Precious metals have been a form of exchange for thousands of years. Hunter Rhodes, owner of Atlanta Gold & Coin Buyers and his team recognize that investors continue to have interest in precious metals and coins and they have the knowledge, skill and experience to help you make informed decisions on your growing commodities portfolio.
What is the inspiration behind your motivation to open a gold and coin buying and selling institution and what education did you procure in order to become an expert in the field?
Considering I had been a collector and investor for years, it was clear in my mind that this was the best way to help secure my financial future as well as the financial future of our customers. Precious metals, in my opinion, are a neglected asset class that have enormous upside potential. My background is in Risk Management and Insurance and I've always been interested in finance and economics, which parlays well with the coin and bullion industry.
Why invest in gold, silver or coins? Explain why investing in this segment of assets can be so lucrative?
Gold, silver, platinum and palladium are one of the few asset classes that don’t have counterparty risk. Most folks don’t realize how important this is, but most traditional investments or policies include counterparty risk. When you physically hold precious metals, you don’t have to worry about another party making good on their promises.
Another important consideration is that gold and silver historically have had a low correlation to other asset classes. The more high performing low correlated assets you have in a portfolio, the higher your expected returns.
Lastly, gold and silver have performed well as asset classes over a longer period of time. At last check, gold has outperformed the stock market since 2000. That’s quite an accomplishment.
Tell us about your process for buying and selling gold, silver or coins? What do clients need to know and what can they expect from entering into a relationship with Atlanta Gold and Coin Buyers?
Unlike most coin dealers in the industry, we meet with our customers by appointment in a safe, comfortable and friendly environment. This allows us to provide our customers with our undivided attention so that we have sufficient time to answer all their questions, address their concerns, and walk them through the process of buying or selling gold and silver coins or bullion.
Tell us about your inventory. If a new client is interested in buying as an investment, how do you suggest they proceed in order to start a precious metals portfolio?
We have a wide assortment of gold, silver, platinum and palladium coins, bars and rounds in stock, as well as collectible, rare or numismatic coins and various coin sets. Once we have a good idea of the reason for investing in precious metals, we can then begin suggesting some items that may be a good fit for what they’re trying to accomplish. Considering that everyone has different goals and risk tolerances, there’s not a one-size fits all approach. Only when you have the full picture, can you help a customer reach their goals.
What options does a client have in order to get an appraisal of their item?
Folks have different reasons for wanting or needing an appraisal, so we do our best to try and accommodate all our customers. In many cases, prospective customers just want to get an idea if a few of their coins have any value. As a courtesy to our clients, we’re happy to provide them with a quick assessment free of charge. We also regularly provide appraisals for probate, estate and insurance purposes.
What are you and your partners forecasting for the future as it pertains to precious metals? Do you see rare metals increasing in value?
While we’re hesitant to provide specific forecasts, we believe that gold and silver, and for that matter, platinum and palladium will be substantially higher over the next few years. If you’re a long-term investor, you should do quite well over the next few years by investing in precious metals, even considering the recent run up in prices.
Do you have plans for the expansion and growth of Atlanta Gold and Coin Buyers?
We’re looking to automate some procedures and should launch our first official online store in the near future. We have also implemented a new inventory management system and plan on ramping up our educational resources, including providing more helpful and relevant content, and updating some of the older resources that we haven’t looked at in some time. Additionally, the rare coin guide we launched about a decade ago has been one of our most viewed resources, but doesn’t include gold coins, which we realize would be a valuable tool.
Ultimately, we’re here to serve our customers, so we’ll continue to look for opportunities to meet and exceed the requests of our clients. If this involves adding additional staff, moving or adding locations or meeting these requests through technology, we’re happy to accommodate.
We have a wide assortment of gold, silver, platinum and palladium coins, bars and rounds in stock, as well as collectible, rare or numismatic coins and various coin sets.
Many of our customers have been with us since the inception of our company and are more friends than they are customers. These folks will oftentimes want to pick our brains on matters, which we’re happy to accommodate free of charge for our long term and loyal customers.
We cut through all the misinformation online, make sure that they’re well-informed to make the best decision possible, and always endeavor to provide the leading rates in the industry, whether buying or selling. We realize that we can charge more when selling or offer less when buying, but we would prefer to focus on repeat business and the rest will take care of itself.
We just celebrated our first 15 years of business and are only getting started. We’re excited for what the future holds and will continue to look for opportunities to provide our customers with the resources they need to make sound decisions.