E32: Convert Your Passions Into Profits with Benjamin Nadelstein

Benjamin Nadelstein grew up in a supportive family with a passion in theater arts. As a young adult he was pulled away from his East Coast home in Martha’s Vineyard by the allure of the West Coast. Along the way, his interest in economics sparked and became a full-fledged passion, an obsession even. 

Benjamin dove deep into educational content and, encouraged by his mother, found a career with Monetary Metals, a company pioneering methods to create cash flow from gold and silver.

While this conversation discusses the various ways Benjamin and Monetary Metals are creatively restructuring the gold and silver supply chain as well as how investors interact with it; it’s also a story about finding and following passions, reinventing ourselves, and finding purpose by saying yes to our intuition. 

Also in this episode, Ben Nadelstein explains how Monetary Metals is modifying the traditional metals industry model through innovative products like gold leases and bonds. 

As things are looking uncertain in the economic world lately with inflation skyrocketing and markets on a wild ride, more and more investors are looking for safer places to stash their cash. Tune in to discover how their platform is disrupting traditional banking and allowing investors to take control of their wealth in the safest way possible: through the ages-old stability of gold and silver.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

00:00

02:57 - Ben’s personal and career background

12:00 - The power of a strong support network

28:26 - How he got working at Monetary Metals

34:50 - Understanding monetary metals

36:08 - The superiority of gold and silver

40:00 - Divorce of currency from commodity

47:09 - Gold and silver supply chain management

55:08 - Gold leases and bonds with Monetary Metals

 

Episode Highlights:

[40:00] Currency vs. Commodity

In 1971, the relationship between the U.S. dollar and gold underwent a significant change. Previously, American paper currency had been backed by and redeemable for physical gold reserves held by the Treasury. However, President Nixon made the consequential decision to end this convertibility, severing the final ties between the dollar and gold. This marked the emergence of modern fiat currency, where governments could increase the money supply without constraint from limited gold reserves. This pivotal moment fully divorced legal tender from the commodity backing it previously provided, establishing the fiat monetary system that defines currencies today.

[40:51] Reviving the Gold Standard

Monetary Metals aims to restart the cycle of earning returns through gold that existed under previous gold standards. While fiat currencies like dollars and yen are used globally in trade and finance, this activity does not extend to gold itself. By providing leasing and bonding products, Monetary Metals brings gold back into the realm of generating income, fulfilling its historic function as more than just a static asset. In this way, they seek to revive gold's role as a medium earning interest and powering economic exchange once removed from currencies no longer tied to precious metals.

[55:08] Gold Leases and Bonds with Monetary Metals

Monetary Metals offers gold leases and gold bonds to provide investors opportunities to generate returns from their precious metals holdings. Gold leases have a one year duration with interest rates from 2-5% paid in additional physical gold or silver. Gold bonds can have variable terms and pay higher rates from 5-19%, but require the initial metals to be sold for dollars. Both products allow gold and silver owners to earn income from their assets outside of traditional currency-based markets through Monetary Metals' platform which matches them with mining companies, jewelers and other businesses in need of non-fiat financing.

Resources Mentioned:

Monetary Metals

The Gold Exchange Podcast

Connect with Ben on LinkedIn