Who was America’s First Bullionaire?

Bernard Baruch (1870 – 1965) was America's first Bullionaire. He started from nothing and climbed his way up to become a partner at his brokerage firm. He ended up becoming a trusted advisor to several U.S. presidents throughout his lifetime.

After making a fortune during the bull market of the 1920s, he felt the coming shift in the market, converted his fortune into gold, and therefore managed to avoid the 1929 crash.

Rumour has it that, at the time, no American had more gold than him… he owned more than 2 tons of gold, close to 130 million dollars in today’s prices.

Everything seemed to go well for Mr Baruch. But on April 5, 1933, President Roosevelt ordered all Americans to surrender their gold at a fixed rate, well below the international market rate… Bank vaults were frozen and opened by the government, and their gold content surrendered.

To make matters worse, Bernard Baruch even had to testify in front of the U.S. Secretary of Treasury and defend himself on why he had so much gold in the bank. It seems like the lack of trust in fiat currencies wasn’t an acceptable answer for the U.S. government at the time.

We never did meet Bernard Baruch, but if we’ve learned something from his experience, it’s to tread lightly when you choose where to store your gold.