded 6% and may as may have been as high as 9%.
20:09
I I'm not suggesting that their market share is going to take
20:14
out all time highs. I'm just suggesting that you
20:18
have a reversion to mean. And I think that a reversion to
20:22
mean would make a a rational gold or silver bug delirious as
20:26
opposed to happy, yeah. Yeah, I, I try to explain that
20:30
to my audience and I don't know that they grasp what I'm saying,
20:34
that I, I, I see what you just described as a good thing,
20:39
right? The fact that we have only .5%
20:41
of the investable assets that, you know, you can look and say,
20:44
oh, nobody likes gold, nobody likes silver.
20:46
Like, no, it's a lot easier or it's a much more profound
20:50
improvement. And I would say even easier to
20:53
achieve to go from .5% to 2% than it is to go from 5% to 8%
21:00
or something like that. But this is actually a good
21:03
thing if you can, if you can stomach the, I don't say the
21:09
hatred, but just the, you know, the, the, the, the challenges
21:14
that go along with being invested in what right now is
21:17
kind of an unfavorable asset. Ron, it's interesting the way
21:20
human nature works. If we were to buy physical get
21:26
goods, like if you were to buy a winter coat, you would prefer to
21:31
buy that coat on sale. You would prefer to buy that
21:34
coat for $200.00 as opposed to $400.00.
21:38
But if it's a financial asset, for some reason you would prefer
21:41
to pay $400.00 as opposed to $200.00.
21:44
If we bought gold and silver the way we bought coats or tuna
21:47
fish, we would all have better outcomes.
21:52
And people are stupidly impatient.
22:00
When people are investing around a long term strategy and they're
22:06
expecting results over over a long weekend, they're utilizing
22:12
a short term tactic to exploit a long term strategy.
22:18
That's just stupid. Yeah, patience is key.
22:23
You, you, you just wrapped up a big event and I apologize for
22:26
not mentioning this earlier during an interview, the Rule
22:29
Investment Symposium. I've heard several people,
22:32
highly respected people in the metals industry say that they
22:36
think it's like the best symposium that goes on.
22:41
Did you come away with any like key takeaways?
22:45
Anything that that you learned that you'd like to to share with
22:48
us? I'm not sure I came away with
22:51
any takeaways because I I selected all the speakers
22:55
myself, which meant that I was familiar with their work.
23:00
I had them all there for specific purposes.
23:03
The idea of the event as an educational event, which is what
23:08
it is meant to be, is that we bring in first of all speakers
23:14
around global macro who set the world stage the way it is, not
23:21
the way popular media would like you to believe it was.
23:27
The information you get from us is not the information that you
23:29
get from ABC or the BBC. Then we bring in portfolio
23:35
mantle managers and analysts who have made money in natural
23:38
resources constantly and good markets are bad for 30 years.
23:43
Not some failed investment banking hack that failed as a
23:47
technology analyst and failed as a consumer durables analyst, but
23:52
rather people have made money where the rubber meets the road.
23:56
My favorite feature is that we always bring in people who have
24:01
built multibillion dollar natural resource companies from
24:05
scratch so that they can talk about the fact that it takes 20
24:09
years so that they can describe the process, their successes,
24:13
their failures, so that they can teach you how to spot the
24:17
$5,000,000 company that's going to be a $5 billion company.
24:23
The last thing, Ron, is this conference has been going on for
24:26
20 something years. There is a very, very high
24:30
caliber audience. The idea that all the knowledge
24:35
in the room emanates from the dais out to the crowd is stupid.
24:39
There are 400 and something high net worth investors present and
24:43
another thousand or so online talking to each other, comparing
24:49
notes. This is really what it's about.
24:52
It's a community in that sense. And I have to say it was highly
24:59
successful. We in all of our investment
25:03
products, our online boot camps, this conference, all that we
25:07
have a gold plated money back guarantee.
25:09
If for any reason our attendees think we didn't give them the
25:12
money back, they just e-mail me and I give them a refund, no
25:16
questions asked. Thus far we have had no refund
25:23
requests from either our online or our live audience.
25:29
And in fact, in 28 years of offering gold plated money back
25:33
guarantees, I've had the refund less than 110th of 1% of the
25:39
money raised. So good, good, good information
25:43
being shared. I want.
25:45
To I want to switch gears and, and ask you about a subject that
25:49
can stir up some controversy within the precious metals
25:52
community community, the digitization of gold.
25:56
And I know that there's the World Gold Council and the LBMAI
26:00
believe are working on a, a project called Gold 247.
26:05
Any thoughts on that? And and I'd like to have a brief
26:08
discussion if if we could. I think it's wonderful.
26:11
I mean, first of all, digitization as a whole is
26:15
wonderful. You know, I'm a guy who lives
26:20
and travels and invests globally, and my life isn't just
26:24
in one currency. I love the fact that there's a
26:26
whole bunch of people out there competing to make more
26:28
currencies, which would serve me better.
26:30
I'm a currency consumer, and I want lots of competition among
26:34
suppliers. I'm also a gold bug.
26:39
I believe in its efficacy as a currency.
26:42
I believe in it being a store of value and a medium of exchange.
26:48
And as a medium of exchange, the way the gold market exists today
26:51
is clunky. It's difficult to make change
26:55
out of a gram, and buying it and selling it at a retail level can
27:00
cost as much as 7% of the purchase price if you're not
27:04
careful. Digitizing gold, Digitizing a
27:08
deposit receipt on a non fractional reserve basis, rather
27:13
on a 100% inventory basis, and lowering the transaction costs
27:18
through the block blockchain or distributed Ledger so that the
27:22
transaction costs are, you know, one 100th of a percent means
27:30
that you will be able to store your wealth in gold.
27:34
You'll be able to buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks with it, and
27:39
this is going to come. There are lots of people trying
27:43
to do it today, but you need a gold system that is
27:52
standardized. You need the gold to be stored
27:58
by a fiduciary that is continuously audited and has a
28:03
financial statement and a balance sheet that you can see
28:08
so that you know that your gold is there.
28:11
And then hopefully, hopefully several sponsors could issue
28:17
coins around that gold. There should be competition for
28:22
this digitized gold product. I'm 71 years of age.
28:29
This absolutely positively will incur will occur in my lifetime.
28:33
Good. My hope is that the gold
28:38
standard, pun intended, will be the digitization favored by the
28:45
LBMELBMA, pardon me, and the World Gold Council.
28:50
I think they'll have the backing of the gold industry.
28:54
With the LBMA, they will likely have the the backing of the
28:58
financial services industry. It will also in that case be
29:04
possible to store the gold which is digitized at various storage
29:11
locations around the world, perhaps any LBMA certified
29:15
storage facility which would include places like Brinks,
29:19
Loomis and Viamat. It would be useful if the
29:25
instruments which are issued against those deposit receipts
29:29
were redeemable for physical gold.
29:34
And I think that'll occur and it's hugely exciting for me.
29:39
So, so am I dreaming when I, when I hear of this prospect and
29:43
of being able to save, invest and transact in gold, that it's
29:49
that it's making gold much more functional for the, for the
29:54
average world citizen, but that it could also generate a huge
30:00
new level of demand for gold. As well, First Mining Gold is a
30:05
development company advancing two of the largest gold projects
30:09
in Canada, Spring Pole in Ontario and Duparque, located in
30:13
Quebec. Each already has 5 million
30:17
ounces of gold reserves, but exploration initiatives are
30:21
underway. At both.
30:22
Projects to find even more gold First Mining is well financed,
30:27
has zero debt and owns an interest in four for additional
30:31
Canadian gold development. Projects that's accurate.
30:35
I think the demand for gold will increase all by itself as people
30:40
become more concerned about the maintenance of purchasing power
30:44
in Fiat currencies. But I think that digitization of
30:50
gold would, if it occurred, and I think it will occur, greatly
30:57
increased demand for gold because it'll lower the
31:00
transaction costs, it'll lower the storage and insurance costs,
31:05
and it'll eliminate the friction in terms of using gold as a
31:08
medium of exchange. I believe this will occur in the
31:15
next 10 years. I've invested in a couple of
31:18
these technologies. The foremost is Argo, which you
31:22
know, the foremost of My Portfolio is Argo, which is
31:28
designed to operate around the World Gold Council LBMA
31:36
platform. I've joined Eric Sprott in that
31:40
investment. There are a lot of people which
31:43
are who are competing and striving to 'cause this to
31:48
occur. It will be important for your
31:50
listeners to understand that there will be a proliferation of
31:55
gold coin scams. It'll be important for your
31:59
listeners to understand that you don't want to store physical
32:02
gold yourself in a storage facility that isn't public, that
32:08
you can't see the balance sheet or the income statement on.
32:11
I remember in the 70s when people didn't trust government,
32:14
so they trusted their money to a bunch of fake storage facilities
32:18
who merely stole the money. It's going to be incumbent on
32:22
your listeners to pay real attention to the architecture
32:32
and the principles involved in these digitization processes and
32:41
schemes because some of these schemes are going to be scams
32:46
and there's going to be some highly effective pimps out there
32:51
trying to separate your readers from their money.
32:53
It it as important as understanding that it's going to
32:58
occur is, it is at least equally important to understand that
33:02
there are going to be an awful lot of traps for the innocent in
33:07
the process. Yeah, thank you for sharing that
33:10
warning. It reminds me of, I always warn
33:14
people that if you're going to convert an IRA into silver or
33:17
gold, I don't believe the company advertising on TV
33:22
telling you they're going to give you $10,000 worth of free
33:25
silver because if it sounds too good to be true, it's too good
33:28
to be true. I, I see on your shirt you're,
33:32
you're wearing your Battle Bank shirt today.
33:34
That's a company that I've had some interest and done a little
33:38
research on. Could you give us an update on
33:40
what's going on with Battle Bank?
33:42
Sure, we're ready to go save for the F for the FDIC approval.
33:49
The so-called tough regulator, the OCC, had us approved in
33:51
about 100 days. With the FDIC, it's two years,
33:55
four months and counting. Now, in fairness, the FDIC is
33:59
responsible for troubled, failed banks.
34:01
They've had a pretty busy two years.
34:03
And while I don't forgive them for this, I suspect that every
34:07
time something like Silicon Valley Bank or Sovereign Bank
34:10
came up, First Republic Bank, that my file got a lot of deep
34:13
little deeper in their desk. So what we're doing now is we're
34:16
going about the process of trying to acquire a bank, an
34:20
already existing, already licensed bank, something in
34:23
retrospect that we should have done two years ago.
34:26
There are several candidates out there.
34:28
It could be that there is a small bank that is under
34:33
capitalized that the FDIC is worried about.
34:36
Perhaps we could step in, recapitalize it and take over
34:38
management. Why are we doing this?
34:41
Well, if you dial this back to 1998, a great guy from your
34:48
hometown, Saint Louis, Frank Trotter and several others met
34:52
in my living room floor, then in Carlsbad, CA and out of that
34:55
weekend meeting called it came Ever Bank, A bank which we grew
35:00
from zero to $28 billion in assets in 14 years, where we
35:05
attracted a community of 275,000 people who believe that banking
35:11
could be better. And we did make banking better.
35:14
We had one U.S. dollar deposit product.
35:17
You could write checks against it if you wanted.
35:20
Unlike the products offered by the big banks, this had one key
35:23
feature that they didn't. We paid you interest, interest
35:29
on your checking, interest on your savings.
35:31
We didn't have 15 deposit products or 16 deposit products.
35:36
We had one, we were in the top quartile of interest rate payers
35:41
nationwide and we also allowed people to save outside the US
35:46
dollar. By the end at ever Bank, I think
35:49
we offered CDs, federally insured CDs in either 22 or 24
35:53
currencies. We also offered market safe CDs
35:57
that were indexed to things like the gold price, the silver
36:01
price, the X AU, the S&P 500, so that your principal was
36:07
protected, but you got a piece of the upside in markets that
36:11
you thought were going to do well.
36:14
These were enormously, enormously popular products.
36:19
That bank was bought in 2014 by a a big company called TIAA
36:26
CREF. They bought it because we had a
36:30
great platform. Rather than recreating the
36:32
platform, they could buy one that was profitable from
36:34
scratch. But a lot of the products that
36:37
made our bank so useful to our customers were of less use to
36:40
TIAA CREF, their primary audiences, retired teachers and
36:45
they didn't have a need for the sophisticated lending and
36:49
savings product that we did. So over time, they deemphasize
36:52
those products and in effect abandoned the 275,000 customers
36:57
that we attracted to Ever Bank. So about three years ago, after
37:03
getting literally thousands of emails from former customers
37:07
saying would you please do it again, but we decided to do it
37:10
again. We're forming Battle Bank.
37:15
Unlike at Ever Bank where we opened the door with a 0
37:18
customer backlog, at Battle Bank we have over 14,000 people on
37:24
the waiting list waiting to do business with us.
37:26
People who remember us from Ever Bank, we will no surprise have
37:32
no branches. If you weren't sophisticated
37:35
enough that you this, your phone could become our branch.
37:40
We want you to bank at another bank that cuts our non interest
37:45
expense by 140 basis points, which we can share with you as a
37:48
depositor or a borrower or a shareholder.
37:52
We will have one U.S. dollar savings product.
37:56
Write checks against it if you want.
37:58
Wire money from your own account if you want.
38:01
We're going to do something really wild on the lending
38:03
business. We're going to lend you money
38:05
against gold and silver, the best collateral we know.
38:08
No other bank seems to believe the gold or silver is good
38:10
collateral. This is wild to me.
38:13
We, we have learned that there's over $33 billion in gold and
38:19
silver stored in segregated accounts by Americans alone, and
38:23
there's nobody there to lend against it.
38:26
Wow. I have a sense of humor for
38:28
that. We will allow you to save
38:32
initially in 18 currencies, including the Canadian dollar,
38:36
the euro, the British pound, the Swiss franc, the Australian
38:38
dollar, the Hong Kong dollar. Particularly for first
38:42
generation American businessmen that are, say, doing business in
38:45
Taiwan and the US, maintaining accounts in both currencies and
38:50
enjoying very cheap foreign exchange transaction fees
38:53
between accounts will be a huge benefit.
38:57
In addition, at Battle Bank we believe that your IRA is your
39:01
IRA. At most institutions, your IRA
39:05
is a receptacle for their mutual funds or their annuities.
39:10
At Battle Bank, you can do something called a checkbook
39:13
IRA, where your IRA owns an LLC. You can buy a duplex which you
39:17
operate yourself. You can buy a franchise.
39:20
You can invest in private equity.
39:22
Your IRA becomes your IRA. And by the way, if you buy a
39:27
Druplex or a triplex or a fourplex, we'd like to compete
39:30
for the first mortgage business. So anyway, as you can tell, I'm
39:35
hugely, hugely excited about Battle Bank.
39:38
We did it before enormously successfully.
39:42
We have the same team rallied around a Better Business plan, a
39:47
14,000 customer backlog. We're ready to do it again.
39:52
Yeah, it's battle. Bank.com If you think if for any
39:56
reason you're unhappy with your current bank, which I bet all
39:59
your listeners are, go to battlebank.com.
40:01
Check us out. We want to battle for your
40:03
business. And it sounds innovative and
40:07
very high quality, just as I remember Ever Bank, having lived
40:12
here in Saint Louis and driving by on Hwy. 40 Seeing the Ever
40:15
Bank headquarters and people in Saint Louis thought very highly
40:20
of Ever Bank, but not just in Saint Louis, but I think around
40:23
the country as well that did business with them.
40:25
We had 275,000 customers, pretty good from a standing start.
40:31
Yeah, and it was an innovative bank.
40:34
I mean, very, very cool, Rick, you also have an.
40:37
Offer that you'll make. To our to our viewers regarding
40:40
being willing to look at stock portfolios, you want to.
40:44
Absolutely. If you're if your listeners have
40:47
enjoyed my conversation around natural resources and precious
40:50
metals, I can personalize it for them.
40:53
Go to my website, ruralinvestmentmedia.com.
40:56
List your natural resource stocks.
40:59
Please no tech stocks, please no crypto, please no pot stocks,
41:04
just natural resource stocks. I will personally, for no
41:08
charge, no obligation rank those companies one to 10, one being
41:13
best, 10 being worst. I will comment on individual
41:16
issues if I think my comments might have value.
41:20
Once again, that's rule investment media.com.
41:24
And by the way, when you're there, you'll see a question and
41:27
comments tab. If you care about Battle Bank,
41:29
just write Bank and I'll send you information on Battle Bank,
41:34
OK? And I'll and I'll have that link
41:36
in the description of this video as well.
41:39
One last question that you brought up tech stocks.
41:41
Do you think the tech stocks, do you think the Nvidia's, the
41:45
other big tech stocks are are. They in a bubble.
41:48
Right now, do you have any opinion on that?
41:50
I have no idea. I don't know how to value them.
41:53
I'm a credit guy. Yeah.
41:55
And I limit my own portfolio and the work I do to natural
42:02
resource companies where I've been active for 50 years, and
42:05
conventional financial services, not fintechs, but banks,
42:09
insurance companies, stuff like that, where I've been active for
42:13
40 years. I stick to my durable
42:16
competitive advantage. I don't want to compete with
42:19
those young geniuses in Silicon Valley around tech because
42:22
they'll give me a spanking and I'm too old to get spanked.
42:25
So I limit my comments to industries where I have a lot of
42:29
experience and I can do the spanking.
42:32
Yeah, sounds great. Rick, I want to say thank you on
42:36
behalf of myself and our viewer who's joined us today.
42:39
As usual, you've given us some great insights and, and I
42:43
believe a a, a, a good education in terms of what's going on out
42:47
there. Is there anything I forgot to
42:49
ask you? Anything I forgot to mention?
42:52
Well, what you forgot to do is tell me that you'll come to the
42:55
Natural Resources Investment Symposium 2025 in Boca Raton.
43:00
I will forward to seeing you there or having you there
43:03
online. Yeah, no, I will, I will be
43:05
there especially I have to say, like I said, I several people
43:11
that I hold very highly, I heard comment about like that's the
43:15
they think that's the best symposium that goes on around
43:19
the metals and natural resource sector.
43:22
So it sounds like a. It's no risk.
43:25
If you don't think you got your money's worth, e-mail me.
43:28
I give you your money back. And by the way, another good
43:30
thing about it is every single one of the public company
43:33
exhibitors is owned in accounts owned or managed by the
43:38
conference sponsors. Sadly, that doesn't guarantee
43:41
because I own a stock, it goes up, does guarantee that the
43:45
process is honest. You know, at every other
43:47
conference I know the qualification to be an exhibitor
43:50
is a pulse and a check that cashes in reverse order of
43:53
importance. At our conference we have to
43:55
know the exhibitors well enough that we own them.
43:57
A big difference and I think that contributes to the quality
44:01
of the conference. Yeah, yeah, I would.
44:03
I would agree. I think that's a key factor to
44:08
consider. Like you said, you know, in
44:10
other conferences, if you can pay the entry, free entry fee,
44:14
you get in. But with your conference, those
44:16
are I, I can't think of another way to say it besides the fact
44:20
that, you know, you, you eat your own cooking, right?
44:22
Like these are these are our organizations that you're you're
44:25
vested in. And usually my cooking's tasted
44:27
pretty good. You can see I'm not a skinny
44:29
guy. Rick, thank you so much.
44:33
I'll, I'll be, I'll be, I'll be bugging you again in a few
44:37
months to see if I can have you back in the basement.
44:40
I really appreciate you, not just for this, but all the
44:44
information you shared over the years.
44:46
I know you've helped me and a lot of people.
44:49
You're very highly regarded. People say that you're a nice
44:54
guy and and and and and and you've proven it again today
44:58
that you are, so thank you. Thank you for those kind words
45:01
and thank you for the conversation.