The story I’m about to tell you today is most likely true…
It deals with Gypsies, the Roman Empire, and the mysterious mountains of Transylvania. Among the many stories I was told in Romania — tales of vampires, ghosts, and invasions — one of the most interesting had to do with gold and wealth.
And it couldn’t have come at a better time for investors.
You see, I spent a week in Romania this month for work. It’s not a bad gig; I’m not sure I ever would have visited this resplendent land otherwise. Just look at the view from our AirBnB:
My video team and I landed in Bucharest and met our driver Adrian. I could immediately tell by his encyclopedic knowledge of Romanian history that we had found the right guy to shepherd us along the Carpathian mountains from Bucharest to Transylvania all the way to Iași. Adrian spent the last 10 years doing everything from escorting international tourists like ourselves to working as a personal driver for the super-wealthy Gypsy royalty.
That’s where the fun part comes in…
These aren’t your grandparents’ gypsies. The ones today are living in mansions and driving around in Ferraris.
Here’s a look at the ‘Prince of the Gypsies’, Ion Mihai Stelica. As you can tell, he isn’t the ragged, grifting, caravan gypsy that we’ve all come to know and love…
He’s more like a Kardashian. He’s worth millions and isn’t afraid to flaunt it.
These folks didn’t get rich by accident. Adrian told me the exact way these gypsies were able to strike gold…
Once Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu took over as a communist ruler of Romania, they all knew what was coming: a massive transfer of wealth. Instead of bowing down to the new regime, the gypsies did something basic, yet brilliant: they hid their gold in their backyards.
When Ceausescu was machine-gunned to death in the 1989 revolution and Communism was crushed, the gypsies unearthed their gold and sold it for far more than it was worth when they buried it.
They knew the value of hard money. Whenever one of these gypsy princes needed money — for cars, mistresses, or mansions — he simply told his family to go dig some gold up out of the backyard.
This wasn’t the first time Romanians have done such a thing. Almost 2,000 years ago a much more incredible gold story took place…
Sarmizegetusa — in the mountains near our visit — was once the capital of the Dacians, a civilization that existed in modern-day Romania and was conquered by the Roman Emperor Trajan. Here is a depiction of Trajan (if you ever wondered what the “Emperor’s New Clothes” actually looked like):
Nice wolf…
Anyway, his victory yielded one of the largest treasures the world has ever seen: half a million pounds of gold and a million pounds of silver. These stories tell themselves in Transylvania taxi cabs, but National Geographic does a more accurate job of it:
Sarmizegetusa’s stolen gold was nearly lost. Recovering it involved authorities in Europe and the United States and a decade of dogged sleuthing by Romanian prosecutors and museum curators.
In all, Romanian authorities have recovered 13 hammered gold bracelets, more than 27.5 pounds (12.5 kilograms) of gleaming reddish gold. The recovered bracelets — now on display in Bucharest, the capital — are the only ones of their kind discovered in Romania. At least another dozen, including the one still known as Lot 26, remain missing.
“They’re some of the most sensational finds of the last century,” says Barbara Deppert-Lippitz, an independent expert in ancient gold.
People are still digging for this treasure.
Another story I heard was that crafty citizens in this region actually moved the Danube River for a day, just to bury their gold in the riverbed. They allowed the river to safeguard their treasures until they were safe. Then, they dammed it again, recovered their gold, and lived like kings for the rest of their days. That is the power of gold and Romanian willpower.
We may be in a similar type of situation today.
Gold is finally regaining its luster. Right now, gold bullion prices have reached the highest level in seven years — they are currently testing $1,600 an ounce. Gold held by ETFs is at all-time highs and rising. The current presidential race — while lacking in Emperors — has done a good job at making investors nervous about either a megalomaniacal fiend (Trump/Trajan) or a Democratic Socialist (Sanders/Ceausescu) taking over as leader of the free world.
My colleague Nick Hodge has been preaching about this situation for a while, and now he’s prepared the case for you…
Like the gypsies, Nick has uprooted his home and moved across the country to prepare for what could be another historical transfer of wealth.
He believes that the purchasing power of our money, like that dollar in your pocket, could begin rapidly fluctuating on a daily basis. Exactly like we’ve seen time and time again throughout history in other countries.
That includes every “promise” of financial benefits like Social Security, Medicare, and disability…
That means every pension payout and every insurance policy.
Every financial distribution that is “owed” to you for your years of hard work could be significantly devalued in either situation…
Or even worse — it could be made null and void. Poof… up and gone like a cloud of smoke on a gypsy campground.
Start thinking like the gypsies of Romania and properly prepare yourselves for the coming storm. It may not be communism, and it may not be authoritarianism, but the writing is on the wall. You need to do something.
Things will be changing and you really need to hear how Nick has prepared himself and his family…
It’s far easier than moving rivers or burying gold…
~~jimmy_signoff~~
