Sunday February 19, 2012

Putting your golden eggs in a safe basket

CORPORATE consultant Terry Ghani, 50, knows all too well about balancing a portfolio of investment strategies and tools to grow and maintain wealth.

“In today’s world of global economic uncertainty and geopolitical strife, it is even more challenging to hedge against the ravages of currency depreciation and inflation that constantly eat into our hard-earned nest egg,” said Terry.

He is executive chairman of MyNET Capital Sdn Bhd. The company is the Malaysian representative of the newly established Singapore Precious Metals Exchange Pte Ltd (SGPMX).

As in property, the answer is location, location and location. - TERRY GHANI

From Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi, Terry has been helping corporate and government leaders strategise and safeguard investments. He started with communications firm Burson-Marsteller in 1980 and later formed Quattro Communications as a partnership.

He established Terry Ghani & Associates before venturing into Vietnam in 2004 with the VA Group where he managed international investment road shows for provincial governments.

Terry has also been involved in the corporatisation and listing of major companies. His forte is in building corporate and brand presence in new markets. He sits on the board of several private companies and now steers MyNET Capital.

“Every day becomes a tight rope act, striving to ensure a balanced portfolio of investment strategies and tools. A balanced investment portfolio has many options. Real estate is a good choice and it is a tangible asset with excellent upside,” explained Terry at the launch of SGPMX in Kuala Lumpur recently.

The launch was by invitation only and was attended by the super-rich and their trophy girlfriends from as far as China and Kazakhstan. And in conjunction with the launch, specially minted silver coins designed by Malaysian artist Jolly Koh were offered to participants.

Said Terry: “Taking property as an example of a tangible investment, what are the three fundamentals when we consider real estate investments? Location, location and location!

“Let’s take a look at another tangible, physical asset class that is not hinged to Fiat Currency. Physical gold and silver – not promissory notes, not share certificates for gold or silver mines, but the real thing.

“For those who have acquired or are about to acquire physical bullion, the next big question is where to store it safely. How do you liquidate it faster than you could liquidate property?”

He pointed out that keeping such valuables in safe deposit boxes only provides a maximum insurance coverage of RM10,000 per claim for bullion worth a million ringgit or more.

“As in property, the answer is location, location and location.”

The answer meant a place with world-class security and transaction protocol as well as stable political and economic environment.

In the past, Swiss banks were the traditional location for bullion storage, but today, major wealth is made not in Europe and America, but in Asia.

The most pragmatic location, said Terry, would be Singapore, which was the only Asian country that has been consistently rated “AAA” by Moody’s, Fitch and S&P.

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