Bill Jernigan was interviewed by AZFamily. Click here to see the interview.
By Brittni Thomason Published: Mar. 3, 2022 at 5:18 PM PST
MESA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) – The pandemic, inflation, and now Russian cyberthreats have more Valley families worried about their money. A coin shop in Mesa said it’s seeing a gold rush with customers coming in to invest in precious metals. “Everybody likes gold,” said Xavier Coins customer Wayland Smith. “It’s a commodity that you can always rely on, fall back on.”
With current events, Bill Jernigan watched sales double at his store, Xavier Coins. “Ukraine is just another concern people have on top of inflation, on top of COVID, so we have seen a spike in people concerned about what’s going on throughout the world, and it’s a direct impact of that amongst everything else,” said Jernigan.
Right now, he said gold will cost you about $2,000 per ounce, and silver is running about $28 an ounce. “People are not only concerned about what’s happening, but our banking system can potentially be hacked,” said Jernigan.
As the CEO of Strategy Financial Group, Calvin Goetz calls that a valid concern. “I think our banks have run through these different scenarios,” said Goetz. “I think it is possible that hacking attempts could shut down different financial institutes for short periods of time or cause some challenges within the banking system, so those are reasonable fears for people to feel. I have confidence in our banking system that they have role-played those different examples and have safeguards to not make you liable for any changes to your account value.”
Still, Smith prefers buying gold over putting money in a bank. “I can hold it in my hands, which I like a lot better than it being in somebody else’s,” said Smith. “As a long-term investment, I don’t think gold is that great, but as a hedge against inflation, owning some percentage in your portfolio does make sense,” said Goetz.
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