The UPMA’s gold and silver accounts are different from traditional bank accounts in terms of wealth preservation and risk minimization. Traditional banks only maintain 2% to 4% of their reserves as cash while the UPMA accounts are 100% backed with physical gold and silver. Alpine Gold isn’t subject to bank holidays, bail-ins, capital controls, digital theft, or year-to-year losses in value through inflation. Continue below to see other ways members are protected.

Insurance

     At a traditional bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) typically grants depositors up to $250,000 insurance. However, by their own admission, the FDIC only maintains about 1% of the reserves needed to fully insure all bank depositors*. This brings to question the value of such insurance in the event of a major financial institution failing. Alpine Gold insures the full value of each gold and silver account 100%, regardless of size, through private insurance. Copies of the insurance policy are available upon request.

Audits & Accountability

     Audits of holdings are available to any member upon request. In order to be transparent, the UPMA permits members with balances in excess of 40 ounces of gold to request to participate in periodic physical audits. We are unaware of any other vaulting company that offers this level of access. Members interested in participating in a routine physical audit should send us an email request.

safer than cryptocurrency

     Americans lose billions of dollar each year from digital theft. While cryptocurrencies have provided more options, they haven't fully dealt with this problem. One issue with digital money is that it can be hacked and little or no recourse is available. No hacker can digitally steal from a UPMA account because all the wealth is sitting in a physical vault, not in cyberspace. In the event of a catastrophic attack on the database, Alpine Gold still possesses all the gold for UPMA members. Multiple digital copies of all records are kept offline and can be used to quickly reboot the system. Alpine Gold also prints a daily paper record of all member holdings. It isn't possible to hack or digitally alter a printed list in a filing cabinet.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket

     There is a popular adage that "If you don't hold it then you don't own it". It should be pointed out that there is no known completely risk free way to preserve wealth. There are 2,000,000 reported home burglaries in the U.S. every year. Thousands of families have their precious metals stolen from their homes in the United States annually and most homeowners insurance policies won't cover them. People that go to the extremes of burying or hiding their gold or silver have at times left their families destitute when they unexpectedly die and take the knowledge of the hidden location with them. While it may be wise to hold some metals at home in case of a biblical disaster, the UPMA offers accounts through Alpine Gold that will weather any banking holiday or other financial crisis.

Utah is America's best place to vault

     Alpine Gold is located in the state of Utah and only vaults within the state because Utah maintains the most favorable jurisdiction regarding precious metals within the United States. In 2011 Utah passed the Legal Tender Act which is still the most comprehensive law in the country supporting the use of sound money. Members of the UPMA may be from any state. Utah's Attorney General Sean Reyes spoke at the UPMA annual summit in support of the program. This can be seen here.